The other day, a female friend shared with me what is, to most women, a run of the mill experience. She’d been heading home through her local park, at dusk, when she noticed a man walking behind her, a bit too close for comfort. “The whole way, I was debating with myself whether I should turn around to face him so he knew I was aware, or to show him that he was being thoughtless and needed to drop back,” she said.
Obviously, she had her phone and keys in hand, too. Nothing out of the ordinary, then. In fairness, since the murder of Sarah Everard three years ago, I have noticed more men crossing the road to keep their distance, making an effort to demonstrate that they don’t pose a danger after dark.
Most won’t (women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know than by a stranger). But they might? And how do we know? It means we’re in self-defence mode the whole time, like coiled springs. We know that blokes don’t have to think about this stuff in the same way, but it never hurts to remind them.
That’s what Saoirse Ronan did on The Graham Norton Show over the weekend, on which she appeared alongside fellow actors Eddie Redmayne, Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington. When Redmayne mentioned being taught how to use his phone as a weapon, during training for his latest film, Mescal joked that he wouldn’t consider pulling his mobile out if he was in danger. “Who is actually going to think about that? If someone actually attacked me, I’m not going to go.
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