Gone for a run, a video of less than a minute and a half, starts innocently. A young woman goes for a run. She zips up her fleece vest and puts AirPods in her ears. She runs through the built-up area to a meadow that leads to a narrow forest path, with vegetation on either side. A small bridge looms in the distance. Hey, is there a guy in a hoodie?
The woman slowly walks to the bridge, only to increase the pace just before it. She does not look at the man as he passes, but the viewer sees how he watches her as she makes her way to civilization. Then a text appears on the screen: “Two in three women have been harassed while running. 92 percent are concerned about their own safety. Stop saying that women have to ensure their safety. Put an end to gender-based violence.”
That 92 percent comes true a survey from Adidas among 4,500 young women in nine countries. The other figure comes true a survey from the University of Manchester among about five hundred women who regularly run in that area. The figures seem to indicate a trend, but it does not involve extensive qualitative research – more about that later.
Cathy van Ingen, professor of kinesiology at Canada’s Brock University, made Gone for a run on the occasion of a national day of action in Canada against gender-based violence. The video appeared on social media earlier this month, after which it was widely shared. About fifty thousand people watched it, says Van Ingen, whose father was born in the Netherlands. She calls the responses “very moving and a bit overwhelming.”
According to Van Ingen, the images evoke a lot of recognition among women. The uncertainty when they pass someone who is behaving suspiciously. Adjusting walking routes for safety reasons. “A few women said their heart rates jumped when they saw the video. Some are furious that they cannot run undisturbed. Others noted that safety is not their sole responsibility. Still others shared stories of intimidation, assault or being chased. “Is there a safe place for us somewhere,” wrote a woman who was assaulted in broad daylight while running in a residential area.”
I was reminded of the reports last spring that women in several municipalities were hit on their buttocks (or worse) while running by boys on fat bikes, who posted images of this on social media. A young woman, Isabel, told at RTL News that two boys continued to harass her even after the unsolicited touch – it was still light, there were many people on the street. “They came after me and shouted things at me. I shouted at them loudly and ran away from them in a sprint.” She later reported the incident to the police.
The Amsterdam police said at the time that they were taking the incidents seriously. In a video on Instagram an officer said that “we were working very hard” on the investigation into the reported incidents. He called on women to report the crime. Also the police in Meppel placed a call on your own Facebook page.
How many arrests have been made? Have the police taken measures to prevent women from being harassed while running? Like in Surrey, a county in southeast England, where last summer a pilot was started with female police officers who jogged as bait to catch men. It resulted in eighteen arrests in one month, but also led to criticism: didn’t the police have better things to do? I do not expect that approach to be followed in the Netherlands.
In Amsterdam, forty female runners reported being touched uninvited by fat bike drivers this year, a spokeswoman for the capital’s police said. This has led to “no or virtually no” arrests. That’s because fat bikes don’t have license plates, she says, and victims often only see the driver from the back. “But the cases are still pending, we consider this a larger investigation.”
In Utrecht, six women reported being assaulted by boys on fat bikes between January and April, says a spokesperson for the local police. “We have taken it seriously, but it appears to be difficult to investigate further. You cannot randomly pull boys with black hoodies – often the description – off the street.”
A spokesperson for the Northern Netherlands police says that ten women filed a report between the end of March and the beginning of April after they were harassed on the south side of Meppel. The call on the Meppel police Facebook page encouraged women to come forward. “Five minors have been arrested. They are free again, but remain suspects. The file is now with the Public Prosecution Service.”
I am calling Corina van Doodewaard, senior researcher at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, who participates in global qualitative research into the experiences of women who run in public spaces. Twenty-two researchers in fourteen countries are participating in the study, which should be published in 2027. Women are interviewed individually or in groups and keep a diary for several months about their experiences while running. Why do they experience certain routes as unsafe?
Van Doodewaard started the first conversations with female runners at a time when there was a lot of attention for the safety of Dutch women: a few months after the incidents with the fat bikes, and a few weeks after the murder of 17-year-old Lisa from Abcoude. When I ask what she remembers most from the first conversations, she says: “How natural it is for women to practice self-discipline. They avoid unsafe tunnels, carry a tracker with them to be traced, and let the home front know when they leave.”
It sounds sensible, but I also have to think about the message in it Gone for a run: don’t tell women to take care of their own safety. If nothing changes, that is what we will continue to express.
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