I I need to vent because the hypocritical nonsense surrounding the Nike After Dark 10K event has me at my absolute limit.
For context, Nike After Dark was explicitly created and marketed as an event for women to "reclaim the night." Running at night as a woman is scary. We spend our lives checking over our shoulders, carrying key knuckles, keeping one earbud out, and worrying about being harassed or attacked. An event like this was supposed to be a safe, empowering space where female runners could finally experience running in the dark without feeling threatened.
And what happened?
Men registered, showed up, and ran in it anyway. Men..including actual male Nike staff members..decided they just had to center themselves in a space specifically created to give women a break from them.
When women expressed frustration about male participants showing up in a event explicitly designed for us, the outcry from men was completely predictable: "Legally, it has to be open to everyone!", "It’s gender discrimination if you exclude us!", and "Stop assuming their gender, you don't know how they identify!"
The audacity and entitlement are mind boggling.
Why is it that the second women request a single, peaceful, women centered space whether it’s a night run, a female only gym, or a women's club ..men immediately cry "discrimination" and threaten legal action or crash the event?
Yet, "Gentlemen’s Clubs," male only private golf courses, and exclusive male networking clubs have existed for decades. Men have no problem maintaining their own private spaces, gatekeeping business opportunities, and bonding without women present.
Nobody is filing endless discrimination lawsuits or crashing their private cigar lounges. Women generally let them have their spaces without throwing a fit!
But the moment we want one thing for ourselves..literally just a 10k night run where we don’t have to feel on edge..men jump at the chance to violate that boundary. They refuse to grant us the basic respect of stepping back, even when there are thousands of mixed gender races they could participate in instead.
If men insist on crying "discrimination" every time women ask for a safe boundary, maybe it's time we start matching their energy. Maybe we should start suing and challenging every single men only private club and organization out there.
If women aren't allowed to have single sex spaces for our safety and community without men barging in, why should they get to keep theirs?
I am so exhausted by the entitlement. We can’t even have a night run without men reminding us that our boundaries mean nothing to them.
here come’s the expected downvotes though, truth hurts🤥