The world is no longer a safe place. People are afraid, and so the market for self-defense training and non-lethal options has been growing steadily.
Urban Safety Solutions explains why women are learning the importance of self defense.
Self-defense for women has various applications, from warding off intrusive “admirers” to preventing domestic violence and incidents of assault outside their homes.
Self-defense skills and tools enable women and girls to defend themselves against sexual, psychological, and physical violence despite their lower physical strength. The skills and tools offer to strengthen women’s self-confidence. They help women to stay safe against sexual victimization.
The enemy within
Since humanity has existed, it has also had to defend itself. In the beginning, it was predators, foreign tribes, or wars. The threat is different today. Man’s greatest enemy is still himself. To be more precise, it is our ubiquitous fellow human beings today.
You only have to open the local newspaper once, and you will notice how many cases of violence there have been and are in the immediate vicinity. Most of the victims are women.
We, therefore, have to understand one thing: being able to defend yourself as a young girl or mature woman is not an additional qualification or an excellent hobby. It is a skill that is unfortunately still essential for survival and one that you need to live a fulfilling life.
More women are walking alone at night.
It was late evening, and it was pitch black. This is how many examples of sexual assault stories begin. For students and career women, walking alone at night—from work or social engagements—is an everyday thing. But especially in the late evening or at night, rapists, thieves, and robbers prowl the streets, hence the critical need for these women to learn self-defense.
But it’s not always about rape or mugging. Often, harmless situations lead to fights or scuffles, sometimes causing severe injuries that could have been prevented with simple defense techniques or gadgets. Anyone who travels a lot in the evening should know how to defend themselves.
Women need self-defense skills and gadgets to make up for limited strength
Of course, not all women are weaker than men. However, the average man is 60 % stronger than the average woman. As a result, violence against women has reached an all-time high.
Attacks and sexual assault happen everywhere—on the streets, at parties, and in the pool. There is often danger at home too. One now reads very often about girls and women regularly beaten by their friends and husbands at home.
Women are now aware that defending themselves is not an easy challenge, given their limitations in strength. They are therefore learning the proper techniques and arming themselves with non-lethal weapons for personal protection.
Women are getting into male-dominated industries
Today there are more women in professions such as police officers or bouncers. Women also serve as bus drivers, conductors, or teachers. These careers carry the highest risk of harassment and victimization.
Disputes on buses and trains often escalate into fights. Sometimes a ticket inspection is an occasion. Sometimes it is excessive alcohol consumption on the part of whoever they are dealing with.
Therefore, whoever can defend herself has a clear advantage here too. Getting a sick leave may sound fun. However, no one wants to sit at home for several weeks because they have been seriously injured or even disabled.
After the late-night shift, college females find themselves prone to attacks.
For women, learning self-defense is not always about preparing for specific dangers. Often they want to strengthen their self-confidence or simply be ready for the moments they are alone, especially late nights from the library or work.
No woman wants to be mugged, robbed, or beaten up. Self-defense skills help them to recognize such situations early on and avoid them.
Most women have learned the importance of protecting their health and life
Thanks to their new knowledge of self-defense, women are now well prepared for the worst.
Without specialist knowledge of self-defense techniques, they would be helpless in the event of an attack. But with the proper knowledge, they can weaponize their body and use non-lethal weapons with tactical efficiency.
Self-defense for women equals confidence and increased self-esteem
Self-defense is not just a way for a female running alone to physically defend herself against an attacker. The skills and gadgets increase her self-esteem and self-confidence significantly.
When a woman living alone knows that she no longer has to worry about the risk of sexual offenders or thieves, she gains an enormous amount of self-confidence.
Women are at risk from intimate partners.
Numerous studies indicate that women are the most vulnerable to violence coming from their intimate partners. A woman’s intimate partner does not always pose the same risk to her. 1.6 times more women were abused by their partners in 2011 than by their spouses. Women can protect themselves in violent relationships through self-defense.
It is becoming more common for single women to be assaulted.
Whether an individual is married or in a common-law relationship can affect the risk of self-reported violent victimization. Despite this, women who are legally married and those in a common-law union do not experience any differences in non-spousal victimization. Contrary, women in common-law relationships are about five times more likely to be victimized by their partners than their married counterparts.
Intimate partner violence is more prevalent among lesbians and bisexuals
Bisexual women have significantly higher rates of rape, physical violence, and stalking by intimate partners than lesbians and heterosexual women, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This finding sheds light on a scandalous social problem, further driving the need for women to learn self-defense.
Educational attainment and income does not reduce women’s risk of assault
There is no relationship between educational attainment and the risk of either spouse or non-spousal violence for women. Similarly, income plays no role in shaping its influence. This is true for both spousal violence and non-spousal violence among women. Female victims are from all walks of life, hence the need for self-defense training among women.
Victimization is higher among women who use alcohol or drugs
Data from trusted sources indicate that the prevalence of spousal violence among women who drink heavily (consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in a sitting) is similar to that among women who don’t drink.
However, women who drink heavily are more likely to experience non-spousal violence than women who do not. Heavy drinking isn’t the only risk factor. It works with variables such as being young and engaging in evening activities.
It helps develop self-discipline.
Self-defense abilities need to be developed through self-discipline if you expect to learn and grow. To be successful in this field, you need motivation and dedication. It’s essential to keep practicing if you want to stay protected. By learning self-defense, women become more aware of their surroundings and their personal security. Without practice, they cannot be able to get better.
