Self Defense for Women: Part 2 PREVENTION

More than 2.5 million women experience violence annually. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)

To avoid becoming a victim of violence, your first and foremost level of self-defense is prevention.

 AT HOME

Women over 35 are most vulnerable to an assault in their own home.  Prevent entrance to your home by making it difficult for a criminal to just walk in.  The more difficult you make it for the criminal, the less likely it is that he will gain entrance.

•  Use sturdy, solid wood doors with deadbolt locks.
• Doors and windows should be locked at all times.
• Install an extra-wide angle peephole in doors.
• Make sure areas by doors and windows are well-lighted.
• Be assertive with strangers in your home.  Always ask for proper identification before opening your door to anyone.
• Install an alarm.  They act as deterrents and warn you of intrusion.
• Add coverings over your windows for privacy.
• Put interior lights on a timer.
• Use only your last name on your mail box, front door buzzer, etc.
• Have an unlisted phone number.

 ON THE STREET

•  Keep your hands free.
• Wear clothes that do not restrict movement.
• Carry a mobile phone with 911 on speed-dial.
• Carry enough money for a taxi or bus fare.
• Go around groups of men instead of through them.
• Cross the street if you are being followed.
• If you continue to be followed, go towards people and yell “Fire.”
• Do not be afraid to make a scene in order to get attract attention.
• If someone asks for the time or directions, you have the right to not reply.
• Use well-lighted streets, staying near the curb unless a car pulls up.
• Avoid being on the street alone at night, especially if you are upset or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
• Try to take walks and runs with friends or neighbors.

 DRIVING A CAR

•  Keep your car in good running order and avoid driving with a near empty gas tank.
• Keep doors locked and windows rolled up.
• If your car breaks down, turn on emergency flashers, place “Call Police” sign in window or call the police from your mobile phone.  If someone stops to help, stay in the car and write a note asking him or her to call the police.
• If you are being followed, drive to the closest police station, fire station, hospital emergency entrance, or open gas station.  Never allow someone to follow you home.
• Never pick up hitchhikers.
• Park in well-lighted areas and always lock your car when you leave it.
• Avoid parking next to vans, as you can be pulled in through the sliding door.
• Check around, under, and inside your car as you approach it.
• Be especially alert in parking structures.
• Carry your keys in hand, ready to use.
• Make sure a friend is safely inside her home, or that her car has started, before driving away and ask your friends to do the same for you.

 ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

•  When waiting for public transportation, assume a balanced position behind the bench, so you cannot be pulled into a passing car.
• Sit near the driver and stay awake.
• If someone harasses you, tell the driver immediately.
• If you feel someone is following you when you get off, walk towards a populated area.  Avoid walking directly home.

 AT WORK

•  If you are uncomfortable about getting on an elevator with a lone man or a group of men, wait for the next one.  If you are made uncomfortable once on the elevator, get off at the next floor, or press the emergency/fire button.
• Check the identification of service, delivery, or repair people if you have any doubts about them.
• Know the routes of escape in your work area.
• If you work late, find out whom else is in the building.  When you leave, ask someone (perhaps a security guard) to accompany you to your car.

Social conditioning: citizens, especially women, tend to be concerned about the feelings of others. Often, we allow this social conditioning to override our instincts. Always listen to your instincts!

Keep in mind, an attack can occur any place, any time.

 

VICTIMS’ REPORT OF TIME OF RAPES AND SEXUAL ASSAULTS  6 pm-midnight                                                            43.4% 6 am-6 pm                                                       33.0% Midnight-6 am                                                23.6%

VICTIMS’ REPORTS OF WHERE RAPES AND SEXUAL ASSAULT TOOK PLACE  At victim’s home                                            37.4% At friend’s, neighbor’s or relative’s home      19.2% On the street away from home                       10.0% Parking lot/garage                                           7.3% All other locations                                           26.1%

(Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)

Know your area and be aware of your surroundings.  Keep alert to spot potential danger.  Always listen to your intuition.  If you sense that something is wrong, leave the area immediately.

