Holding keys between fingers, pretending to be on the phone, taking only the best-lit ways even if it’s ten minutes out of your way – walking home alone can feel unsafe for anyone, but women tend to cop it worse.
Any non-dude walking alone at night will usually be a bit on edge. Even the safest street can suddenly feel hostile if you spot a figure across the road or hear footsteps behind you, or if you draw the attention of a passing car full of loud dudes.
A new campaign from PLAN International aims to make men empathise with the freaked-out night-pedestrians in their town, with an eerie first-person take on the street noises that they might take for granted.
The track is only a minute long, but when you’re wondering if you’re about to get jumped 500m from your house, that minute can feel really long.
“Women walk through the world differently to the way that men do,” Jeannette Francis AKA Jan Fran, who’s an ambassador for PLAN, told Fairfax.
“Sometimes it’s hard when you’re not in that position to understand exactly what it’s like.”
The #WalkLikeAWoman campaign also includes some really useful tips for men to help women and girls feel safer in public at night – because even if you know you’re not a threat, the woman you’re about to terrify by sprinting past her on your evening run doesn’t know you’re not sprinting at her.