A question for female runners: do you actually feel comfortable exercising in shorts? Or do you feel like you have to look a certain way before you can pull on a pair of shorts and go for a run in the sunshine? What about when the temperature soars past 25°C? Do you still choose to run in leggings?

This is the question I asked my Instagram followers last week after attending the launch of Sweaty Betty’s summer campaign #wearthedamnshorts, which aims to encourage women everywhere to embrace wearing shorts this summer.

Out of the 235 people who answered my poll, 39% said they’d happily transition to shorts in the summer, while 19% admitted they’d only ever wear shorts if they’re the longer 'biker' style and 20% said they exclusively wear leggings to exercise in – even in a heatwave.

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The main reason cited? They felt uncomfortable about being so exposed. ‘Two words: wobbly thighs,’ one woman said, when I asked why she only exercises in leggings.

‘Cellulite, body hair I’ve missed, broken capillaries... all things I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have ever been fussed about had other people not pointed them out to me,’ said another. ‘As a size 14, I’m quite conscious that might be seen as "too big" to wear shorts. I fully see the ridiculousness in that, but going out in leggings just feels so much easier.’

Some women say leggings offer them a sense of security – even if they wore shorts to exercise when they were younger. ‘I only ever exercise in leggings,’ says Katja Takala. ‘They offer more coverage and they’re much more pleasing aesthetically not showing my thighs. I’m simply more comfortable in leggings. This changed for me after having children and getting older – my body changed. I only used shorts in my 20s and early 30s but not anymore. Now I even run marathons in leggings.’

Apart from feeling more comfortable in leggings (both mentally and physically) – Sophie Hack told me she wears leggings because she chafes a lot and is yet to find shorts that don't ride up, ‘so leggings are the only option for me, even though I tend to overheat in them in the summer, but I would rather that than chafe’ – other women avoid wearing shorts because they simply don’t want the unwanted attention.

‘I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been on a run and been heckled or whistled at,’ says one female friend. ‘But while catcalling definitely gets worse over the summer – the more skin on show, the less guys seem to be able to control themselves – it happens when I run in leggings too.’

When it comes to running, it's important that you wear something that fits well and you can move in freely and comfortably without feeling restricted – or judged. Simply put: you should wear what you want and be confident about it.

Earlier this year, Sport England launched the latest phase of their This Girl Can campaign: This Girl Can With You. Tackling fear of judgment was a big focus of the campaign, with their research revealing that 32% of women worry about what other people think of them when exercising, 31% worry about showing their body and over a third (38%) of women say they have felt judged when exercising.

As part of Sweaty Betty’s #wearthedamnshorts campaign, which hopes to tackle women’s fear of judgement around wearing shorts, they’ve commissioned poet Sophia Thakur to create a spoken word piece around body positivity and female empowerment.

‘Wear the Damn Shorts’ became a popular hashtag in March 2021 after personal trainer Georgina Cox went viral with a post on Instagram, where she urged women to wear shorts. ‘As the weather continues to get warmer please know you DO NOT need to wait until your body looks a certain way to wear something, you deserve to NOW!’ she wrote.

It’s this message around body confidence that Sweaty Betty wants to get behind, inspiring women to dress for the weather and their surroundings – showing women that they’re free to wear the clothing they want to wear (and they’re not just limited to the things they feel they should wear). Basically: you don’t need to look a certain way or hit a certain goal before you can get your legs out this summer.