Self Defense for Women and Teens in Mall-Use Secret Common Items

If you have the bag across you, if you have it draped on one shoulder, you would maneuver in front of you, don't waste time by taking it from across your shoulder. If he is trying to hit you, you can grab the purse and slam it up hard into his nose, this is a great block. Also if he is coming at you with a more deadly weapon, that could puncture skin or stab you, you can put your purse between him and your body to protect yourself from the weapon. Better that a knife or a sharp weapon hits your purse instead of puncturing a vital organ or causes serious harm. You can do this with a few different types of bags, purses or backpacks.

A cell phone. Obviously one of the best helps a phone gives you is your ability to call for help. However you should be aware that you can actually use it as an effective weapon. It's hard, durable and compact. You have it at home, and usually on your person, or in your bag. You are going to take it in your hand like you are holding a bottle of water and you are going to hit hard into the attacker's groin, right between his legs.

Swing hard up into his groin. If you can hit him multiple times aim for the groin, again and again. Hey guess what you can always get a new phone! If he attacks from the back, swing the phone down and into his groin. Even though he may attack you from the back, you will still have your arm up in a defensive block. In one moment he may be attacking from the back and a moment later, he is attacking you from the front, so keep your blocking arm, is still up and ready. If you need a follow up strike your blocking arm is ready to strike.

Also if he is facing you, and he is in very tight, and you don't have room to swing it, hold the phone in both hands by the ends if you can and slam the phone straight into his nose. Hit him multiple times if you can manage it. Hit him hard in the eardrum. If you are holding the phone in one hand, the other arm comes up as a blocking arm. The last resort, drive a straight shot into the side of his head at the (temple area.) That will hurt. If you still have your phone after all of that, and it's still working, keep it as you run and call for help.

My next item is a hairbrush. Brushes come in many sizes and shapes, some with handles and some without. If you can grab a brush without too much difficulty, the brush would be a great weapon, one with a handle can be easy to grab. You can hit him in the groin, nose, knee cap, or side of head (temple area) or eardrum. For the discussion assume that we are hitting, or striking in some of the vulnerable body points, groin, nose, ears, eyes, side of the head, and knee caps.

Stalking Can Happen To Anyone

The term stalking refers to unwanted, obsessive attention paid to someone, that may or may not know the perpetrator. Harassment is another term used by law enforcement to describe this behavior. No place is immune to having this kind of illegal activity and that includes schools, workplace, or even the local grocers. Negative consequences can be associated with having someone watch everything you do, and that includes losing a job.

Some Quick Facts

Every year, 3.5 million people report that they have been the victim of stalking and that makes it a serious crime. Nevertheless, numerous incidents are never even reported. Following are some facts about this crime.

• Three or every four cases involves someone the victim knew 

• A third of victims were once intimate with the perpetrator 

• Just 10% of cases involved strangers 

• People between 18 and 24 are the most frequent victims 

• 46% of victims say that they receive a minimum of one undesired contact attempt per week 

• Instant messaging, email and other technology related forms of contact occur in one of every four cases 

• Of every one hundred victims that report this abuse, ten of them say that they have been illegally monitored via video cameras, GPS or listening devices

Typical Victims

The most frequent victims of this unwanted behavior are women, but men are not excluded from this abuse. Victims, no matter their gender, should understand that they are not at fault. They bear no responsibility for what someone else does. Even so, it still leaves the victim feeling out of control of what is happening to them.

Victims often feel isolated and confused and their lives become taken over by the assault. They are unable to enjoy everyday life because they become fearful that something bad might happen. The best thing they can do is tell someone what is happening to them and bring the identity of the perpetrator out in the open. Even causal acquaintances outside intimate circles of friends and family can become allies when they know what to look for to help. Taking back control is the one thing you can do to combat this offense.

The Importance Of Women's Safety

Women's safety has been an ongoing issue ever since the first woman appeared on the face of the earth. Some of this is due to the differences in strength between men and women. In most cases, a man has the ability to overpower a woman, but there is more to the safety of women than that. Lack of values and opportunity also play a role in situations involving emotional, mental and bodily harm to women are involved.

Women should never feel that they are at fault for someone else's actions. This is why it is so important that all women are offered training in ways to protect themselves and ensure their safety.

Available Options

Today's woman has numerous options available to them to help keep them safe. Products like stun guns have been on the market as self-defense weapons for 25 years. It is not unusual to hear people say that having the most powerful weapon is the best defense a woman could have, and that may explain why high voltage stun guns have some popularity.

Truthfully, it isn't the high voltage that stops perpetrators in their track; it is the appropriate amperage that does that. The thing is that not everyone knows that just a single amp has enough power to kill a human. This is the reasoning behind the creation of stun guns that only carry 5 to 8 milliamps. This is more than enough to incapacitate attackers long enough for a woman to escape. This is preferable to causing lasting injury or death.

Women have a number of weapons available to keep them safe today. Pepper spray is sometimes recommended for those who spend time walking long apartment building halls or empty parking lots. These days, keeping women safe may involve more than carrying keys splayed in fingers, and a weapon kept in the purse may be hard to get to when you need it.

What Experts Believe

Women's safety experts often advise women to become well versed in tactics intended to help prevent them from ending up victims of attack. Their recommendations typically include taking self-defense classes, but that is not always sufficient. In reality, one must add layers of defense to their system of protection and gain a level of confidence in the use of each. This still may not be enough.

Women's safety is dependent upon a number of different factors. Although it is desirable to have in mind what you will do when an attack is imminent, there are no guarantees that these tactics alone will fend off attackers. Traveling in pairs or groups is the number one way to ensure a woman can be safe. Since most attacks occur to women who are alone having someone with you to help just makes sense.

