FYI - Self defense

[ooana]

This was emailed to me tonight. Thought it was good information for anyone to know:

-Oo

FYI

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SELF DEFENSE

A group of black-belts who teach women self-defense interviewed a bunch of

rapists and date-rapists (who were in prison) to find out what the

perpetrators look for when scoping out potential victims.

Here are some interesting and useful 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 who's

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 who are 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 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 they teach 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's so

cold out here, we're in for a bad winter. Now 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 these men 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

hand is in waving position (palm facing forward) and 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 hand 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 privates, it is extremely

painful. You might think that you'll only make the guy more angry and make

him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told these

instructors 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, and any man who cares about

women: it's simple stuff that could save her life.

Peace and Blessings

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"When the soul wishes to experience something, she throws an image of the experience out before her, and enters into her own image." -Eckhart

"Solitude gives birth to the original in us, beauty unfamiliar and perilous - to poetry." - Thomas Mann

"I heard of a man that says words so beautiful that if he only speaks their name, women give themselves to him.

If I am dumb by your body while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips it is because I hear a man climb the stairs and clear his throat outside our door." - Leonard Cohen

[deanna11]

i used to think, geez, no one really needs to know these things. but they do. thanks, Ooana; i really appreciate your posting this info and your concern for others

also, many (most? i don't know stats) attackers are people the victims know. this creates another issue because the victim doesn't want to hurt the person (isn't that ironic). also, to make a strong attempt at defense is to also commit that the situation is violent and no longer friendly in any way. strange as it may sound, i think that's a major issue why victims don't fight back as vigilantly as they can sometimes

be safe, take care, watch out for yourself and your friends

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"real fucking high"

[ooana]

D..you made an excellent and very true point. As ironic as it may sound, you're right.

Even if you know your attacker, scream, scratch, claw, bite, poke, pinch....do whatever it takes.

Don't hold back.

Don't be afraid of hurting them.

Don't be afraid of being violent.

Don't be afraid of being loud.

-Oo

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"When the soul wishes to experience something, she throws an image of the experience out before her, and enters into her own image." -Eckhart

"Solitude gives birth to the original in us, beauty unfamiliar and perilous - to poetry." - Thomas Mann

"I heard of a man that says words so beautiful that if he only speaks their name, women give themselves to him.

If I am dumb by your body while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips it is because I hear a man climb the stairs and clear his throat outside our door." - Leonard Cohen

[This message has been edited by ooana (edited 02-01-2001).]