Women's Safety
Date: 01/27/2001
From: anonymous, via the internet to Single Again.
Things to remember in this potentially "unsafe" world. Please
read the following information about safety for women.
"I just finished taking the most amazing self-defense class. and I wanted
to share some really valuable info with you." The guy who taught the class
has a female friend who was attacked last year in a parking garage one
night after work and taken to an abandoned house and raped. He started
a women's group and began teaching these classes soon after. This guy
is a black belt in karate and trains twice a year with Steven Segall.
He and the others in this group interviewed rapists and date rapists in
prison on what they look for and here's some interesting facts: The #1
thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely
to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that
can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long
hair. Women with short hair are not common targets. The second thing men
look for is clothing. They will look for women whose clothing is easy
to remove quickly. The #1 outfit they look for is overalls because many
of them carry scissors around to cut clothing and on overalls the straps
can be easily cut.
They also look for women on their cell phone, searching through their
purse or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard
and can be easily overpowered.
The time of day men are most likely to attack and rape a woman is in the
early morning, between 5 and 8:30 a.m.
The number one place women are abducted from/attacked at is the grocery
store parking lots. Number two is office parking lots/garages. Number
three is public restrooms.
The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and
quickly move her to a second location where they don't have to worry about
getting caught.
Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence
but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.
If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because
it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you
isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming. These men said they
will not pick on women who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that
can be used from a distance, in their hands. Keys are not a deterrent
because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a
weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you're not worth it.
Several defense mechanisms he taught us are:
If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with
you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a
question, like what time is it, or make general small talk, "I can't believe
it is so cold out here, we're in for a bad winter." Now that you've seen
their face and could identify them in a lineup, you lose appeal as a target.
If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and
yell "Stop" or "Stay back!" Most of the rapists this man talked to said
they'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not
be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target. If
you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and
carries it with him wherever he goes,) yelling "I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY!"
and holding it out will be a deterrent.
If someone grabs you, you can't beat them with strength but you can by
outsmarting them. If they grab your wrist, pull your wrist back so your
twist it toward yourself and pull your arm away. It is hard to hold onto
wrist bones that are moving in that way. They stumble toward you and you
stumble back, so you can use that momentum to bring the same out and backhand
them with your knuckles in the forehead, nose or teeth.
If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either
under the arm between the elbow and armpit or in the upper inner thigh
HARD. One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm
pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke
through the skin and tore out muscle strands - the guy needed stitches.
Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; it
hurts.
* After the initial hit, always go for the groin. I know from a particularly
unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy's balls (sorry to be graphic)
it is extremely painful. You might think that you'll piss the guy off
and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our
instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble.
Start causing trouble, and he's out of there.
When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and
bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on
them as possible. The instructor did it to me without using much pressure,
and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked audibly.
Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your
surroundings, take someone with you if you can, and if you see any odd
behavior, don't dismiss it - go with your instincts. You may feel a little
silly at the time, but you'd feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.
Please forward this to any woman you know, it's simple stuff that could
save her life.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things
that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
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