Running Made Me A Feminist

More accurately, long-distance running made me a feminist. I think if I had been a soccer player, swimmer, or sprinter I wouldn't have been outraged enough to become such a steadfast feminist.

What does long-distance running have to do with feminism? Long-distance running highlights one of the great inequalities between the sexes-- namely, that women have to worry about being raped and men typically don't think twice about it.

As a long distance runner, I constantly evaluated the safety of every workout. I weighed the factors that affected my safety: time of day, whether I was going in a group or alone, the location, recent crimes in the area, even the weather (less people are out right before a storm so you are more isolated then).

More than that, almost every woman on my high school cross-country team was assaulted or had an attempted assault at one time during the course of her four years of training.

It make me absolutely boiling with rage furious that I can't just go out and run where and when I want to like my guy friends. I miss out on so many beautiful trails. I miss out on the peace of mind. My favorite recreational activity would be limitless if I were a man-- I could run whenever I wanted. Instead, it involves careful risk analysis, and sometimes precautions such as carrying my cell phone and/or pepper spray.

Back in high school I read the gamut of feminist writers, from the more mainstream Gloria Steinem and Naomi Wolf to the more radical Catharine MacKinnon. The writings of the feminist movement helped me clarify and solidify my positions, but the real fire of feminism for me was born in the injustice of the many days that I felt unsafe going out and doing the workout that my body so ached for-- be it a long run in Duke forest alone or a midnight jaunt around my neighborhood.

And I'm proud to still call myself a feminist, I don't really get it when some in my generation work so hard to avoid that label, but maybe they were never long-distance runners.