Bethan Taylor-Swaine

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Bethan Taylor-Swaine

Hi there, I’m Bethan Taylor-Swaine, Architect of Wellbeing, PhD Student and Coach.

01/09/2026

Maybe it’s time for another marathon?!

Sport as we know it has always been about defining gender roles and privileging masculinity, but it doesn’t have to be. Running marathons and hiking have nothing to do with masculinity or femininity, they’re literally just ways to move your body, challenge yourself and feel good. There needs to be a move away from this damaging (and very deeply baked) ideology, it not only keeps women out of sport, but it also keeps them out of society and holds us back from achieving equality.

28/08/2026

It’s been a pretty rubbish couple of weeks, but featuring in an article for Women's Health UK has been a real boost! I was delighted to chat to Bridie Archibald about the human toll of AI training and performance culture alongside the wonderful Lillie Bleasdale, Renee McGregor and Danny Brunton | Physio For Runners | Running. It’s a really interesting, and balanced, take on the rise of AI training tools, social media and stress related injuries. On newsstands now and well worth a read!

26/08/2026

A couple of days ago Puresport® shared this reel - two men chatting before a run, one wearing all the latest gear, the other in old kit and swigging a beer. Above their heads were two times - 40 minutes and 15 minutes.

At some point, most of us have experienced rocking up to a race, game face on, prepared and ready, only to be overtaken by a very nonchalent vet rocking a cotton t-shirt from the ‘90s and a pair of daps they picked up at a carboot. No strava, perhaps a casio or a basic garmin. Leaving the hyper competitive young’uns for dust.

They are literally the coolest.

I get the sense that it’s these people puresport are trying to allude to with their reel.

The problem is it lands like a pile of rocks. A judgemental pile of rocks.

Puresport have said it’s a joke (not a very funny or imaginative one) and that because the guys who appeared in it consented no one was being shamed. But that misses the big picture and the impact that things like this can have both on attitudes within the running community and how people perceive themselves.

12/08/2026

86% of women aged 16 to 34 have experienced harassment or intimidation while exercising in the past three years.

43% of women aged 16 to 34 who don’t currently use gyms or leisure centres say concerns about sexual harassment have directly influenced their decision not to use those facilities.

62% of women aged 16 to 34 say they have changed their behaviour after experiencing or witnessing harassment or intimidation.

1 in 10 women aged 16 to 34 have stopped using facilities altogether because of harassment or intimidation.

Women participate in sport and physical activity less than men and by failing to ensure leisure facilities are safe and free from harassment and intimidating organisations are enabling that gap not just to continue, but to grow. The freedom to move is not only a human right, it is a public health issue and a social justice issue. These aren’t one off instances, harassment is endemic in leisure spaces and it is impacting women’s health and wellbeing, reinforcing unhelpful stereotypes about sport, physical activity and gender and reinforcing the foundations of a society where mvawg is normalised.

Source: 2026

10/08/2026

It’s kinda chic to feel so passionately about making sport accessible, enjoyable and safe for everyone that you decide to become an expert and devote your career to doing the work.

I’m in kind of a weird place at the moment. My phd is done (I submitted my corrections just before I went on holiday), and now I need to map out where I go next. I don’t have a post doc to go to, but I do want to keep working in my research area. For me that looks like publishing papers, maybe a book and looking for creative ways to accessibly disseminate my findings. I love working with Our Streets Now and hope to keep developing what I’ve started. I love combining academia and activism and would like to grow my platform, do more speaking, presenting and generally sharing about all the amazing work people are doing to make sport accessible, enjoyable and safe for everyone.

Perhaps this is my way of manifesting?

28/07/2026

Reasons to follow (or unfollow) me 👀

22/07/2026

This evening, nearly six months after I passed my PhD viva (the oral exam where PhD candidates have to defend their thesis to a panel of academics), I submitted my corrections.

PhD corrections feel like a pretty weird concept. What other exam do you have where you’re told you’ve passed but you need to go and change some things? They can be minor or major and you usually have 6 to 12 months to get them done and to resubmit your thesis.

My corrections were minors and I was given 6 months from the date of my viva to do them, with my supervisor signing off the changes rather than my examiners. I had about 10 points to address, and only 3 were substantive (ie I needed to add a few paragraphs and move some stuff around), but it wasn’t easy doing them. It’s hard to go back to something your brain has decided is done, and I found I procrastinated and over thought my changes a lot. However, now they’re done the corrections process has made my manuscript stronger and I’ve added in some new concepts which help me explain my arguments more clearly and which have given me food for thought for future work.

Next up papers for publication and a book proposal!!

Address

London

Website

http://www.bethantaylorswaine.com/

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