Action Against Violence

SURVIVAL SKILLS FOR WOMEN ON TODAY’S VIOLENT CAMPUS

IT is Labor Day and soon all elementary, high school and college campuses will be teeming with children, teens, and young adults. This, then, will be the first of 6 postings, each one of which will address one or more of the many crucial areas of survival and safety skills for students of all ages. This inaugural posting will deal with Fighting Arts (Winology) for Women on our modern college campuses.

STEP #1: BE A TOUGH TARGET AND GRADUATE THE SCHOOL OF WINOLOGY.

THERE is nothing hard about making yourself into a Tough Target. It is simple; it is doable, and yet it is probably the most crucial step you can take to defeat a potential attacker.

Ø What do I mean by a Hard (or Tough) Target? Simply and concisely put, a Tough Target is a person (a “TT” can be a male or female child, teen, adult or a senior citizen) who emits strong signals, either through body and/or verbal language, stance, the way he or she carries him or herself, that communicates to a predator that he or she will not be an easy mark, free lunch, or a path of least resistance. Since the great majority of attackers do not wish to fight and are looking for an easy mark, in 98% of cases, the Bad Guy will not even try to test the Tough Target.

How do I become a Hard or Tough) Target? You can check out most of my past and future blogs and learn about the 4 A’s (Awareness, Assessment, Anticipation and Action), body language, etc. I advocate cultivating an Assertive Personality and work, if you have to, at being determined to walk with confidence (even if you don’t feel confident), sweep your surroundings with your eyes, and to resist “testing (the predator may ask you a question, try to flick (imaginary) dandruff off your shoulder, will try to enter your Personal Safety Zone (within 2 to 3 feet) without invitation. The campus social or date rapist, or worse, the pure predator, is looking for a student with a Passive Personality who appears distracted, unobservant, her head down, eyes diverted, feet close together. When “Tested,” the Passive woman does not protest, may not verbalize at all. She is actually defeated before the attack even begins. Many potential rapist will avoid the Aggressive (Personality/AP), who strides with her head up, makes direct and challenging eye-to-eye contact and goes ballistic verbally, using vile and depreciated language at the potential attacker. Ironically, though, this (Aggressive Personality) woman will often humiliate and challenge the potential attacker to such a degree that some men/boys have attacked this type woman because she has escalated his emotions, “raised the stakes,” and compromised his manhood.

Ø Profile the Bad Guy: Check out past and future postings for more on how to profile a possible attacker.

Ø Trust Your Gut Feelings: Your instincts represent about 250 million years of evolution making the hair on the back of your neck stand up, an Inner Voice screaming out at you to “Quick, get the hell out of here!” Your instincts are hardly ever wrong. Trust them.

Ø First In/First out: Bad guys have an attack philosophy and First In/First Out is it. They will often attack when you are first going in to a place or when you are first coming out. That is when your guard is down.

Ø BREATHE DON’T SCREAM: Nine out of ten people freeze when first attacked. They do not breathe, and, therefore, there is no oxygenated blood flowing to their brains. Can’t think. Can’t talk. Can’t survive!

Ø Verbalize and Control Your Space: Tough Targets always have something to say, start to plan what to say and do when they first notice they are being watched. Nobody is allowed to enter their Personal safety Zone (PSZ) without a fight.

NEXT BLOG POSTING: Everything you need to know about campus dangers. Date Attacks, Alcohol related situations and excellent Escape and Evasion Techniques.

Technorati Tags:school violence, violence against women, survival skills, women safety

Awareness.
Being aware is simple, but, like most simple things, is often taken for granted.
Awareness is a safety principle requiring of us nothing more than we are capable
of.

• Keeping
  Our Eyes Open and observing our surroundings. Things in our environment
  such as potential hiding places for Bad Guys -doorways, alleyways; recesses
  (maybe a location where steps descend); bushes, et al); escape routes (if
  attacked, places where you may be able to retreat to, maybe well lit areas
  or public places, police stations, fire houses, etc., where we would be safer);
  a person/people who seem to be watching us more than he or she should be;
  people who may be acting strangely. Avoid dark areas that appear threatening.
• Eyeball Person
  Who Seems To Be Profiling You.
  It is a fact that attackers like to select a harmless-looking “lookout
  point” in an Ideal Hunting Grounds for victims. Here
  I am talking about Women as victims. Ideal Hunting Grounds
  (IHG) for stalkers of women include:
  • Real Estate Agencies.
  • Laundromats.
  • Nurseries.
  • Hospitals.
  • Schools.
  • Shopping Malls.
  • Parking Lots of Shopping
    Malls.
  • Bars/Parking Lots.
  • Convenience Stores.
• EYEBALL PERSON
  WHO IS EYEBALLING YOU: The key is not to be chosen as a victim. The Bad Guy
  will “test” all potential victims, looking for an ideal victim.
  The great majority of predators consider the ideal victim personality type
  to be quite, demure, non-confrontational, locked-up by fear, and, of course,
  unobservant. Here is a great opportunity – right from
  Jump Street – to totally avoid the dangerous fight for your life (Remember:
  Fighting For Your Life is a Contact Event, with
  a high probability of injury, even for those who escape). Either BE
  or Make Yourself Into A Hard Target.
  By eyeballing him (there will be much more on “How To Eyeball A Bad
  Guy” in later Blogs) – not staring eye-to-eye- but tactically
  looking at him, looking disgusted, and sizing him up as if you were a witness
  – you can immediately be eliminated as an easy victim. Doesn’t
  mean it will work every time, but I guarantee that, if a woman elects to look
  away timidly and ignore the stalker, she will be seen as an easy victim!
• Observe “Changes”.
  A key is obvious and subtle changes in people and environments. Look for changes
  in body language, verbals and eye contact and match observations with common
  sense. There are so many examples that I hesitate to list them all, but a
  key might be to be aware of your gut instincts, which are
  rarely in error when it comes to changes. An example might be a person who’s
  entire body language changes when you come onto the scene. Some of
  these changes might include:
  • Looking at you more
    intently and purposefully.
  • Conspicuous
    Ignoring
    (the man is trying to look blasé and “cool,” but is
    in actuality very aware of your every move. This is a key non-verbal indicator
    or attack-intention.
  • Reaching
    In His Pocket, Holding the Side of his Coat, Etc.
    Very possible the person has a weapon and is sub-consciously assuring
    himself that it is there and ready; or, is trying to keep the weapon from
    being obvious as he walks toward you. There will be an entire posting
    on Spotting A Bad Guy Trying To Conceal A Weapon in a future post.

