We end up equivocating the word anonymity here. I've had this same debate with a gay, older relative. She spent most of her time in small towns, and constantly

We end up equivocating the word anonymity here. I've had this same debate with a gay, older relative. She spent most of her time in small towns, and constantly felt the social pressure due to being gay. To her, a city is "anonymous" because nobody generally cares what she's up to, and certainly nobody cares that she's gay. It's not even just about being accepting of homosexuality. Rather, most people she meets are strangers, and don't have any preconceived notions about who she is or who she should be. I find cities anything but anonymous -- you're always around people, there's no privacy in the sense that there's always someone observe you. (ie, you're never alone in the woods) So, you have at least two definitions of anonymity: - a lack of social pressure due to lack of interest, and interaction with (mostly) strangers - the ability to escape from observation for brief periods