Anyone who screams a cute woman running on the street in England can end up at the police station.
For a month, Surrey women’s police officers in the southwest of the country began to run underwear in areas identified as insecure. When they were harassed, police reinforcement appeared on time.
One agent said that once, in less than 10 minutes a driver honked to her. Just 30 seconds later, another car decreased at speed, the comrade put his hand on his horn and made an obscene gesture.
According to local press, 18 men were arrested for harassment or sexual assault. The head of the operation said the idea was to punish, but also to make them understand how uncomfortable this situation is for a woman.
The pilot project drew attention to good and evil. Those who criticized said this is not the most efficient way to invest police resources, and that he focuses on individual cases rather than the origin of the deeper problem.
The fact is that any woman who runs has already experienced an unpleasant situation. Whether he hears a nonsense or, unfortunately, something worse. “Run with a group”; “It doesn’t go at night”; “Music and headphones distract attention, it’s dangerous”; “Share the location on the phone” are some suggestions that we receive. We have to adapt.
I’ve been through some situations that made me change my running habits. A few years ago, in London, I was running on the edge of a channel, in an urban area, near a large park. When I looked to the side, I saw, behind some trees, a man with a bullshit, touching. His gaze, by a fraction of a second, crossed with mine. I thought of looking for the police, but I just wanted to get out as soon as possible. I was without action also happened in a busy region, on a Saturday and where, in the same way, they passed the elderly, families. The following weekend, I saw another man doing the same obscene act in the same place. They were clearly criminals. I didn’t stop by, and those scenes never left my head.
My street running strategies may include giving preference to a route that has other people; If I’m in a place I don’t know, the path gets darker and closed by the trees, or I enter a dead -end street, I’ll be back. If I pass close to higher shrubs in a deserted area, maybe I peek at check that there is no one there, and below the volume of the song.
In 2023, a survey by Adidas conducted in nine countries, including the United Kingdom, revealed that 92% of 4,500 interviewed women were concerned with their own safety as they left to run.
The Surrey campaign began after the government found that 94% of the residents said they had already suffered some form of harassment, but half had never reported.
Most of the time, we leave it there, whether for ignorance, think that it will not go to anything, avoid exposure, or because we do not want to spoil our day further.
Harassment will not end and we have to move on. Knowing what the English police are doing brings me a sense of welcome when seeing that the authorities care and, at the same time, frustration, to today we have to talk about it.
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