Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

We investigated runners’ experiences of public harassment and the association between gender and sexual orientation and harassment. We hypothesized that cisgender women and LGBQ+ individuals would report more harassment, fear of harassment, and behavioral changes than cisgender men and straight individuals. Adult United States runners (N = 1,645, primarily cisgender women) completed an online survey assessing lifetime and past-year experiences of harassment, fear, behavioral changes, and harassment attributions. Most participants (84.2%) reported at least one form of harassment while running (M = 3.55 types). Gender interacted with sexual orientation such that sexual minority cisgender women reported significantly more lifetime and past-year harassment than straight cisgender women (gs = 0.44–0.45). For fear and behavioral changes, only gender was significant, with cisgender women reporting more fear and behavioral changes than cisgender men (gs = 0.99–1.06). Cisgender women also were more likely than cisgender men to attribute the harassment to gender (ϕ = .70). LGBQ+ individuals reported significantly more attributions to sexual orientation (ϕ = .16) than straight individuals but not more fear or behavioral changes. This study, the largest investigation of harassment among runners, highlights the need for prevention campaigns to make public spaces safer for all runners.

Keywords

public harassment street harassment running LGBQ gender

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bowman

C. G.

(1993). Street harassment and the informal ghettoization of women. Harvard Law Review, 106(3), 517–580. https://doi.org/10.2307/1341656

Brockschmidt

Wadey

(2022). Runners’ experiences of street harassment in London. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 14(3), 345–362. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2021.1943502

Carretta

R. F.

Szymanski

D. M.

(2020). Stranger harassment and PTSD symptoms: Roles of self-blame, shame, fear, feminine norms, and feminism. Sex Roles, 82(9–10), 525–540. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01073-5

Comstock

G. D.

(1991). Violence against lesbians and gay men. Columbia University Press.

DC Office of Human Rights. (2020). The state of street harassment in DC: A report on the first year of implementing the street harassment prevention act. https://ohr.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ohr/publication/attachments/OHR_SHPA_Report_APRIL2020_FINAL.pdf

DelGreco

Christensen

(2020). Effects of street harassment on anxiety, depression, and sleep quality of college women. Sex Roles, 82(7–8), 473–481. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01064-6

Fairchild

Rudman

L. A.

(2008). Everyday stranger harassment and women’s objectification. Social Justice Research, 21(3), 338–357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-008-0073-0

Gardner

C. B.

(1995). Passing by: Gender and public harassment. University of California Press.

Gimlin

(2010). Uncivil attention and the public runner. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27(3), 268–284. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.27.3.268

10.

Hagerty

Kearl

Mason

Ripplinger

(2013). Know your rights: Street harassment and the law. Stop Street Harassment. https://stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/SSH-KnowYourRights-StreetHarassmentandtheLaw-20131.pdf

11.

Hamilton

(2017, August 8). Running while female. Runner’s World. https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a18848270/running-while-female/

12.

Hespanhol Junior

L. C.

Pillay

J. D.

van Mechelen

Verhagen

(2015). Meta-analyses of the effects of habitual running on indices of health in physically inactive adults. Sports Medicine, 45(10), 1455–1468. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0359-y

13.

James

S. E.

Herman

J. L.

Rankin

Keisling

Mottet

Anafi

(2016). The report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf

14.

Jennings

(2011, November 14). Why is running so White? Runner’s World. https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20807821/why-is-running-so-white/

15.

Kachel

Steffens

M. C.

Preuß

Simpson

A. P.

(2020). Gender (conformity) matters: Cross-dimensional and cross-modal associations in sexual orientation perception. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 40–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19883902

16.

Kearl

(2014). Unsafe and harassed in public spaces: A national street harassment report. Stop Street Harassment. https://www.stopstreetharassment.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2014-National-SSH-Street-Harassment-Report.pdf

17.

Kearl

(2018). The facts behind the #MeToo movement: A national study on sexual harassment and assault. Stop Street Harassment. https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/full-report-2018-national-study-on-sexual-harassment-and-assault.pdf

18.

Kearl

Johns

N. E.

Raj

(2019). Measuring #MeToo: A national study on sexual harassment and assault. UC San Diego Center on Gender Equity and Health & Stop Street Harassment. https://gehweb.ucsd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-metoo-national-sexual-harassment-and-assault-report.pdf

19.

Kim

H.-Y.

(2013). Statistical notes for clinical researchers: Assessing normal distribution (2) using skewness and kurtosis. Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics, 38(1), 52–54. https://doi.org/10.5395/rde.2013.38.1.52

20.

Lee

Pate

R. R.

Lavie

C. J.

Sui

Church

T. S.

Blair

S. N.

(2014). Leisure-time running reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 64(5), 472–481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2014.04.058

21.

Lenhard

(2016). Computation of effect sizes. Psychometrica. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17823.92329

22.

Lenton

Smith

M. D.

Fox

Morra

(1999). Sexual harassment in public places: Experiences of Canadian women. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie, 36(4), 517–540. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-618X.1999.tb00962.x

23.

Logan

L. S.

(2013). Fear of violence and street harassment: Accountability at the intersections [Doctoral dissertation]. Kansas State University. https://krex.k-state.edu/bitstream/handle/2097/15949/LauraLogan2013.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

24.

Logan

L. S.

(2015). Street harassment: Current and promising avenues for researchers and activists. Sociology Compass, 9(3), 196–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12248

25.

Major

W. F.

(2008). Is safety a concern for women runners? Academic Leadership: The Online Journal, 6(2), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.58809/QRVN2436

26.

McGuire

(2021, May 9). 50 female runners share their stories of catcalling, harassment and abuse. Runner’s World. https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/a36188246/being-a-female-runner/

27.

McLoughlin

(2021, September 21). 45.85% of female runners have experienced harassment (Survey). RunRepeat. https://runrepeat.com/running-harassment-survey

28.

Oswald

Campbell

Williamson

Richards

Kelly

(2020). A scoping review of the relationship between running and mental health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21), 8059. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218059

29.

Roper

E. A.

(2016). Concerns for personal safety among female recreational runners. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 24(2), 91–98. https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.2015-0013

30.

Runner's World Editors. (2021, May 9). 60% of women we surveyed have been harassed while running. Runner’s World. https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/a36278390/reclaim-the-run/

31.

Scarr

Hamilton

(2020, September 21). 46% of female runners in the UK say they have been harassed while running. Runner’s World. http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/training/a775643/running-while-female/

32.

Smith

(1997). Incivil attention and everyday intolerance: Vicissitudes of exercising in public places. In Gardner

C. B.

Holstein

J. A.

Miller

(Eds.), Perspectives on social problems: Public harassment (pp. 59–79). JAI Press.

33.

Sports & Fitness Industry Association. (2020). 2020 sports, fitness, and leisure activities topline participation report. https://sfia.org/research/

34.

Wesely

J. K.

Gaarder

(2004). The gendered “nature” of the urban outdoors: Women negotiating fear of violence. Gender & Society, 18(5), 645–663. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243204268127

35.

(2019, October 10). Women deserve to run without fear. Runner’s World. https://www.runnersworld.com/women/a29356446/women-run-without-fear/

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.03 MB

Public Harassment of Runners in the United States: Differences by Gender and Sexual Orientation

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material