Careful planning is required if women are going to remain safe at all times and planning for all contingencies is always a good idea.

Self-Defense-The Most Powerful Stun Guns

You can say many things about technology, but one thing is for certain; it constantly improves our lives-sometimes at a dizzying pace. The self-defense products field is an excellent example.

In this article we will discuss what the most powerful stun guns are. As you will see, powerful stun guns have changed dramatically in the last decade. In this article we will discuss why and introduce you to the most powerful stun guns available today.

As recently as a decade ago the most powerful stun gun on the market was a 950,000 volt monster that was 9 inches tall. It had to be that big because it housed the batteries that were needed to create the power.

Advances in technology have made electroshock stun devices an effective tool for self-defense and personal safety. They are now smaller and much more powerful because of these advances.

By far the most powerful stun gun in the marketplace today is a 20,000,000 volt self-defense product. It comes in an assortment of colors including pink, black, purple and green. The stun device itself "has a rubberized armor coating that protects it and provides a firm grip in any weather conditions." It utilizes a unique set of three points of contact which makes the stun device extremely effective, and as a bonus the triple arcs create a visual display, a bright electrical burst that has a louder and more intimidating sound than any competitor. It has a convenient slide out plug that allows for easy charging and eliminates the need for batteries. It also has the popular wrist strap disable pin. When properly worn, "should the stun device be taken away from you in a struggle the disable pin will disengage preventing the product from being used against you."

Another popular model that is one of the most powerful stun guns is a 9.5 million volt personal safety product. Unlike most stun guns it does not have a built-in flashlight. It was removed to allow extra space for the rechargeable batteries. It also has a disable pin wrist strap feature and two levels of safety built-in. It comes with a lifetime warranty and includes a holster with belt loop and clip that looks like an ordinary cell phone holster.

As we mentioned, technology has allowed for huge advances in the capability of stun devices. They are smaller and more powerful than ever before. And as a bonus, they are cheaper making them a much more desirable self-defense product for personal safety.

Tough or Smart - What's Your Most Powerful Self-Defense Weapon: Mind or Body

                                     
===== The Mental Approach To Self-Defense =====

The Mental Approach addresses the "big picture" of predatory situations. In my self-defense system for example, there are "SEVEN" separate and interrelated aspects of a comprehensive personal safety or self-defense system.

The intent of this mental approach is to make you "smarter" and more capable of avoiding, diffusing and responding EFFECTIVELY by doing the RIGHT THINGS in a volatile situation. By the "RIGHT THINGS," I'm referring to the most effective response strategies to successfully resolve a threatening or volatile situation.

Fighting back with physical self-defense techniques is only part of staying safe.

===== Benefits Of The Mental Approach =====

An accurate understanding of the dynamics of predatory situations increases the odds of anticipating, avoiding, recognizing and responding to them. The "best" result to a violent encounter is not when you manage to fight your way out of it. It's when it doesn't happen in the first place!

Not all volatile situations can be solved by fighting. Effectiveness in a self-defense situation allows you to assess and evaluate the circumstances and select the most effective response strategy to implement to gain or regain control.

A sense of control that accompanies proper mental training decreases the stress and fear associated with volatile or predatory situations. And that increased sense of control and self-confidence can reduce the potential of being victimized.

===== Drawbacks To A Mental Only Approach =====

An "information-only" approach does not significantly change the body language that you project to a potential assailant. Although some self-defense instructors imply that you can "fake" non-victim body language by walking briskly, standing straight, and "pretending to be confident." That will only go so far. Pretending to be coordinated, strong and physically fit is easier said than done.

Knowing the best response option in a given situation, be it running away or fighting back, is of little value if you can't successfully pull it off. If you haven't developed your skills and fitness levels by ongoing self-defense practice, how likely are you to out-run or out-fight an assailant?

===== One OR The Other Is Incomplete =====

You've probably figured out by now that ONE OR THE OTHER of these two approaches is an incomplete approach to being able to defend yourself. An optimal strategy is to combine and balance your ability to make smart, effective decisions with the ability to carry those decisions through to a successful conclusion. BOTH mental AND physical elements are required for optimal self-defense success.

Be effective first, then be efficient. A medical equivalent might be to "Diagnose First The Perscribe." To successfully resolve a volatile situation, you need sound judgement to decide on the best course of action AND the physical skills and ability to implement your game plan.

The degree to which you pursue each approach has a lot to do with your capabilities, limitations and the goals you have in relation to your study of self-defense.

If you are smaller, weaker, older for example, your emphasis should lean more toward personal safety strategies and be supplemented with physical skills training. If your self-defense goals are simply to avoid victimization and to stay out of trouble, then learn everything you can about the dynamics of volatile situations.

On the other hand, maybe you are fit, athletic and skillful. Perhaps you already train regularly and feel capable of "holding your own" if you have to defend yourself. If thats the case, here are a couple pieces of advice to consider:

There's always someone tougher and meaner than you are! Even highly skilled fighters and martial artists need awareness and avoidance skills. Physical techniuqes are of little value if you are set up, sucker punched, or ambushed. NOBODY wins a fight. You may defeat your adversary and "still" be injured yourself. Also, just because you didn't instigate the confrontation doesn't mean that you won't find yourself being criminally charged or civilly sued for defending yourself.

The point I'm trying to make is that the BEST approach to self-defense training is to learn to do the right thing by learning everything you can about the dynamics of predatory situations AND engage in regular self-defense training so that you can "do things right" by developing the skills and conditioning to carry out a desired self-defense strategy.



By Randy LaHaie