To ask if you feel safe as a woman to walk outside alone after dark

[Flufferblub]

I've been stuck indoors sick for a few days where I've been ill. I'm quite over weight and feel as though I need to go for a walk. I feel like I need to walk off the first meal I've had for a few days, as I feel quite uncomfortable. But I can't. Because I'm a woman and I don't feel safe enough to go out walking alone after dark. It's a shame that I don't feel safe enough to go out and get fresh air and exercise as a woman. Am I overly anxious, or is it just sensible to not go out alone at night? How do other women feel about this?

Thanks

It doesn’t bother me, it never has.

To add here..

I am one of those statistics of a lone woman who was attacked by a stranger when walking home at night (11pm, not drunk). I still do it... because its a situation I can control. I'm more worried about spaces I can be trapped, like taxis or lifts. But on foot... there is escape routes. You can never eliminate risk completely.

I live in the country. Often go out in the dark at 4am with the dogs in the winter as it's the only time I can walk before work and I like to get fresh air and steps in.

Buy a head torch.

Yes and no tbf.
Between 4pm and 7pm on a winters eve is vastly different from 12am till 3am.
I could walk to and from local transport anytime of night, but I'm a very tall and quite muscular woman and not conventionally attractive (not that that should matter in the slightest).
There would be a few obvious spots in my area I would avoid after 10pm but not necessarily at 5pm during winter. I think it all depends on where you are and how vulnerable you are; if I was with my son my parameters would change dramatically.

I feel safe walking in the darkening central London. And in the village where i grew up.

No, not after a certain time and especially when dark.

Those who say they feel safe, your only safe u til your not.
Anything can happen at any time.
Too many weirdos around.

Yes, where I live I feel safe walking on my own in the dark.

How can you control the situation?

I live in a rural village and would probs not go out after 7pm, it's very quiet here once all the shops are shut. Walking on the outskirts of the city from university to where I park my car I feel vulnerable but not really scared because there's cars passing and it's well-lit. It depends on how many people are about and the lighting.

Always have, always will walk any time of day or night.

I walk my dog alone sometimes between 7-10pm in my neighbourhood which I seem to be safe. I have my wits about me. I would keep to lit streets though. When walking dog in the day I wouldn’t walk in remote places alone.

Generally I feel ok and walk a fair bit in the dark. But occasionally it feels uncomfortable, if I'm heading home after an evening out for example. I don't know why, but I feel more vulnerable then.

The same applies in the day.

I feel safe where I live. However i wouldn’t go into obviously dodgy places - I don’t suppose anyone would. I am always aware of anyone else walking nearby and keep alert.

Well where do you live?

I frequently walk after dark and also walk home after nights out (distance on 1 mile or so). However I understand people who won't. I keep alert and it's all well lit. I did have an evening in the summer where I got unexpectedly very drunk and a good male friend put me in a taxi (and paid, bless him) because I was setting off to walk home.

No I don’t feel safe walking in the dark.
I do it ( work) but would prefer not to

@theduchessofspork Fields and woods - because I can't see what's around me. In daylight I can see across the fields for miles, or through the trees - in the dark you don't have that advantage. Also the woods near us are notorious for drug deals. They're not interested in a middle aged woman in the daytime and I ignore them, but at night it feels riskier.

After 9pm - it's just so much quieter. At 7ish there are plenty of cars around and people going home, but later on there's almost nothing.

Yes I walk alone after dark. I mean, I wouldn't walk down a dark deserted alleyway / towpath / lane etc in the dead of night. But it gets dark at 4pm in winter. I live in a small town and am comfortable walking around the town, or home from the train station to my house even as late as the last train (so around midnight) - this is walking along streetlit residential roads. Used to live in London and would happily walk around any place where there are other people about after dark.

As a city girl, I’ve always (maybe naively) felt safe in London because there are always lights and people around. The country side at night scares me because I feel like nobody would notice if anything bad happened.

But I have friends from more rural areas who feel the opposite.

I have no issue walking around on my own after dark. I never have had. I grew up in a small town; late teens and early 20s Sheffield and now live in one of the Barnsley towns. In all of these places I have neer thought twice about walking on my own at night;
I also go on holdiday on my own to Turkey and, whilst there, regularly walk back to the place I am staying on my own, after midnight.

I am 69. The day I am scared to go out alone is the day I no longer want to be here.

I do think, despite my age, I give off some sort of 'don't fuck with me vibe' as I have been in situations where others have had issues but I never have. I don't think I am invincible, and I know there is no guarantee that nothing will happen to me in the future. I also know, if I am scared to go out, 'they' (whoever they are) have won.

Life is to be lived. If I am not living then I don't want to exist

I would up until 8ish then no. I live in a lovely (alrhough now more crime).

I used to walk home from the bars/club anytime upto 6am but wouldn’t now!

I live in the suburbs of Birmingham in a not-really-rough area but I wouldn't walk alone. I'd drive and walk to the door with keys in hand etc, or go on a longer walk accompanied but I wouldn't feel happy walking by myself. My street is lit but not to the point where it feels comfortable and even on the high street I wouldn't walk alone after 8pm. My husband and I regularly have this convo as he wants to walk to a local activity (10-15 mins walk) and I prefer to drive because the walk is fine at 7.30pm but not at 9.30/10pm back if he goes to the pub and I'm alone.

I think some of that thought process is influenced because I'm overweight (can't run away) and clumsy (might fall and twist my ankle which I do regularly and more likely to happen in the dark)

No, I don’t feel safe. But I get on with it if and when I have to. Come to think of it, it's not that often Im out alone after dark really. Either with DP or my friends.

Pullmybrainout
The chance of something happening might be small but men are opportunistic and the consequences could be devastating

^^This. Im not a particularly fearful person. & I'm not small, I can defend myself but doubt I could fight a man. I'm also not stupid enough to pretend terrible things don't happen to women at the hands of men, and be reckless just to prove (to who, & why?) how brave I am.

I feel fine walking around after dark. It's dark when I go out to pick up the dc in winter so we just have to get on with it. Used to go to the gym and fitness classes until 10pm and walk home on my own (I don't any more since I had dcs, but I expect I'll do it again once they're older). I live in the centre of London so there are street lamps, cars and pedestrians about and shops and pubs that are open. I'd feel more nervous being out in a quiet village with no lights and no one else on the streets.

It depends on whether other people are about. 5 to 7 p.m in the dark doesn't seem less safe than 5 to 7 p.m in daylight although I wouldn't walk through a park, I suppose.