Every TWO minutes an American is sexually assaulted and there are almost three.hundred.THOUSAND victims….every.YEAR!
Wanna know something else…
WHAT THE WHAT?!
Only 2 out of 100 rapists will spend even one day in prison?
It’s mind boggling…infuriating…scary…
and true
I hope my daughter is never in the position of needing to defend herself, but the truth is, 1 in 5 women are targets of attempted or completed sexual assault while they are college students and in 90 percent of the reported cases, the victim knew her or his attacker.
I think it’s extremely important for ANY female to know that they are strong and completely capable of fighting back against an attacker.
So, last Sunday, I dragged my teenager with me to an Abduction & Rape Response Tactics class. It’s a monthly class offered by The Women’s Defense Company here in town.
We’ve all heard various ways to keep ourselves out of dangerous situations…
- be aware of your surroundings
- have your keys ready before getting to your car
- lock your doors
- don’t walk alone
And all of those ways to keep yourself safe are important! However, as important as prevention is, I think it’s equally important to know what to do if you are actually attacked. We can be aware of our surroundings, but having your guard up 100% of the time is very unlikely and that is when you may find yourself in a scary situation.
In the A.R.R.T class over the weekend, we learned about which body parts on an attacker are the most vulnerable, which of our body parts are good weapons and a some basic moves to get out of common attack situations.
I have to say that one of the biggest “a-ha” moments I got from the class was…”attack your attacker”. It sounds a bit crazy and totally opposite of what your mind might be telling you to do, but after the instructor explained it, it made total sense. If you’re about to be attacked, chances are your attacker will just run after you and he/she will catch you from behind…which is a terrible position to be in. So, unless you’re confident in your ability to outrun an attacker (marathon runner? Not me!) or help is a short distance away (not likely), you’ll have a greater chance of getting away from your assailant if you incapacitate them before running to get help. By facing your attacker and preparing to defend yourself, you stay in control of the situation and more likely to have a favorable outcome.
In addition to learning some great defense techniques in the class, we participated in two simulated attacks. No matter how much knowledge you have, if you can’t put the techniques to use in a real life scenario, that knowledge is basically useless. I can’t even describe how nervous I was to be pretend attacked. I knew it wasn’t “real” and I knew I wasn’t really going to be hurt, but my heart was pounding in my chest, my adrenaline was pumping and I was sweating buckets. The first attack I didn’t fair so well. I got away from my attacker, but I panicked at first and forgot most of the techniques! Which is totally normal, but it’s why the simulated attacks are important. In the second one, I performed a lot better and used a few of the defense moves we were shown.
If you’re in the Jacksonville area, I highly recommend The Women’s Self Defense Company. They were very professional, friendly, knowledgable and eager to answer any questions we had. I’ll definitely be going back for more classes and taking my friends and family members with me. Practice makes perfect and as a bonus, it’s pretty empowering to feel strong and capable.
How do you think you’d fare if you were attacked? Have you taken any self defense classes? If not, what are you waiting for?