Self Defense for Women: Part 1 DON’T BE A VICTIM

DON’T BE A VICTIM

Americans have a greater chance of being a violent crime victim than of being injured in a motor vehicle accident. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)

Learning self-defense is not just about learning to kick and punch an attacker.  Self-defense begins with not thinking of yourself as a victim.  Attackers choose their victims the way predators choose their prey.  They always go after the sick, isolated, young or old because they are an easy kill.  If you look strong, alert and healthy, you have a much better chance of being left alone.

 BODY LANGUAGE

Body language communicates how comfortable you feel about yourself.  In self-defense, effective body language conveys a relaxed sense of confidence.

The first phase of an attack is often called the “targeting” stage; the attacker is searching for a victim.  During this phase, confident and relaxed body language is critical.  There are ways to discourage an attack, just by walking more safely.  Keep your head up, look ahead, and drop your shoulders (do not hunch them.)  Walk with a relaxed step (not too long or short,) and keep your hands out of your pockets.  Compare these two images in your mind:  the woman looking down at the ground and the one just described.  Who is an easier target?  Who appears vulnerable?  These changes are small, but they make an enormous difference.

 VERBAL SELF-DEFENSE

The second stage, or testing phase, of an attack usually involves some kind of verbal communication.  There are two different kinds of verbal self-defense in response to a threat from an attacker.  The first, and most common, is assertive verbal self-defense.  Assertive self-defense is used when the attacker is unarmed or does not have physical control of you to the extent that fighting back would cause you greater injury.  It is simply an extension of your body language:  you are verbally communicating that you refuse to be seen as a victim.  The second, cooperative verbal self-defense is used tactically, for instance when the attacker has a weapon or is holding you in a way that makes it useless to fight back at that moment.  Hopefully, it will make the attacker relax so that he will feel in control.  You may use cooperative verbal self-defense if you decide that you don’t want to fight back.  Or you may want to use it to trick the attacker.  When he lets up, you may have the opportunity to escape or physically fight back.

Confident body language and verbal self-defense can be used in every situation.  Stop thinking of yourself as a victim and you are less likely to be targeted as one.

There are other skills you can develop to avoid being a victim:

KNOW YOUR AREA:  Know as much as possible ahead of time about the area you will be visiting.  If you are forewarned about dangerous areas, you will be less likely to traverse them.  It is much safer to go around a potential hot spot than to walk into a hornet’s nest.

• BE AWARE:  Keep alert to spot potential danger.  Pay attention to your surroundings.
• DEVELOP YOUR INTUITION:  Listening to your sixth sense can be one of your most important self-defense skills.  If you sense that something is wrong, it is.  That gut feeling you get when something is not exactly right is telling you something and you should learn to listen to that alarm, however vague it may be.
• FIGHTING SPIRIT:  Knowing you have the desire, ability, confidence and strength to fight back might be all you need to discourage a potential attacker.  Develop an attitude that allows you to not be intimidated.

New ETKM T-Shirts

Campus Crimes against Women

Campus crimes occur much more frequently than any of us realize. Crimes on College Campuses and crimes nearby college campuses

• frequently go unreported and/or under reported. A recent study by The U.S. Department of Justice on The Sexual Victimization of College Women reveals some disturbing statistics. Among the findings:

