By Amanda Klein
Advisory Editor
I love to run. I’ve run four races in the last year, and I’m training for a 10k in May. I zone out, listen to my iPod and look at the Allegheny River.
Once I hear footsteps behind me, that pleasantry fades. Panic sets in.
Even if it’s mildly irrational, I am terrified of being attacked while out on a run.
But how irrational is it, really?
One out of every six women in the United States will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape, according to the Rape, Assault and Incest National Network (RAINN). Just last week, I read an article on runnersworld.com about a woman who was assaulted on the Bloomington Rail Trail in Indiana while running. Her story, written from her perspective, was meant to be inspirational, but it scared me to the core.
Even though, through a serendipitous coincidence, her attacker was in the hospital she went to and was arrested, this is not the norm. Most attackers do not spend a day in jail for their actions, according to RAINN.
So I set out on my 6-mile Saturday run with fear weighing me down. I would hear footsteps behind me, or see someone walking in the opposite direction, and the inevitable panic would set in.
It’s ridiculous to think this way — to have this fear- whether it’s me or anyone else.
Women are consistently told not to walk alone at night, to carry pepper spray or walk with their keys between their fingers, not dress provocatively because then we’re “asking for it,” not to leave their drink at a party uncovered. It’s important to be vigilant, ladies. You never know what could happen.
While it’s important to be vigilant, this vigilance spawns from the fear we’ll inevitably be raped. The sad reality is rape is pinned on the women; it’s our responsibility to prevent it because … why? Men can’t control themselves and are rendered idiotic, helpless fools in the presence of our feminine wiles? Really?
April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Instead of the tired, old message about women having to be the ones to prevent sexual assault, we should be telling men how important it is to treat women with respect. We should be telling men to use the buddy system if they feel the need to rape someone; to carry around pepper spray to use against themselves if they suddenly want to rape; to assume women dressed provocatively aren’t into rape; that if a women leaves her drink unattended at a party, you shouldn’t put the rape drug in it.
We should be teaching men this is their problem, and they are the solution, not women.
kleinaj@bonaventure.edu
