I’m writing up my book’s section on female runners’ experiences of harassment. I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who shared their experiences. The response was overwhelming: such a powerful picture of the extent to which women suffer in, & are driven from, public space.

I’m sorry I haven’t been able to reply personally to everyone. But please be assured I’ve read (or will read) every single reply, and am collating them all into a document, that I hope to include in the book. They’re such important testimonies. I hope women who read the thread

found it helpful, too: I personally find it hugely helpful to realise my own experiences of being harassed are part of a wider pattern, that it’s not to do with anything I’ve done wrong. Street harassment is so ubiquitous, so normalised as part of the wallpaper of women’s lives

that it’s often not taken seriously. A US judge refused to prosecute a case on the basis that it would be tantamount to criminalising “generally accepted behaviour”. But seeing it laid out like this, in this thread, shows the scale & extent & horror of the phenomenon.

As a society, we should not accept this behaviour. Men’s harassment is an outrage and it drives women from public space and deprives us of the ability to enjoy outdoor exercise & its benefits. Your responses to this thread makes this clear. Thank you, & solidarity xxxxx