• Annually 4.9% of college Co-Eds experience a rape. In other words, the victimization rate is 49 rapes per 1000 female students.
• When one considers that the average college career now lasts 5 years, there is a 25% likelihood of a rape between Freshman Orientation and Graduation Day.
• This data becomes more disturbing when analyzed by the number of incidents rather than the number of victims. When the analysis is based on incident count the rate increases by nearly 30%. This takes into account women who have been victimized more than once.
• Crimes categorized as sexual victimization other than rape touched 3.4%, or 34 per 1000, college Co-Eds annually.
• This data also becomes more disturbing when analyzed by the number of incidents rather than the number of victims. Analyzed this way, the rate increases by a whopping 397%.
• 9 out of 10 victims know the person who sexually victimizes them.
• 71% of sexual victimization of college women occurs on a date – known more commonly as date rape.
• 88%of sexual crimes against women occur between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am.
• Sexual victimization of college Co-Eds most often occurs in a residence (on or off campus), with nearly 60% occurring in the victim’s own residence, 30% occurring in other campus living quarters and 10% at a Fraternity.
• Overwhelmingly, data indicates that women who attempt to protect or defend themselves avoid becoming the victim of a completed rape. While protecting or defending oneself is not a 100% guarantee, it is overwhelmingly the best action to take in order to avoid becoming the victim of a completed rape.
• In the instances where women used force or a self-defense product like pepper spray, Mace, a stun gun or a Taser, just under 31% of the attempted rapes resulted in completed rapes.
• Shockingly, fewer than 5% of completed or attempted rapes are actually reported to law enforcement officials. Reasons indicated for not doing so include: Not serious enough to report; not clear a crime was committed; not wanting family or others to know; lack of proof; fear of reprisal by the assailant; fear of hostility by police and fear police would not believe the incident occurred or was serious enough.
• Another frequent and unwanted violation of women on college campuses is stalking. An annual incidence rate 156.5 stalkings per 1000 Co-Eds is reported. Clearly this is a bigger problem and requires further attention, study and consideration.

If you are assaulted or in a dating violence relationship PLEASE REPORT THE INCIDENT to your campus police department AND PRESS CHARGES!  ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS PRESS CRIMINAL CHARGES!  And, I strongly suggest that you go to the local DV or Rape Crisis agency in your college community as well as filing a POLICE REPORT WITH THE TOWN/CITY POLICE DEPARTMENTS!  Cover all of your bases.  Do not leave any rock unturned. Too many assailants, universities and colleges are getting away with sweeping college crimes under the carpet.  DO NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOU!  Remember, YOU DID NOT DESERVE IT!  IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!

CBS’S LARA LOGAN REVEALS SHE STILL STRUGGLES WITH EGYPTIAN SEXUAL ASSAULT: ‘IT DOESN’T GO AWAY’

Posted on January 23, 2012 at 7:33am by  Jonathon M. Seidl

It was a story that finally revealed to the world that the “Arab Spring” might not have been as peaceful as some would have liked to think. CBS journalist Lara Logan was viciously sexually assaulted while in a crowd of male protesters in Egypt. They screamed “Jew” as they ran their hands over and through her body and tried to rip off her scalp. She detailed the incident back then, and now, she reveals she still struggles with it.

“People don’t really know that much about (post traumatic stress disorder),” she told the New York Daily News. “There’s something called latent PTSD. It manifests itself in different ways. I want to be free of it, but I’m not.”

“It doesn’t go away,” she added. “It’s not something I keep track of. It’s not predictable like that. But it happens more than I’d like.”

Logan was eventually rescued from the assault by a woman clad in black who wrapper her arms around Logan. Other women eventually closed ranks. But while the physical damage has healed, the emotional scars still exist.

“Your family is critical,” Logan, the married mother of two, said. “You can’t do it alone. My husband is a great support. He understands, he doesn’t hide from it, from what happened. He knows everything, more than anyone, what they did to me.”

“When I’m lying there, waiting for my daughter to go to sleep, I have time to think about things. Those can be dark moments. You ranger through, you have to. You’re aware of how much you have and it’s so much more than what you’ve lost. You have a responsibility. Life is not about dwelling on the bad.”

But despite the residual effects, Logan is fighting. Not only is she fighting to give a prominent voice to the many women who have suffered from sexual assault, she’s also fighting not to be defined by the attack.

“Goddamnit,” Logan said, “I’m not going to give them everything.”