Women’s club members left feeling ‘intimidated and unsafe’ after abuse on weeknight run

Alexa Manganiello, of Leith, Edinburgh, is the founder and director of Go&Glow, a women’s social and wellness community that organises a weekly run club among other events.

She said the incident is part of a larger issue around women’s safety, particularly in public spaces as the clocks have gone back.

Ms Manganiello is speaking out because she said women have a “right to feel safe in public spaces”.

On Wednesday at around 6.30pm, a group of about 15 women attended the group’s second ever weeknight run when a man, who was also running in the park, verbally abused the group three times.

The 24-year-old said the man seemed to be “targeting” two women, including herself, who were running at the back of the group.

She said the man swore at the group three times in total as he lapped them around The Meadows, which showed a pattern of behaviour that Ms Manganiello said left the group feeling “intimidated and unsafe”.

“We were targeted by street harassment last night, verbal abuse actually,” Ms Manganiello said.

“It was literally our second time running in the dark on a Wednesday night, and we already were subjected to abuse and street harassment, which is absolutely insane.”

She said it was hard to process what was happening in the moment, but she said hearing the abuse was “just like a pit in our stomach” and left the women feeling “immediately intimidated”.

“You’d think you’d feel safer in numbers, that’s kind of why we’re doing it, but it just goes to show that it happens all the time, whether you’re alone or you’re in a group. And it’s safe to say, we still felt intimidated and unsafe,” Ms Manganiello said.

“You just feel a bit lost and deflated, and I guess dehumanised. I think when you’re… sworn at, it leaves you feeling pretty small.”

She said that the harassment would not stop nor ruin Go&Glow’s run club.

“We should still show up in a way that feels comfortable to us and not allow men’s behaviour to ruin that for us and keep us indoors,” Ms Manganiello said.

“Retreating indoors is not the answer. It’s making the streets safer for everyone.”

Ms Manganiello said she decided to report the incident to Police Scotland so there would be a record in case anything else happened in the area in the future.

But she said she felt dismissed by police when she called to report and felt like she “needed to prove why she had to be taken seriously”.

She also said she was told to “keep safe” by the officer, which she felt was putting responsibility on her and the run club for men’s behaviour.

“I think moving forward, we are going to report everything, every incident, big or small, because it’s important that they can put together a pattern because I’m sure we’re not the only ones,” Ms Manganiello said.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We can confirm we received a report and advice and assistance were provided.”