There are many ways to stay safe and reduce your risk of an attack. Some of these include not walking alone or in dangerous areas, carrying a pepper spray or stun gun from Safety Girl, and not wearing conspicuous clothing. Another great way to increase your chances of getting away from an attacker–and a great way to strengthen your body–is to learn a few self-defense moves.
Learning a form of martial arts, including karate, kickboxing, aikido, jiu-jitsu, or jeet kune do, will certainly train you to defend yourself in the face of an attacker. Without any formal training, however, you can teach yourself a few self defense moves in the comfort of your own home.
One of the most common self defense techniques that women use is the groin grab. If you are within an arm’s reach from the attacker, use your hand to grab the attacker’s groin area, squeeze tightly, and pull down. This will cause an attacker an intense amount of pain, giving you time to run away to safety.
If you are attacked from behind, the attacker will most likely try to hold you in a choke position with his forearm and elbow against your throat. In this situation, lock your chin down and off to the side to prevent the attacker from cutting off your windpipe. From here, you can reach one arm up through the attacker’s choke-hold, pushing away to free yourself. If you cannot do this, grab the attackers groin with your hand and pull, stomp on his foot with your heel, or gouge at his eyes, if possible.
Another easy-to-learn self defense technique is the ear pull. If you are within a close distance, face-to-face, with your attacker, grab his ear with your hand and wrap your fingers around it. Then, pull your hand towards your chest. With a relatively small amount of pressure, you can pull an attacker’s ear right off, causing him a lot of pain.
The eye gouge or eye jab is another painful way that women can free themselves from an attacker. To gouge your attacker’s eye, use point your first two fingers and stiffen them. Gouge at your attacker’s eye to cause pain and temporary blindness. Using three fingers in a backhand motion, you can jab at your attacker’s eyes for a similar effect.
These are just a few techniques to defend yourself from an attacker. Practice these at home to prepare yourself to act quickly in the event of an emergency.
Sources:
“Free Video Teaches Women Easy Self-Defense Moves,” ABC’s Good Morning America. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2984761&page=2.
“Tips for Self Protection,” Rate Your Risk. http://www.rateyourrisk.org/selfdef/.
“Unarmed Self-Defense Techniques: Eye Attackes,” Self Defender. http://www.self-defender.net/eye-attacks-self-defense.htm.
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