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The runners breaking the law to feel safe on the streets
The runners breaking the law to feel safe on the streets

Metro

time30-06-2025

  • Metro

The runners breaking the law to feel safe on the streets

Whenever Darcy* runs, she takes with her a can of Deep Heat spray. Not for her sore muscles, but in case she's attacked. The 45-year-old mother-of-three knows it's illegal, but she's willing to take the risk. She said: 'If it's a choice between being raped and murdered, or going to jail for the night or longer, I think we know what most women would choose.' Darcy is one of a growing number of women arming themselves on their runs with whatever they can get hold of, from Deep Heat to deodorant, jalapeno oil and even oven cleaner. They're all makeshift protections, even though carrying a spray with the intent to cause harm (yes, that includes defending yourself), is illegal. A new survey of 1,500 women runners, conducted by Metro in partnership with Women's Running, found nearly half said they'd feel safer if they could carry pepper spray legally. The poll follows our investigation that revealed 10% of women have been spat on by men while running. Since then, we have been inundated with personal stories from women sharing the measures they take to feel safer. Darcy first started carrying Deep Heat after running in Balham, south London, where she was regularly shouted at and humiliated while running. Now based in Surrey, where she has spent much of the year preparing for a marathon, many of her routes take her into isolated areas. She told Metro: 'I run in thick woodland and I've seen true crime. Since I've had daughters I've become much more aware of the things that can happen. 'My running vest has a rape whistle and I got the idea to carry Deep Heat spray off a Reddit forum. 'Someone told me I could be arrested for inciting violence by carrying it, but I'll take my chances.' Thankfully, she's never had to use the spray, but Darcy is conscious that if she was attacked in a forest, nobody would hear her scream. Tracy Chinnery revealed on TikTok that she goes one step further, not just arming herself with the spray while exercising. She said: 'You never know when an emergency might occur when you're walking home. 'It will temporarily blind you and it will hurt like hell – so ladies make sure you have a can in your bag for cold dark nights.' Another TikToker Sheniqua (@shenface) shared a video of her carrying Deep Heat spray, explaining: 'Crimes against women are escalating… right now I don't feel like the police and the community are doing enough to keep us safe – so we've got to keep ourselves safe.' Carrying any spray with the intent to defend yourself – even a can of Deep Heat – could land you in prison for up to four years. That risk starts the moment you step outside your front door. Barrister Maria Karaiskos tells Metro: 'If you deliberately arm yourself with a weapon or something that can cause injury and leave your home – that's unlawful. 'You can't take sprays or knuckle dusters or knives – the onus shifts to you to prove you have a reasonable excuse to use anything and you don't want to expose yourself to that,' In the UK, women are allowed to carry rape alarms or whistles, but the emphasis is on de-escalation and conflict resolution. Carrying weapons could lead to unnecessary escalation. Marie explains: 'The law will say 'why didn't you run a different route to avoid this person?', proving you have a good excuse is hard.' However, she adds: 'If you don't have a record for causing injury to people and you genuinely thought you were being threatened, I don't think you'd go to prison.' While we aren't calling for any weapon to be legalised, these testimonies and data show many women feel abandoned and don't know where to turn. The National Police Chiefs' Council said that police services are 'working proactively to improve feelings of safety in their communities for women and girls'. This includes 'active bystander' training and deploying plain clothes officers on popular running routes – although both initiatives are only active in limited areas. Andrea Simon, director of End Violence Against Women, says the burden of safety planning shouldn't fall on those at risk. 'Women are often told, or made to feel, that it's our responsibility to take precautions to protect ourselves from male violence,' she says. 'This can look like sharing our location with friends, avoiding poorly lit public locations at night, or carrying safety devices with us. More Trending 'However, preventing violence shouldn't fall on the shoulders of those at risk, and ultimately, no amount of safety planning will deter a man intent on causing harm.' Andrea believes government investment in education, prevention and public messaging will create a better society for women. She said: 'The government can meaningfully invest in prevention work and create a future in which women are able to exist without fear, without the burden of constantly worrying about protecting themselves.' *Darcy's name was changed to protect her identity and avoid legal repercussions. Metro's exclusive investigation found that 6% of women runners have been intentionally spat on while running, while a further 4% were unsure if it was intentional or not. This opened up a nationwide conversation which spanned TV and radio stations, causing thousands of women to share their stories. Jas, a 25-year-old from London, has been a victim of spitting twice. The first time was during the pandemic near her university in Lincoln. A man gave her a look that made her uneasy. Then he spat at her, continuing to stare at her in an intimidating way. 'It was terrifying,' she told Metro. 'Not because of the stupid old man, but because it was during the pandemic when you didn't even want someone breathing near you, let alone spitting. I cried and cried, mainly out of fear of getting Covid, but also because I was livid.' Being mixed race, Jas wondered if the attack was racially motivated, but she couldn't be sure. 'It really surprised me,' she remembers. 'It's not like I was going to stop and ask which part of my identity motivated him to spit at me.' Read the full investigation here. Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: Porn sites to make major change to who can watch x-rated videos MORE: Pro-life Republican 'nearly died' during ectopic pregnancy amid abortion ban MORE: Leicester man jailed after raping woman while on bail for another charge Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.

