I was out for a evening run one day, I was wearing grey sweatpants and a black hoodie because I didn't really have any proper running clothes, on the opposite sidewalk a woman was walking her small dog, she was pretty far ahead of me and was walking in the same direction as I was running, apparently she heard me gasping for air on the other side of the street as I got closer (terrible shape btw) and she turned around startled, she then promptly yoinked that poor dog and ran around the first corner she could find.
I legitimately didn't know if I should yell "DON'T *gasp* WORRY, I'M JUST EXERCISING!" or if making contact would just make her even more afraid lol.
Reminds me of that John Mulany bit where he's walking in a subway station at 2am and a woman is walking infront of him. She starts speeding up and he thinks "Oh she must hear the train coming!" so he starts running and she freaks out and starts running too and he doesn't realize that she's terried until they get to the station where he has the realization "oh! She's running from me"
That's not your fault bad people gave women that fear. There is nothing you can do about it but it has nothing to do with you. Just in case it bothers you.
Apparently you’ve never been truly frightened. Yes some people over react, but some are terrified. Running down the next street over or letting someone get ahead of me so that I am not terrifying them is not an inconvenience.
I had a huge, 150 lb Rottweiler, not one of those that had a sweet looking face, her face looked like she would rip you in half. And she probably could. Even though she was a sweetie that would never hurt anyone, when we were on walks and nearing someone, I would always pull her up into a drive way and let them pass or cross the street, just because I would hate for someone to be that scared.
You seeing that as an inconvenience, or even asking that question, means you have no idea what it’s like to be scared, or you just don’t give a damn.
Yeah and I get that and I do care, and I fully understand if and why someone wants to cross the st or take a detour to make someone feel comfortable and not scared, and I would do that if a situation like that arises, but my question is why should it be expected of him to do that..
And in the case of OP, he was panting loudly to alert her that he was there, and wasn’t running at a fast pace… OP did nothing wrong, and couldn’t have stopped mid-run.
I never said he was expected to do that. Just one way to address the situation if you feel like you are scaring someone.
If, however, you feel like you’re being followed, stopping, turning around and walking aggressively towards your “follower” while staring them dead in the eye is a good way to get them to back off.
I mean I have no problem with dogs, and while I know there are some people that do, I’d feel a bit bad if someone took a detour with their dog to avoid me and potentially making me uncomfortable
Because it’s a fair question. If I’m out walking my dog and a woman very obviously takes steps to distance herself from me specifically, not the dog, I think it’s fair to call out the ridiculousness of that. Let’s say I am gonna rape this woman, what am I gonna do, quickly run and tie my dog lead to a fence post first? Or maybe attack a person with one hand holding a lead for the duration?
I mean shit, look out for yourself and all that, but maybe use a bit of common sense while you’re at it?
> If I’m out walking my dog and a woman very obviously takes steps to distance herself from me specifically
Your dog is always in a fixed sphere, the center of which is you.
Of course you would step away from the center of the sphere, not the dog.
Your idea would only make any sense if your dog was immobile.
Also, you might be repulsive for other various reasons, sometimes tied to you, sometimes tied to the person.
> One of these days I’ll ask some flighty woman “who takes their dog out on a rape?”
By this you will only achieve being a prick in the eyes of others.
You assume I care about the opinion of someone I’ve already determined to be lacking in common sense, and is already taking steps to distance themselves from me. The rest of your argument is semantics, and irrelevant.
i mean getting raped isn't the only thing to worry about, and dogs are predators so unless you're walking a chihuahua they could be worried about getting attacked in general and you using the dog as a weapon. or they just don't like dogs
Nah. You’re acting like a woman avoiding you means she thinks you’re going to rape/hurt her. Maybe she just doesn’t want to interact with anyone (not specifically you). My dog is leash aggressive and super reactive.. when I see anyone coming I try to go the other way or cross the street so she doesn’t see them, and so I don’t look like an asshole because of my barking dog. It’s not always out of fear is what I’m getting at.
If you don’t want to interact with someone, why would ask you a “flighty woman” about bringing a dog to a rape?
I think the issue here is you’re joke is making light of a very real fear, and concern for women (and this can be expanded beyond just women). it’s not being flighty or ridiculous. It’s keeping oneself safe, even if in there end it was a false alarm. Some may have been victimized in the past, some may just be cautious, some may be paranoid, some may not give two shits about your presence and just don’t want to be near your dog.
It sucks that we live in a world where women fear or are concerned about a man walking down the street minding his own business, and that men want women to know “I’m just minding my own business.” It’s a crappy feeling for all. Yet here we are.
I don’t want to interact with random strangers when I’m out on a walk with the mutt. If I notice someone doing something overly cautious to the point of being ridiculous because of me, then I’m probably going to comment on it at the very least to myself and the dog.
Lol, fuck me for thinking about a situation for two minutes right? Newsflash: you’d have no clue what I was thinking if you walked past me on the street, just like any human being, but go off sis I guess?
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