Cell phones, a comfort level with strangers born of anonymous Internet communications, and role models like the ladies from "Sex in the City" have given young women a sense of security while out drinking that hasn't been seriously dented by the brutal murder of one of their contemporaries, the Boston Globe reported March 9.

Imette St. Guillen, 24, was raped, tortured, and killed after leaving a New York City bar at closing time late last month; a bouncer at the bar is the prime suspect. But the killing hasn't stopped other young women from drinking heavily in public and socializing with strangers. 

"It happens here," said NYU student Barbara Klen, 24, of the murder. "It happens everywhere. What can I do about it?"

A tech-savvy and confident generation of young women sees cell phones, in particular, as a potential lifeline in times of crisis. "I think it gives them a false sense of security, because they feel that they have total control and they don't have to be concerned about their safety," said Jack Levin, a criminology and sociology expert from the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict at Northeastern University.

But more women are putting themselves at risk with alcohol, both in the U.S. and overseas, said David Rosenbloom, director of the Youth Alcohol Prevention Center at Boston University.

"It is amazing how many young women become so severely intoxicated in bars throughout Boston on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights that the emergency department is the only place where it is safe for them to be watched and monitored until they are sober enough to walk straight," added Dr. Denise Rollinson, an assistant professor of medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center.

Few women interviewed by the Globe felt that the murder of St. Guillen was a warning to modify their behavior. "There's no point living in fear," said Kiri Jewell, 25, having a drink at The Falls, the bar where St. Guillen was last seen before her murder. "The probability that something's going to happen is very slim."