ASSESSMENT
- Assessing is analyzing what you have become of in the environment and quickly
evaluating and analyzing it and formulating a survival strategy
based on the assessment(s). Assessment can include observations about how you
are feeling; your abilities and limitations; observations re the other person,
the practicalities of avoidance, escaping and/o standing ground and fighting.

ANTICIPATION
- I have always considered “anticipation” as the most crucial component
of one’s Survival Mentality or Psyche. Anticipation Spinal
Tunes your brain, Central Nervous System and what I consider your Muscular Activation
System into an efficient fighting organism. Anticipation arms you to be ready
to escape, evade or even fight ferociously literally in a heart beat. It requires
us all to always ask ourselves the “What If Question,”
no matter what environment we find ourselves in. “What would I do, if—“
gives you the chance to have an Action Plan and a Failure Plan. “If that
guy sitting over there starts to follow me, I will—“ is a good example.
Anticipating like that loads the mind for any eventuality, and, when what you
have observed and speculated about comes to fruition, your mind can almost automatically
carry out the plan (automatic is crucial since the fact that your heart rate
rising will probably obliterate your ability to improvise a plan of action when
your mind is in a virtual vacuum).

ACTION
– By adhering to the preceding Three A’s (Awareness, Assessment
and Anticipation), you are Spinal Tuned For Quick Action. On the other hand,
if you are not aware, have not assessed, and have no
plan or thoughts regarding what you might do if attacked. I guarantee, if attacked
you will be unable to act. More likely than not, you will:

• Either scream like a victim,
  or
• Freeze and say nothing.
• Hold your breath and freeze
  like a deer in the headlights.
• Not be able to recall
  anything you learned in training.
• At best, hesitate for
  2 to 3 seconds before counter-attacking. In 2 seconds you will be struck as
  many as 8 times and /or be rendered unconscious.
• Even if not knocked out,
  but grabbed and dragged, you will be unable to think of a countermeasure.
• Survivors, even when overpowered,
  have been known to keep their wits and wait until a moment when the predator
  is distracted and/or vulnerable to make their move.

Technorati Tags:violence, violence prevention, threat management, crime against women

I introduced
the concept of Winology in my opening posting with
true stories about one of my adventures as a state parole agent as well as some
heroism of one of the women from one of my Self Defense For Women classes who
had been violently attacked. Now I thought would be a good time to relate the
stories to the phenomenon of raw violence and what you can
learn about not only surviving it but even prevailing against it.

In other words,
The Basics of Threat Management Skills. Keep in mind, what follows is The
Basics in relationship to the abovementioned stories and illustrations
only. In the next few posts will be a myriad of tips, guidelines, principles,
skills, strategies and techniques designed to arm you, your family, friends
and/or children against violence in almost a hundred various specific areas
of threat (Domestic Terrorism; Domestic Violence; Home Invasions; Counter-Bullying;
Counter Child Abductor Strategies and Techniques; The Fighting Arts For Children;
Teens; Women; Men and/or Seniors, et al.)

Technorati Tags:violence, domestic, bullies, basic, school of winology

Detailed Description
of What we Are all About

IN TODAY’S
MAD and often wicked world along comes Action
Against Violence, your reliable site for articles, essays and free-flowing
discussions, all designed to make you and your family safer. You won’t
find hyperbole here. But you will find key principles and tenets of The
Fighting Arts, a tight cluster of state-of-the-arts threat
management skills and techniques designed for ordinary citizens and
extraordinary law enforcement, military or security personnel who need to avoid
and/or overcome potential or real violence.

Whether you be the concerned
parent of a five year-old child, a senior citizen in a time when crimes against
the elderly are on a sharp incline, or, for that matter, any man or woman in
between, you can find a variety of suggestions on one or more of the following
survival skills:

• KID ESCAPE
  – Escape and Evasion skills against predators and potential abductors
  for boys and girls from aged 5 to 13.
• Self
  Defense For Teenagers.
• The Fighting
  Arts For Women.
• Beyond
  60 – Self Defense For Seniors.
• Managing
  Violence in the Workplace.
• Verbal
  De-Escalation and Defusing Techniques.
• And much,
  much more—