Thousands of men are spitting on women runners — it's happened to me
Thousands of men are spitting on women runners — it's happened to me

Metro

time27-05-2025

  • Metro

Thousands of men are spitting on women runners — it's happened to me

One in ten women say they have been spat on while running. In this exclusive investigation, Metro exposes a shocking and underreported form of street harassment that is forcing women to change the way they exercise. The spit hit my leg before I even realised what had happened. It was a March evening in Shepherds Bush outside a Co-op just as I was slowing down after my Garmin watch beeped, signalling the end of my 5km run. As the glob of thick, warm liquid seeped through my leggings, a man shouted obscenities at me, saliva still glistening on his lips. 'Did I really just get spat on?' I thought, frozen. Nobody did anything. In shock and fear, I shakily walked home – to my relief, he didn't follow me. Once through the safety of my front door, I called my mum and cried before stripping off, washing all my clothes and standing under a steaming hot shower for half an hour, still trying to process what had happened. Less than two weeks later, it happened again. A different man, but on the same path. He stepped into my way, looked me dead in the eye and spat right at me. This time, thankfully, he missed. Ironically, both incidents happened on a street lined with intermittent signage, campaigning for an end to sexual harassment against women. I no longer run down that busy main road in the evening, unjustly forced to change my behaviour. After sharing what had happened in a small Facebook group for women in media, 80 women replied in less than 24 hours to say it had happened to them too. That response prompted an investigation by Metro and Women's Running to uncover just how common this is. Scotland Yard doesn't keep specific data on spitting incidents, but a Women's Running Instagram poll of 1,000 women found 10% had been spat on while running – most were certain it was intentional. The sample is small considering six million women run in the UK, but scaled up, there could be as many as 360,000 female runners who have been spat at like this. It sounds like an extraordinary number, but with more than one million violent crimes against women in a single year, it is entirely feasible. One in five women told Sport England's This Girl Can campaign that they are concerned about harassment while exercising outdoors. Jas, a 25-year-old from London, has been a victim of spitting twice. The first time was during the pandemic near her university in Lincoln. A man gave her a look that made her uneasy. Then he spat at her, continuing to stare at her in an intimidating way. 'It was terrifying,' she told Metro. 'Not because of the stupid old man, but because it was during the pandemic when you didn't even want someone breathing near you, let alone spitting. I cried and cried, mainly out of fear of getting Covid, but also because I was livid.' Being mixed race, Jas wondered if the attack was racially motivated, but she couldn't be sure. 'It really surprised me,' she remembers. 'It's not like I was going to stop and ask which part of my identity motivated him to spit at me.' The next time was on a morning run through central London when two men, who looked worse for wear after pulling an all-nighter, walked towards her. 'I felt slightly apprehensive as I got closer to them,' she said. 'I began deciding how best to avoid them, but convinced myself that I was overthinking it and didn't cross the road. I should have, because one of them spat in my direction and the other shouted 'watch out sweetheart'. 'They both laughed and watched me run all the way up the street. This time there were no tears – I told them to piss off and ran away as fast as I could.' Jas says she has become accustomed to this behaviour now, a sentiment felt by many of the women I spoke to – including a woman spat at by a 13-year-old boy. He did it 'for a reaction'. None of them saw it coming. The problem isn't unique to the UK. Marie, 52, lives in the Queens area of New York and goes running a couple of times a week. She was first spat at six years ago when she saw a man heading in her direction as she ran across a bridge. 'I wasn't nervous or concerned about him, but as I passed him, he spat at the ground right next to my foot. 'It really shocked me because it was so passive aggressive, and I was disgusted because no one wants a stranger's spit on them.' Two years later, it happened again. 'This guy was in his 40s or 50s and he was glaring at me as I ran towards him,' Marie says. 'Then he just spat directly in my path.' He made a threatening, sexually suggestive comment under his breath as she ran past. 'He just seemed so aggressive, and it made me so angry,' she added. When we contacted the National Police Chiefs' Council with our findings, a spokesperson highlighted The JogOn Initiative — a campaign to prevent harassment and abuse against female runners. It involves plain-clothed officers running along popular routes looking out for predatory behaviour and harassment. However, only a handful of police forces run the initiative, mainly around Yorkshire, but not Scotland Yard. The NPCC spokesperson said: 'We would encourage anyone who feels unsafe in any public place in the UK to report it to police via StreetSafe so we can take action.' Fiona Vera-Grey, a violence against women and girls activist working at the London Metropolitan University, says she is not surprised by our findings as she knows people who have been victims of spitting. She believes perpetrators do it because it is 'demeaning, degrading and dehumanising'. 'Men probably do it because it's not going to be seen as a serious form of harm and likely won't be reported,' she said. She believes that if we lived in a society where violence against women and girls wasn't so prevalent, being spat at might not affect us so deeply. However, because it is connected to all other intrusions on women's safety, it feels even more upsetting. More Trending So, what can we do? Fiona wants women to unite to create consciousness, share their stories and become campaigners for women's safety. One thing is for sure: Once again, the onus for ending violence against women is falling into the hands of women. Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: 'Targeting women by spitting on them is a hostile, misogynistic act that is traumatising in its own right, but can also be part of a pattern that can lead to more violence. 'Women have the right to exist in public places safely, whether that's exercising or socialising… violence against women and girls is not inevitable.' Have you ever been spat at/on while running? No, I've not experienced that I'm not sure if it was intentional Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: Men and women are getting skin cancer on different parts of their bodies MORE: My husband shoved and spat on me on our wedding night MORE: This Japanese walking trend can make you live longer — it's a shame it's so annoying

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