Every year, when autumn gets underway and the evenings extend from late afternoon until, seemingly, forever, a trend starts to emerge. Articles and social media posts from women pop up declaring that they can no longer go running after work because it’s “not safe”. Every year, I completely understand the sentiment – and yet I also wonder whether that fear is based on statistical fact, rooted in actual risk. I wonder about perception versus reality.
I know that this is likely to be a “controversial” take – that I’ll be accused by some of intentionally endangering women by encouraging them to lace up their trainers and run straight into the arms of a predator. However, I also know that fear is increasingly stopping women from living a full and healthy life, so I wanted to take a closer look at what we’re really up against.
