As a young single women traveler, I think I have a very different view on the idea of Couchsurfing as a viable means of traveling around the world. Yes, its cheap and you get to meet great people, but what about that one in a million chance that you could stumble into someone's house who has less than innocent friendly motives? We are putting our faith, and even our lives to a certain extent, in the hands of strangers. We allow ourselves to be taken in by somebody we have no connection to apart from a few preliminary emails sent before we arrive. Our choice of 'couch host' is determined on an in-personal rating system that can tell us nothing more than a bunch of numbers as to another surfer's experience at their place. I think we need to take a step back at this culture, and look at the very essence that is couch surfing itself.
The recent jailing of Abdelali Nachet in Leeds after he was found guilty of raping his women couchsurfer guest, has really got me wondering at how well this website and even the culture can function safely. Nachet, 34, reportedly raped the Hong Kong women two times during her one night stay in his home, threatening to kill her and himself if she resisted. Although this is an isolated incident, it is only a matter of time before more incidences like these are undoubtedly bound to occur. The Couchsurfing organization takes no responsibility for the actions of its users, and as such have no way of communicating potentially dangerous hosts to unsuspecting surfers.
The website in terms of safety, is quite obviously flawed. With no means of one surfer to communicate to another about bad incidences, with no such room for online chat through either blogs or forums, the average surfer has little to no means of protecting themselves beyond common sense.
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