stranger danger

I woke up late this morning, so by the time I got to the track Kara was already on her way back to the apartment. It was still pretty dark, and there was only one other person running and another man stretching in the cool down area. I ran for about half an hour, and the man was still there when I went to stretch. What freaked me out about it was that a) I was alone, b) I've seen him on other mornings, not always exercising, but just hanging around the track, and c) I watch too much Law & Order.

Kara has 3 tricks to feel safe at the track:
1: Always leave from a different gate than the one you came in.
2: Vary the days you go every week, so no one can pick up your pattern.
3: Wear a hat.

I feel like the third one is a little overboard. But the guy said hello to me as I was stretching, and I said good morning, but didn't make eye contact or smile so he wouldn't think I wanted to converse or have anything to do with him. Maybe he was just being friendly. Maybe I'm just crazy and acted rudely. But as Kara said, you can never be too careful.

Now I'm sure this seems extremely unfair to a lot of you males out there, and I've heard complaints from my own guy friends about girls who label the entire male gender as misogynists or rapists. I see how that could be frustrating. But to those who make the argument that it's unfair, or even a form of reverse sexism, I have to say... suck it up. Seriously. You might call us paranoid or bitchy, but consider why we feel this way. Women grow up learning that we can NEVER be too careful, we should ALWAYS be aware of our surroundings. There are stories on the news almost every day of rape victims, victims of domestic violence, and sex trafficking of young girls. The whole world tell us to watch our backs-- keep your eyes on your drink at all times, choose well-lit streets to walk down, don't go out alone past a certain hour depending on where you live, avoid dark corners, don't ride in the empty train car or the one with just one other man inside, the list goes on and on. We know that we shouldn't distrust all of you. We know you don't all deserve to share the blame or guilt. We know that men are also victims of crime. But at least you don't have to hesitate about going out at 9pm in a less-than-spectacular neighborhood to pick up toilet paper or pre-plan how you'll get home safely or who's house you'll stay at after a party. So I'm sorry if our paranoia strikes you as unfair, or makes you uncomfortable. But when feeling safe is never a given and we are constantly aware of the possibility of danger, the stress starts to wear down sometimes. So cut us some slack. And when we insist on traveling in packs to the bathroom, understand that it's a survival technique and not just us talking shit about you while we pee and fix our make up.

Kidding.






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