Thread by @MercedesGlobal

In light of recent events I've been thinking a lot about how life is different for women owing to the quiet but ever present concern for our physical safety. I've decided to tweet this thread because because I believe there is still a serious lack of awareness. Here we go.

I do not live in fear, but I am always aware. I'm aware of who is around me. Who is behind me. Where the dark corners are that I can't see into. Whether those footsteps behind me are picking up. I hate wearing a hood in the winter because I can't see who is close.

Like all of my female friends, I have walked with my keys between my fingers on the way to my car or home, hidden in my pocket in the winter. I get uncomfortable with earbuds in when it's dark and I'm out walking because I want to know when someone is close.

I have crossed the street when I see someone coming toward me at night and there's nobody else around. I have used the track measure on Uber rides home when uncomfortable attempts to flirt cross a line.

When I walk to my car, I scan the street, parking lot or garage. I am looking at tires and backseats without even thinking about it. I don't park next to vans or SUVs with tinted windows. I'm sure this sounds paranoid, but women are taught this from a young age for a reason.

Women journalists also run into issues with source management - understanding that this is work, not drinks leading somewhere else. Meeting male sources alone is something else you learn to do safely although it's rarely taught.

I had a man try to follow me home from work while I was walking and he as in his SUV. He demanded I have a drink with him. Wouldn't leave me alone. I called the police the dispatcher told me asking a woman on a date is not illegal. Thankfully OPS officers took a different view.

I was lucky on this - I have a lot of contact with the police and know where to go. Many others would not have been so fortunate. This was only a couple of years ago. When I'm literally running from a man following me in a vehicle, something is wrong.

I have subconsciously kept 6 feet between me and people who I don't know (and sometimes those who I do know too) long before the pandemic. I know what can happen if you don't. I don't think guys think about this quite the same way.

It's not just me. It is every, single woman I know. My mother, my aunts, my cousins, my friends, my colleagues. I have yet to find a single woman who does not do these same things, has not been taught the same things or isn't watchful owing to personal experience.

We don't talk about it because it is literally a part of our every day life that we've been doing since we were young girls and teenagers. We are used to it. We shouldn't have to be.

I have significant privilege and cannot imagine how much worse it must be for many other women. My advantages: hostile environment training for Afghanistan & Niger. CANSOFCOM friends who have gone out of their way to spend time doing physical self defence & situational awareness.

One last one that stuck with me. In Afghanistan the NCO next to me in a LAV asked me if anyone had talked to me about personal safety. I assumed he meant IEDs since we were on the road. He said no, KAF, there are a lot of sexual assaults, please don't walk alone at night.