Government-sponsored national victimization surveys have found consistently that women's fear of violent crime is much greater than their actual chances of being violently victimized. Most attempts to account for this discrepancy begin with the assumption that women's fear is subjectively based. The feminist theorists challenge this view. They suggest that women's fear results in part from being physically abused by a a husband, boyfriend, or other male intimate; and experience largely untouched in the crime surveys. Using data from a telephone survey of a representative sample of 315 Toronto women, this study tested and found some support for the feminist hypothesis. 3 tables, 2 footnotes, and 29 references. (Author abstract modified)