Yahoo Finance 'I Was Verbally Harassed During a 10-mile Road Race'
Katy Lavender was running a 10-mile road race when she was verbally harassed by a man driving past in a car. 'The race was along some roads that remained open, so someone driving past felt they had the right to shout a comment about how they liked a certain part of my anatomy,' Katy tells Runner's World. 'It was really uncomfortable and upsetting as races are somewhere I have always felt really safe. I was caught by surprise and just got angry.' Despite her harassment, Katy finished the race, using her anger and adrenaline to run harder, determined the comments wouldn't derail her performance.
In a new survey of over 2,000 runners by RW and Women's Health, 60 per cent of women said they had been harassed when running, 25 per cent reported being regularly subjected to sexist comments or unwanted sexual advances and six per cent said they had felt threatened to such an extent by harassment while running that they feared for their lives.
Although she says she's not experienced 'as much' harassment as some of her running friends, as we talk, Katy, a diagnostic radiographer who works for the NHS, mentions another terrifying incident that occurred on the run.
'I was running down a busy road in Gillingham, just outside my University in broad daylight in 2017 when a car approached me from behind and threw a fast food takeaway drink cup at me,' Katy tells RW. 'I checked my leg to make sure I was alright because back then acid attacks were featured on the news. I was mostly angry because they had been cowardly in approaching me from behind and I was even angrier when one of the perpetrators stuck their head out of the passenger window to see my reaction and started to grin.' Again, determined not to let the harassment ruin her run, Katy continued and completed the distance she had on her training plan.
Katy's story highlights the relentlessness of the harassment female runners experience and the fact it's not restricted to one environment - harassment can happen anywhere, even on race day. In both instances, what stands out to me is her determination to not let the negative comments derail her running. 'My running is not about them,' she tells me.
In our survey, of those women who have questioned their safety or felt uncomfortable on the run, 91 per cent have changed their behaviour in some way as a consequence. Only eight per cent told us they will run whether it’s light or dark outside, while 39 per cent have changed routes, 30 per cent now avoid a place where they used to run (owing to safety concerns) and 10 per cent have switched to running on a treadmill rather than outside.
'Why should they make me feel unsafe?' Katy says. As we discuss what needs to change, Katy says it's all about the attitudes. 'Not only our attitudes towards women but how we can all play a part. It is not enough to say, "I have never had that problem, I never see that issue" or "I have never done that to someone, it's not relevant to me". We need to all consider what we can do to make a kinder and safer society and look to support others,' she says.
What can you do?
Show your solidarity: Stand with the 25% of women who are routinely sexually harassed while out running by heading out yourself for 25 minutes and posting about your run on Instagram using #reclaimyourrun, tagging @runnersworlduk and @womenshealthuk. You can share your distance, your time, a view or a sweaty selfie – anything that expresses your support.
Make change: Right now, public sexual harassment isn’t punishable by law. We believe, to make running– and, indeed, public spaces generally – safe for women, this needs to change. That’s why we’re backing the Crime Not Compliment campaign from Our Streets Now and Plan International UK, which aims to do just that. To add your name to the campaign, get details on how to email your MP and find out more, visitplan-uk.org/crimenotcompliment.
Finally, click here to find out more about our Reclaim Your Run campaign.
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