Have you ever heard of Kelly Herron? Until yesterday afternoon, I never had.
Allow me to introduce you, in case you don’t know about her yet. Kelly Herron is a runner who was attacked by a registered sex offender last year in Seattle. She had taken a self-defense class where students were taught, among other things, to be loud and to fight savage, so that’s what she did. She fought back, hit him over and over again, and kept yelling “Not today, motherf*cker!” She ended up locking the abhorrent piece of trash in the bathroom until police arrived.
Her activity tracker mapped the entire attack:
The map lines from the activity tracker were combined with her battle cry of “Not today, motherf*cker!” for these t-shirts:
Ms. Herron has used her experience to raise funds for survivors and to promote safety and the importance of self-defense. The website, www.nottodaymf.com, has videos, interviews, blog entries, and links to her Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter.
Just this month, during a race, Ms. Herron was groped by a man standing by the side of the road. She said later that women are groped, grabbed, and harassed so often, and they just let it go. She did not. Even though she had already run 12 miles for the race, she chased down the pervert, and two bystanders helped detain him until police came to pick up the lousy excrement.
I have a lot of respect for her because she fought back. She said “hell no” and meant it. She refused to just accept Mr. Grabby-Pants, or women being expected to just silently deal with it and let it go. I would love to have seen the pervert’s face when, instead of jogging on in mortified silence, she turned and came after him, shouting “Assault! Assault!” to get others’ attention.
Apparently some people have expressed doubt about her being attacked twice. Apparently, these people are not women, are not runners, have no brain cells, or live in a fantasy world. What is so unbelievable about a woman being treated like shit twice in one lifetime? Do these people read the news, or hell, just take a look around them once in a while?
Fortunately, I have never been viciously attacked while I am running, but I have been assaulted. The worst was a man who first approached me while I was running at a park, and he jogged along beside me, big smile, trying to talk to me. I told him I like to run alone and don’t like to be bothered while I’m running. He nodded, fell back, and left me alone…I thought.
When I went to my car after my run and my stretch, I discovered he had either been following me or waiting for me in the parking lot. Either way, as I got into my car, he suddenly appeared again, grabbing me, trying to force me to kiss him. I turned my face away in disgust, and I was furious. Was this my punishment for turning him down earlier? What the hell gives these assholes a right to believe I have to be hurt for rejecting them?
I grabbed the door handle and slammed the door into his back. He pulled his head away from me, yelling, and I slammed the car door into him again, then kicked him backwards. He was surprised by it and stumbled away from my car. I saw another guy coming across the parking lot, and since I had no idea if he intended to help me or to help the asshole, I shut the car door, locked it, and got the hell out of there.
I don’t, for one second, compare my experience to Ms. Herron’s. But it is significant that so many female runners have a story to share at all. When a woman is attacked, her actions are instantly questioned: why was she running alone? Why was she running there? Why was she running at night? Why was she wearing that? F*ck that. Because we should have a right to, that’s why. The only questions anyone should be asking are, why does that piece-of-shit man believe he has the right to touch, grab, assault any woman he chooses? Why do they get away with it? Why does our society act like it’s not that big a deal (but if a man grabbed another’s man penis during a race, oh, I daresay it would be one hell of a big deal)? Why do we not question his actions? Why is she punished more than he is?
And why had I never heard of her until I came across an article yesterday? Why are we saturated with morons and fluffheads who add nothing to the well-being of our society, but people like her are largely ignored?
I have taken self-defense classes in the past. And I will take another. I agree with her that everyone should know how to protect themselves to the best of their ability. I also strongly agree that we should never just let it go. We should not stay quiet or pretend this crap doesn’t happen. She said she wanted the groper at that race to be held accountable, and I feel the same way. She also said if he got away with it, he would do it again. Undoubtedly. Nothing will change if we just look the other way. Nothing will change until we, as Ms. Herron was taught, are loud and fight savage.
Sweat & Sparkle 