Female runners arming themselves with 'deep heat spray' amid disturbing rise in men 'spitting' on women runners
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"One in ten women say they have been spat on while running - as 'spitting' on women becomes an alarming and underreported form of street harassment.
LBC's Shelagh Fogarty spoke to Alice Giddings, a journalist at Metro, who worked with her publication to commission a study that found almost half of those surveyed (1,500 female runners) would feel safer if they were legally allowed to carry pepper spray.
Alice was a victim of this disturbing form of harassment, previously telling Shelagh about the horrific experience in May: "I was coming to the end of my run, I started to slow down and heard shouting, swearing, [I then] turned around and a giant glob of spit landed on my leg."
Ms Giddings said it was "very apparent that it was intentional".
Unfortunately, two weeks later, the same thing happened again.
Ms Giddings appeared on Shelagh's show again to talk about how women are so afraid that they are considering arming themselves with a weapon.
The original study found that 10% of female runners have been spat at or spat on while running.
This alarming statistic led Metro to commission another survey, which found 48% of women runners said they'd feel safer if they were legally allowed to take a form of spray as a defence against men while they are running.
Ms Giddings told Shelagh: "Six per cent of women runners, which actually equates to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of women already do take a form of spray out."
She described how an alternative to pepper spray that some women are turning to is "deep heat spray".
However, using a self-defence weapon in the UK remains illegal - no matter its form.
"The second you essentially step out of the door with anything, even if it's a mundane, everyday item, if you have intent to use that to protect yourself, it's illegal.
"And you'll honestly probably end up with a worse punishment than someone who is harassing you. And it's a really bleak reality," she told LBC.
This is because, compared to the US, UK law "has a focus on de-escalation and conflict resolution", Ms Giddings explained.
Ms Giddings told Shelagh the second survey "points to a hugely systemic problem in the terms that ... women have been conditioned and unfortunately do feel that the onus is on us to protect ourselves from men while we're out running."
She described how an alternative to pepper spray that some women are turning to is "deep heat spray".
She described how an alternative to pepper spray that some women are turning to is "deep heat spray". Picture: Alamy
Shocked by the initial attack, Ms Giddings commissioned a study alongside Women's Running after posting a call-out on a women's social media group to find out if others had been impacted by the horrendous incident.
Ms Giddings told Shelagh in May she was astonished by the response: "I got 80 replies in 24 hours".
Ms Giddings continued: "Every single woman I've spoken to was spat on in busy built up areas. So it's not like they're in a park alone at night - they're taking every precaution they can and it's still not working."
She added: "the onus should be on men, it shouldn't be on women to have to protect ourselves. We need to educate people and we need to make it more of an issue about it."
Ms Giddings slammed the actions of those who commit acts of street harassment, telling Shelagh: "It's hurtful and it's traumatising, and it hurts even more that we are subjected to so many more acts of violence against women and this is, unfortunately, the cherry on top."
She called for greater education of young boys in schools.
"We need to start having these conversations. Yes, it's not all men, but it's a lot of men."
Ms Giddings explained that the awful incident led to her changing her routine as she would then only run with her partner and would avoid the busy road where the attacks took place.
This comes as the Metropolitan Police are looking into reports of body-slamming attacks across London after four people were assaulted in Mile End in May, according to the Express.
TikTok user Ayla Mellek begged Londoners to be careful as she recounted an incident where a man deliberately "body-slammed" her to the ground on an East London canal path.
She said in a TikTok video: "I just got assaulted today in broad daylight."
Mellek said she was walking on the canal path in Mile End when she saw "this guy running towards me."
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mk
in reply to AnungIkwe ᐊᓈᓐg ᐃᑴ • • •im sure deep heat spray will cool the guys down..
your stunning and brave. protect yourself!