Judy Grobstein has experienced cat calls, horn honking, verbal abuse, and even been spat on when going out for a run.
The American, who now lives in Sydney, has been running for most of her life, and she’s gotten used to the harassment that usually comes along with it.
“Regardless if you’re running or just walking to work, or even in a workplace, as a woman it’s unfortunately something we have to put up with everywhere,” she says.
“And it’s all about how you handle it, making sure you put yourself in a situation where you always feel safe.”
She’s one of many women who are accustomed to adopting all the safety tips drilled into them from a young age.
Always tell someone where you’re going. Take a phone with you. Avoid running at night. Don’t listen to music. Vary your routine.
But is it time to change the messaging?
“Sometimes using these strategies and doing something that makes you feel safer allows women to still go out there and function and participate in the world,” says Bianca Fileborn, senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Melbourne.
“Rather than looking at the actions of perpetrators, and focusing on preventing harassment from occurring in the first place.”
Running safety puts a ‘heavy burden’ on women
Running is one of the most popular physical activities for Australians.
Everyone has their own reason for doing it.
It could be valuable time to yourself away from the chaos of everyday life; an easy and inexpensive way to keep fit; or something that can provide a sense of achievement.
But for so many women, what should be a simple pleasure can be mentally exhausting.
That’s something Anna Fitzgerald can relate to.
She’s the executive general manager of sport strategy and risk at Athletics Australia. She’s also a keen runner and mum of two girls.
“It does certainly play a heavy burden on women. Finding time to exercise is already hard,” she says.
Ms Grobstein agrees.
“When you’re by yourself, you never know when that person might be more than just somebody who wants to make a lewd comment and could be somebody who could act on that.”
So what are women up against when running?
It’s very common for women to be harassed when they go for a run.
A survey in the US edition of Runner’s World magazine found that 43 per cent of female runners at least sometimes experienced abuse, compared to 4 per cent of men.
And according to the Australia Institute, 87 per cent of women have experienced at least one form of verbal or physical street harassment.
“When we talk about harassment, I think one of the things that we forget about is what form that takes,” Mrs Fitzgerald says.
“Getting derogatory comments levelled at a woman while she’s running for her physical appearance or her ability, it starts to become quite a disincentive for a woman to venture out the door to run.”
Many women only have time to run during the early morning or evening.
“There’s certainly a lack of enclosed spaces or areas where women can go out to run, where the areas are well lit, where there is a lack of traffic, and that are also not populated by bikes and other vehicles,” Mrs Fitzgerald says.
Ms Grobstein says she feels much safer running in Sydney compared to some of the places she’s lived in the US.
But she was left shaken by an encounter earlier this year when a man cyber-stalked her.
He tracked her down on social media, accusing her of running too close to him on the Harbour Bridge.
“It makes you feel uneasy that somebody could find you so quickly and knows where you run,” she says.
“It didn’t escalate into anything, but just made me feel violated.”
Dr Fileborn has done a lot of research when it comes to street harassment, and is currently investigating what types of justice victims would like to see.
She says it’s important not to downplay things that may seem “minor”, like cat-calling or horn honking.
“For some women, it either contributed towards or was responsible for them developing anxiety in public spaces. It really limited women’s freedom and ability to just freely access public spaces and engage in everyday activities that a lot of people would just take for granted.”
And in some instances, it stops women from running altogether.
Running groups and self-defence classes give some women more confidence
For Ms Grobstein, running has been the one constant in her life and it’s helped her forge close friendships all around the world.
When she moved to Sydney three years ago, she joined a group called Girls Run Sydney, and it’s made a huge difference.
“I’ve never been in a city where there was a group just for women,” she says.
“And now just because I have this close group of female friends to run with, it’s very, very rare that I find myself having to run alone.
“So it’s more fun, you push yourself because you have other people, but you have less of that concern of feeling unsafe.
“I have found that guys are less likely to [harass women] if you’re in a group, rather than just one single woman running by herself.”
While women’s running groups are a popular option, some choose to go a step further and enrol in women’s only self-defence classes.
Rita Matty is a high school teacher, and first tried the martial art of Krav Maga after a friend was mugged outside her apartment.
Nine years later, she’s now an instructor and leads She Fights Back workshops at KMDI in Sydney.
“We focus a lot on teaching women the basics of striking, how to recognise when they’re in a situation potentially that will escalate, and how to create distance and get away,” she says.
But she admits she’d prefer that the workshops weren’t needed.
“I think men need to become a part of the solution. They need to be educated and they need to be a part of that fight for women’s rights.”
Sharon Blair often runs alone in the dark because it fits in with her shift work and family life.
She sticks to well-lit paths, changes up her routes and has even run with a friend’s dog for safety.
She knows Kung Fu and boxing, and says those skills give her a little bit more confidence.
“While I would never dream of going toe-to-toe with anyone, I’d hope that if it came down to fight or flight that I would be able to do just enough to get away.
“That’s stuff you definitely have to think about unfortunately.”
But Ms Blair also concedes it’s no magic bullet.
“It doesn’t give me huge bravado,” she says.
Why prevention needs to be the long-term goal
Dr Fileborn says bystander intervention — where members of the public step in to help — can be effective in creating change.
“That might mean calling out the perpetrator, it could also mean supporting the person who’s being harassed and asking them if they’re OK. Filming or documenting what’s happening, reporting to an authority figure, if that’s appropriate in the circumstances,” she says.
“That kind of immediate action that really communicates that we’ve seen what you’re doing and we actually don’t think this is OK, that’s a really powerful action that could be taken.”
Dr Fileborn says most of the victims of harassment she’s spoken to want to see broader social and cultural change, rather than increasing criminal justice responses.
“And education and changes that are aimed at targeting the factors that underpin harassment in the first place so things like gender inequality and attitudes towards sexual relationships.”
Mrs Fitzgerald says the safety of the environment also needs to be considered, so runners don’t have to contend with things like bikes or dogs off leads.
And with many runners opting not to carry phones with them, she’d also like to see help checkpoints installed around major parklands and running tracks.
“The benefits of exercising and running are not only around health. They’re about a feeling of empowerment, determination, they’re about resilience, about achievement,” she says.
“Taking that away, or compromising it by concerns over safety really impacts the positives around the activity that we engage in.
And Ms Grobstein hopes other women aren’t discouraged from pounding the pavement.
“Be smart, be safe, but don’t let anybody take away your passion.”
