I read an article today that said that “men who rape women look for certain weaknesses in their victims”. Women who seem to be unprotected and unaware of their surroundings make the perfect victims. It’s important that women walk with a sense of self assurance, and purpose. That they hold their heads high and move with self confidence; that they are, or at least appear to be familiar with their surroundings. Places like parking garages, public restrooms and even evaluators are the kind of places that these attackers prefer to find their victims. Public, yet isolated locations are places where an attack on a victim would likely go unnoticed. Women who spend time in a parked car fussing over hair and makeup, or looking for keys and other things are prime targets for rapists. They are looking for distracted women.
As I was reading I couldn’t help but to think of all the times I have done just that, sat in my car in the bank parking lot balancing my checkbook. Stood outside my car after shopping looking for my keys, talked on my cell with a friend, completely unaware of who might be around. I have busied myself with a game on my cell phone instead of paying attention to the man standing beside me in the evaluator. It’s not that I had never given any thought to the fact these things happen all the time, I just never realized how often I was putting myself in harm’s way. I was literally setting myself up to be a victim.
Every year thousands of women just like me, or you, your mother, sister, wife or girlfriend are raped or violently assaulted. The fact is many of these attacks could possibly have been avoided if the victims would have known a few basic facts.
Get Loud - If you are ever being attacked, the first thing you can do try defend yourself is to make a scene. You should scream as loud as you can or use a personal alarm to and try draw as much attention to yourself and the attacker as possible. The more noise you make, the better your chances of getting someone to help. With any luck your attacker will not want to bother with someone who is putting up such a fight. The risk of being caught because of your screaming may be enough to scare him off.
Fight Back if Safe to Do So- One of the most important things I learned is that you should never allow your attacker to drag you off anywhere. Your chances that the attack will continue and intensify go up greatly if you are taken away from the scene. Every situation is different and you may be faced with the possibility that fighting your attacker may not be your best option. Go with your gut. But whenever possible you should fight! I have never thought of myself as a physically powerful woman. I am 5’ 1” tall and weigh about 110lbs, I’m not what one would consider tough by any means, but you may be amazed at the strength that you have when your life depends on it. Most women find that they kick, punch, scratch or do whatever is necessary to break free from their attacker.
We have all been told at one time or another that the best thing to do is to knee your attacker in the groin. The truth is, a closed fist, a foot, even elbows are all effective in taking a man to the ground. Another option is to pinch the skin underneath the top of his arm as hard as you can. Pinch someone there, and it’s going to hurt badly. Or, grab his fingers and bend them back as far as you can. Use your car keys if you have them available and aim for his eyes. Or be prepared at all times with a Heart Attack Keychain or other personal protection product that is easy to access and easy to use.
Arming yourself with the right self defense products can also be very effective if you are ever attacked. There are lots of options when it comes to personal protection products. Mace, Pepper Sprays, Tasers, personal Alarms and Stun Guns are just few that have been proven to save lives in the event of an attack. Sometimes just letting your attacker know that you have the means to protect yourself can be enough to stop him. Simply screaming, “I have pepper spray and I’ll use it!” might do the trick or at least give you the time you will need to run for safety.
Get to Safety- You should always be thinking of the best way to get away from your attacker. Whether you can distract the attacker somehow or strike out at them to throw them off guard, it is important to get to safety as soon as possible so that the attack will stop.
Unfortunately we live in a world where these horrible things happen every day. Women are raped, robbed, abducted and assaulted by assailants who are looking for the most vulnerable victims. It’s a reality that we all have to live with, but I think that the most important piece of information I have taken from this eye opening research is to never allow myself to be such an easy target again, and to arm myself with the information and self defense products we all need to protect ourselves.
