Remember last winter, when I was getting yelled at daily from a bus stop full of high schoolers? Well I grew some balls and finally confronted them.
The question is, why do some men think they need to heckle me while I run!? They think that just because I am a girl, they have the right to tease me. I don't get it.
On Saturday I was running long so I ventured out farther than my normal neighborhood path. I had to cut past an industrial park to get back to my hood This was around mile eight. I was running up a hill, and on the other side of the road, there was a big tractor trailer backing up. There was a guy behind the trailer gesturing to the driver that he could keep backing up.
Then, he stopped gesturing, turned toward me, and decided to make the same gesture to me, urging me up the hill. "Come on, come on," he said. I gave him a wry smile and thought he should be paying attention to the tractor trailer backing up into him, not some girl he doesn't know minding her own business and trying to run up a hill in 80+ degrees!
I wasn't super angry, but I made the mental note that some men feel like they can heckle a woman simply because she's a woman. If I was a dude, that guy would not have done that to me. It may seem like a small thing, and maybe it's not a big deal, but it is definitely an observation I have been making. As you get older, you realize these things...
Ladies, do you ever get heckled by men on your runs?
Dudes, do you ever get heckled by other men? If you, then maybe my observation is incorrect!?
I agree with you! I don't think this happens to guys. I haven't been heckled in awhile, but I really hate it. Hopefully your frustration gave you some extra energy to get up that hill!
ReplyDeleteHey at least it gave me an idea for a blog post. :)
DeleteI highly doubt this happens to men, but I could be wrong. I don't get heckled. Seriously the only people up when I run are the milkmen and they are not a heckling bunch :)
ReplyDeleteI asked my dad, he says he doesn't get heckled. :)
DeleteI get a lot more honking than heckling. I think one of the big reasons I don't get a lot of heckling, though, is because where I live, there are alwayS so many people put running. So either they are too used to it to care, or they have a better choice to heckle Simone else.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. I am sure in areas where there are a lot of runners people get heckled way less often.
DeleteI have only been heckled once, and it was in a neighborhood I was passing through that I really knew better than to be running in. Lesson learned.
ReplyDeleteI get a lot of honks though, and it pisses me off simply because I don't get it. What is the appeal of honking at some random stranger? If you're doing it to get a reaction out of me, well, you're speeding by so fast that you don't have time to see my reaction so again what's the point? The honking itself is less annoying to me than the fact that there is no logic behind it. None.
I don't like honking because it SCARES me! I am thinking, wait was I in their way? I think it is sometimes dangerous to honk at someone for no actual reason.
DeleteI agree that the honking is dangerous because it scares me too and makes me jump/flinch. One time a truck went past and honked ... as they drove by I could see their bumper covered with running stickers so I suppose it was a honk of encouragement but it still startled me!
DeleteOf all the years I've been running and miles I have covered, I have only had three run-ins with creeps, two of which have been this last week. Those were borderline dangerous, but I've had a couple occurrences that were no big deal. Some teenage boys yelled "YOU'RE FAT" out the window at me. I'm not fat. And somebody threw a water balloon out their car window at me while they drove past. It would have really hurt if it got me but they missed.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what is crazier- the water balloons or the "you're fat" comment! You certainly had some creepy incidents this week.
DeleteI specifically hate the way that this asshole heckled you. The "c'mon, c'mon" with the gesture reminds me of how we speak to children or dogs when they are running around It's so disrespectful to do the same to a grown woman who is out exercising. I can think of a hand gesture that could have been given in return!
ReplyDeleteOkay now the way you described it makes me VERY angry! Some men think they can talk to women however they want. Obviously not all. I couldn't imagine Paul heckling a runner.
DeleteI don't get heckled much anymore. I do get run off the road occasionally. Just last week a guy in a silver Lexus drove all the way over to the curb where I was running, just to prove a point, I guess. The street is really wide, and it made no other sense to me. I stopped and so did he. A**hole. Once I glared at him through the window, he took off. Pissed me off. Why do people play games like that? You never know who you're dealing with.
ReplyDeleteOh my word that is SCARY. I have had cars purposefully not give me room but no one ever got closer to me on purpose. Grab his plate number and report!
DeleteI love the way you tell stories, Karen. It makes me laugh!
ReplyDeleteUgh. He probably thought he was being encouraging, but unless he's a fellow runner giving a nod and a "keep it up", I wish people would keep it to themselves. And he wouldn't have said it/gestured if you were a guy.
ReplyDeleteYup he totally would have ignored me if I was a dude.
DeleteGross. I don't usually get heckled because my routes are pretty secluded but when it is late and I run I usually do it along a main stretch in my town. The other day when I was running a car approaching from behind gave a friendly beep, which happens often since I have a lot of running friends who do this. I waved and when they passed me I realized that I had waved to a bunch of teenage perverts who were just being creeps. Smooth Heather.
ReplyDeleteUgh just another example of dudes acting however they want toward a woman.
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