I remember hearing the tragic and horrific story about Eliza Fletcher when it broke. She was a thirty-four year old teacher and runner living in Memphis, Tennessee who was kidnapped and ultimately murdered by a man driving an SUV while running at 4:00 in the morning on September 2nd, 2022. Many people have spoken out about this incident on social media and have dedicated runs to her in her honor. "Finishing Eliza's run" so to speak. The other day I Googled Eliza Fletcher's name to read up any recent news surrounding her death. When I Googled her name here are the top three articles that pop up. "Eliza Fletcher's murder reminds female runners of threat while running", "Women reconsider running gear, safety after Eliza Fletcher's death", and the third one, "Man accused of killing Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher pleads not guilty to unrelated 2021 rape charges".
What happened to Eliza Fletcher is bad enough. It's a horrific act, and I hope that the man who committed this act goes to prison for a long time and gets his ass kicked. I'm using the term "man" pretty loosely because guys who do this kind of stuff aren't real men, they're pathetic cowards. My good thoughts go out to her family and those who were a part of her life. I wish them all the best through this difficult time. But people, this problem only starts here. This problem is much bigger than what happened in Memphis at 4:00 AM on September 2nd. Out of the top three Google searches I mentioned above, the first two, I think, fully showcase the severity of this problem. Whenever something like this happens people always look to women to be more aware of their surroundings and protect themselves more. I understand the need for this, but it sucks that women have to be put in this position. "Why were you running alone?" "why were you running at 4:00 AM?" "You shouldn't have been wearing what you were wearing". Uh, say what?
The last I heard, we as Americans, women and men, can run whenever we damn well please, and we can run alone, with one another person, or with a hundred other people if we feel like it. When this kind of thing happens we need to stop blaming the victim. If it had been a guy who was out running alone at 4:00 AM, would we be asking why he was out alone, or why he was running so early in the morning? Hell no. Again, I understand the need for women to protect themselves, but I don't think that creating a fear based environment for female runners is the solution to the problem. The real solution to the problem is holding men to a higher standard and holding them accountable for their actions.
Just about every female runner I know has endured some form of bullshit from guys while running alone at least once. They've been cat called, stared at, or harassed. Whenever I hear these stories I feel sorry for them and the first thing out of my mouth is "I'm sorry you have to deal with that. That's just not right". Telling them that they shouldn't run alone, they shouldn't run at certain times of the day, etc. never even crossed my mind. Why? Because we shouldn't be blaming the victim. They're not the problem. The pathetic scumbag dudes are the problem. And they need to be educated.
I hope sometime soon the day will come when people finally realize that men need to be held more accountable in situations like this. I'm not being a traitor to my gender, but we really need to do better. It's important that we make our wives, girlfriends, fiancés, female friends, sisters, cousins, moms, aunts, etc. feel like they don't have to be so scared of running alone or at certain times of the day. Unfortunately this won't be the last time something like this happens, but I hope that one of these days, the Google results will yield more articles about tips for parents on how to education their sons about these types of horrific acts and harsher sentences for the perpetrators of these crimes. That is where the real problem lies.
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