'Being a woman is an extreme sport', says caller, as report reveals over half of girls are harassed
23 November 2020, 14:12 | Updated: 23 November 2020, 14:19
James O'Brien caller says "being a woman is an extreme sport"
This is the moment a James O'Brien caller said "being a woman is an extreme sport" while speaking about harassment women face from men.
Jenny from Somerset told James about her own experiences with harassment before going on to speak about the issue more broadly.
The exchange comes as research from children's charity Plan International and campaign group Our Streets Now has shown more than half of young women and girls were harassed on the street during the summer.
Speaking of her own experiences, Jenny said: "I think when I was about 14 or 15, I can remember a short walk [of] maybe 10 minutes to a bus station in town on my own.
"Some much older guy [got] up in my face following me trying to chat me up [and I remember] pretty much running to the bus station to get to the safety of other people.
"My work blamed the sexual assault I experienced on my hormones"
"More recently, on a walk with my daughter, we stopped to take a photo of some scenery and you get some builders lean out the van. They yell out all kinds of stuff at you [from] the van.
"You have to then explain to your child what the hell that was about."
Later on in the exchange, Jenny said women are "trained from an early age" to deal with harassment from men.
She said: "You're trained from an early age. You're basically told that you need to be on your guard in daylight. You can't relax as a woman. Being a woman is an extreme sport."
James then asked Jenny if she thought the situation would improve for women in the future, but she was sceptical.
She said: "Because it's not working out for men as well, they seem to be getting angrier.
"You're getting more incel type situations coming up and I don't know how it's going to get better to be honest. I think they're just more frustrated."
