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

I go running in the dark regularly, I feel its well lit here

If places aren’t lit, I light them. I have a hand and head torch and can always see where I’m going. My street isn’t lit so I need them just to take the bin out.

So everywhere can be lit up easily just by always having a light with you. Most people at least have a torch on their phone and I always have an actual torch in my bag.

Places with nobody around are the best/safest - nobody is there! I’ll always choose the quiet, chill towpath over the high street full of knob heads spilling out of pubs!

Yes I would be fine to go out after dark pretty much anywhere

Yes, happy to walk alone in the dark.

Not totally safe in my estate as we have stupid energy saving street lights that are terrifying. I tend to take a head torch and golf umbrella.

Fine once I'm on the main road and town centre as there's always cars and other pedestrians.

Of course. When I lived in London, with the same precautions as in any urban setting, and when I lived on the edge of a village in the midlands, when I would walk out into the fields in the middle of the night if I couldn’t sleep.

No, I don't really feel safe.
The area I live in is rough as arseholes, so not here
And when I worked in London at night, I didn't feel particularly safe then either.

I can see why people have scary dogs though. I've walked my friend's bullmastiff loads of times since he hurt his ankle and I always feel safe. If somebody stated walking a bit too close behind me I'd probs be removing the muzzle 'just in case'.

I go out walking in the dark almost every night by myself, it’s a moment of peace for me.
Usually a mixture of main roads; down quiet residential areas and mostly with proper lighting including down alleyways but also through a few areas of woodland with no lights as it’s one of the routes I take.
My town frequently pops up on those threads about the most awful/rough places to live - I’m not scared nor have I ever felt scared.
9/10pm, there’s often one or two people out walking dogs or just on their own.

I was brought up to be scared of going out during the night. It was always treated as a major issue to be out after dark. My dad even asked me once if I was going out after dark at uni. In the middle of winter. Um. I did tell him I never did...

But actually now, I do normally feel safe, but I would tend to avoid somewhere which was totally unpopulated and away from people. I'd happily walk round our estate at any time, for example. But I wouldn't go into the woods after dark.

There have been times when a place I normally feel safe in, I don't for various reasons. The woods I mentioned above, I go during the light and there aren't many people around, and only twice can I say I felt unsafe. Once when someone cycled past, and stopped, turned round and started staring, and the other time I can't remember why I felt unsafe, but I suddenly did. Both times I immediately walked straight out and jumped over the ditch to be back on a road with houses on, and immediately felt better.

I have always walked alone in the dark since being a teenager. I've always felt completely safe. I wouldn't walk through a crime ridden area (the type of places that are dangerous for men and women with high rates of muggings etc) at 3am but happily walk through my city centre and on to suburban streets. I've also always walked through woods, fields and countryside alone. Maybe I'm naive but I'm happy to risk it. Most women are attacked by people they know. I don't know any woman who's ever been attacked by a random stranger but I do know women who've been assaulted by men they were dating, people they knew etc.

I'm sorry you feel that way. In all the places I have lived I have pretty much felt safe to walk with purpose around my local area. (New York, Central London, high crime areas of NW London) If I was somewhere unfamiliar then maybe I'd be wary, but only of getting lost rather than being attacked etc.
It is really rare to be attacked or assaulted by a stranger on the street. Do you live in a very high crime area? Text a mate to say your going for a walk and keep in contact with them. Tell them you are a bit anxious and then you can call them if you need. Ask them to check in with you in x minutes etc. Or if there are friends locally could you organise going out together of an evening for a stroll?

Not anymore. I used to. In my 20s and 30s I took
more risks with my safety. Now in my early 40s and since becoming a mother I hate coming home on my own in the dark, even using taxis. I have also been followed twice in broad daylight. Once when I was at university coming home, and the second a few years ago when I was pregnant walking near our home.

Yes I feel safe where I live to go out when it's dark.

I walk home when it's dark on evening. me and my child walk back from guides at 9 o clock for 45 minutes. i feel ok

I feel safe. I’ve been walking in the dark in various towns and cities for almost 50 years now and only had one minor incident.

There is no way I would impose a curfew on myself.

I walk by myself late at night and feel safe however i live in a statistically safe area. Its also busy even in the early hours so plenty of folj around

I feel safe where I live and occasionally walk in the dark. I live semi rurally so after dark would stick to residential areas and avoid woods and fields.

I wouldn't feel safe when its dark. There are too many dodgy people out there lurking and ready to take an opportunity.

I've joined a nice gym and spa ( (David Lloyd) so I can be there late at night if necessary.

I go out alone after dark. Sometimes with my dog but often without. I have MH issues and often need to walk at midnight or later. My husband doesn’t really like it and has called the police in the past if I’ve been ages down by the river or something but mostly he lets me get on with it. My CMHT see it as risky behaviours though. I always ask, would they class it as risky if I was a man?

I feel safer walking in the dark in my neighbourhood than I would walking around the local nature reserve/woods etc on my own in the day time.

I go out in almost any neighbourhood in Europe, any time of day or night.

I was in a dodgy park with DS a few weeks back, in California, in daylight but happy to have a large teen DS with me. Scruffy rough-sleeper people about.

Grew up in London and have been comfortable walking around at any time of day or night. The only place I've ever felt genuinely unsafe was in the Middle East at night time.

I’ll walk round my block in the dark before 10pm but not any further than that and never into the park by my road.

That’s so funny as I felt so much safer walking around Dubai at night than I do in London. Evenings in Dubai are full of families popping out for a milkshake after their siesta. Evenings in London are full of drunks.