Comments on: Seasons of safety

By: NS

NS — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:13:39 +0000

@Hoover – Men may be targetted for unprovoked attacks in greater numbers, but that’s not the entire point. It’s not just the threat of actually being beaten or abducted or raped that puts the fear into women, but also the fear of being followed, harassed, shouted at, leered at or just generally intimidated, which are much more common than any physical attacks men may endure. It’s a generally inhospitable environment for women at night in many areas and instances, a fact taken advantage of and preyed on by men who derive pleasure or power from perpetuating women’s fear of them. That’s not to say that all men do this, or that all women have experienced it, but it’s not just about physical violence, but the threat of it that makes going out alone at night worrisome.

By: Agnes

Agnes — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:13:14 +0000

Hello there! I’ve wandered over here from A Free Man’s site and I’m a runner too. I’m lucky in that I’m a teacher so I’m usually home before dark and even in winter here I’ve been able to run before it gets dark. I’d be pretty reluctant to run at night, even though I live in country Australia and it would probably be perfectly safe.

I do know what you mean about the need to be extra alert. I went to the UK alone earlier in the year for a couple of months and while I was super paranoid in the beginning, I did relax eventually when I realised that, essentially, nobody pays that much attention to you and that you’d have to be pretty unfortunate or be taking terrible risks for anything to happen to you.

Having said all that though, I do understand exactly where you’re coming from. And it is hard to trust people, but I guess you just have to believe that most people are just like you, good and honest and always try to do the right thing.

By: Hoover

Hoover — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:18:05 +0000

The vast majority of unprovoked attacks in public are perpetrated against men.

One of your commenters says “I feel that society is becoming less and less trusting.”

Exactly right. One reason for this is that we’re taught to think in categories. Identity politics is one of the great evils of the age, because it atomises society and creates divisions between people.

By: NATUI

NATUI — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:35:54 +0000

I have made your same argument a million times. You are so correct. And don’t forget about parking lots. Not only having to look under your own car, but the car next to yours. Maybe the solution is to run with a crowbar. Extra cardio for you, warning to others.

By: Cave Mother

Cave Mother — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:15:25 +0000

It’s cool that you’ve taken up running. Doesn’t t make you feel so free? I used to love it, but I haven’t done more than a few 3 mile jogs since I was 18 weeks pregnant, over a year and a half ago. In the summer I was happy to run until 9pm or so, but I know the difficulty of running on winter evenings. Putting aside the bigger issue you are writing about and just talking about running, I used to be fine on winter evenings as long as I stuck to well lit streets. But that spoils half of it – green fields are what I love. Though if you’re in that there London, I don’t suppose there are too many of them around anyway.

Happy running!