The conversation needs to change for the sake of all women
How many women have died after deciding to go for a run?
The answer: too many.
How old was she? It doesn’t matter.
What was she wearing? It doesn’t matter.
What time did she go running? It doesn’t matter.
The story goes that a young woman goes for a run, only to be kidnapped or killed, never to return home. This is the sad reality women face on a daily basis when they ask the simple question: Is it safe for me to go run outside? For men, exercising outside is done without a second thought. They don’t worry about whether or not it’s too dark outside to run. Men don’t need to question if there are enough witnesses available to come to their rescue in the event of an attempted attack. I doubt many men have thought to buy pepper spray once in their entire life. Why? Because they don’t need to. They never felt the need to.
Yet, time and time again women need to think about and contemplate their ability to safely go for a run outside. Women need to take the extra step to monitor where they run, when they run and who is around while they run. When another female runner appears across headlines as another running victim, families and friends reach out to their female loved ones who run and ask, “Are you safe?”
No. Women are never safe when they run.
Take for instance, Eliza Fletcher. The 34-year-old was going for a run on Friday, Sept. 2 at 4 a.m. in Memphis when she was abducted and found dead days later. The accomplished marathon runner was a wife and a mother of three, but people chose to focus on the fact that she ran too early in the morning and claimed that was why she died. Women across the nation took to social media and blasted people for victim-blaming Fletcher for running at 4 a.m. When a woman is killed while running, the details of where she was, what time it was and what she was wearing are irrelevant. The fact is that women are never safe, and the victim-blaming does nothing but avoid the issue at hand.
Rather than paint these women as victims, address why these events happen and how they can be stopped. Consider the women in your life whom you love and think about how often they must question their safety when they step outside for some exercise. Running is supposed to be a source of freedom. But for women, the decision to run outside comes at the cost of safety. There is no freedom when fear is in charge.
Of course, this issue is not isolated to running. The murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 prompted outcry in the U.K. over safety for women in public settings. Forget about running — women can’t even take a bus or go to the grocery store without being in fear of harassment or abduction.
There is no easy solution , but the media needs to stop sensationalizing these deaths and stop adding these women to a growing list of victims. Instead, the focus needs to be on making the world more secure for women who simply want to go for a run. The conversation needs to steer toward helping women finally achieve the freedom that should never be in question. Women are tired of living in a world where every card is stacked against them. The simple task of going for a run should be an escape from stress and responsibility. The jubilation of breathing in fresh air and feeling of sneakers hitting the concrete should be a right for everyone.
One day, I want to leave my pepper spray behind and go for a run.