Self-respect is taught through it.
Respecting each other and yourself is taught in self-defense. There are many benefits to this in life. Self-defense moves are practiced with a partner. Mutual trust is necessary to avoid hurting each other at practice. Women learn that the probability of earning the respect of others is low if they don’t respect themselves first.
It helps with goal setting.
Setting goals is a crucial aspect of self-defense. A goal is anything you set for yourself – whether it is to master a specific move or to feel confident in your ability to defend yourself. This may lead to women developing a drive they never had before. They can build their goal-setting skills through self-defense training and learn to cope with challenging situations every day.
It is part of a healthy lifestyle.
Safety and wellness go hand and in hand. Apart from helping women stay safe from assault and victimization, self-defense training helps them stay fit and healthy. Physical activities improve their immune system and overall strength for life’s activities.
Also, self-defense is fun. During training, women get to wind down after a hard day at work, blow steam and hang out with friends.
It improves situational awareness.
Through self-defense training, women learn to stay calm in the face of dangerous situations. They learn to better assess conditions without the risk of panicking and doing something rash in an attack. Overall, after training, they find that you are much more balanced and calmer. This is a crucial skill in everyday life:
- Conflict management and avoidance
- Self-assertion and determination
- Protecting friends and loved ones
Women want to be safer in parking garages at night
Self-defense emphasizes defensive methods against larger or more superior attackers in dimly lit areas such as parking lots at night. Methods to ward off harassment or sexual assault, such as groping, are specifically taught.
In addition, self-defense helps women overcome their fear or reluctance to use violence to protect themselves in an emergency. They get to face and reduce this fear through targeted training.
Learning self-defense adds meaning to a woman’s life
There is self-defense training for women in almost every city. Usually, up to 10 women or girls take part. Learning self-defense is a continuous thing. Neither the trainer nor the student can ever finish training.
The process enables women to learn important things. It sets a good foundation for their success and personal assurance in their career and dating life.
Most women learn self-defense without enrolling in a course
Self-defense training courses cost money. If that were the only way to learn, this would be a thing for financially well-off women. Luckily it is no on both counts.
Most women appreciate the fact that they can train alone or at home. There are excellent books and online courses for this. YouTube is full of self-defense tutorials as well.
Online tutorials have made it easier for women to learn self-defense
Do online self-defense courses work? Yes. They even teach a lot, to put it briefly. Here is where women are rapidly learning about various risks to their personal safety and how to avert those risks. They are helping women to say woke, and it’s a positive thing to watch.
In addition, the tutorials available are well-made and can help a woman living alone to stay safe and live a fulfilling life.
Today, any woman who does not want to deal with self-defense in great detail or is afraid of regular training can learn basic self-defense online.
Self-defense and the use of personal security gadgets is legal for women
Every woman is allowed to defend herself against illegal and harmful attacks within the framework of the law.
Women now realize that they have the legal right to fight off offenders with all non-lethal means available.
College girls and career women now have basic self-defense skills and carry personal safety devices to stay safe during emergencies.
Self-defense kits for women have become more affordable
Ultimately, if a single mom or any other woman wants to defend herself effectively and successfully, they have to turn to smart devices. Thankfully, the market is full of high-tech and mobile solutions that can help women immobilize an attacker (without killing them) or ward off an assailant.
One can now quickly find out online that these can be used well in self-defense, the advantages and disadvantages, and which defensive tool is the best for women.
Here you can probably speak of the classic weapons when it comes to self defense for women. They are now improved and easy to use, they have a low risk of injury, and they are always attractively priced.
There are now a large number of approved non lethal female protection devices on the market. The sales figures have also been rising steadily for several years.
A few smart gadgets have become more and more popular in self-defense for women for several years. Some are app-based. Others are stand-alone gears that work from a distance.
They don’t need special skills to use. They help to scare away most attackers and make other people aware of the risk. Most devices are also effective when jogging in the deepest forest or when an attacker is annoyingly relentless, and the woman has to put him down for long to flee to safety.
Women are becoming tougher by learning self-defense
In a self-defense training session, before the beginner can deal with techniques for defense against attacks, they first look at the principles of unarmed self-defense. These include:
Prevention – recognizing dangers at an early stage. This is the most critical aspect of women’s self-defense practices. It encourages women to pay attention to their surroundings not to be suddenly surprised by an attack.
This means that you don’t constantly stare at their smartphone or listen to music through the headphones. Of course, it doesn’t hurt if single urban women let their gaze wander from time to time and pay attention to unusual behavior.
Today, most women understand that it is better to identify an attacker and escape than fighting them.
Women are learning that they are strong.
Self-assertion is an essential part of self-defense training for women.
The most critical requirement in self-defense for women is not their weight or their own strength but the will to defend themselves. And this is what experts preach online and in fitness studios.
Women often fall into a kind of paralysis when it comes to demonstrating their strength. Therefore, one should train once in front of the mirror to reject a potential attacker with a loud and specific posture. If one can do that, they will get to avoid many dicey situations without a fight.
In addition, when a woman has an aura of self-confidence, attackers would think twice before making their move. Typically, assailants love a path of least resistance –so they go for those that appear to be weak, shy, or unsure.
If you show with your behavior that you will not put up with nonsense, you will avoid many dangerous situations from the outset. If the worst comes to the worst, your skills and gadgets will help you deal with it.
Self-defense teaches how to diffuse high-risk situations
Despite all self-assertion, one is also encouraged to try to defuse a situation by using de-escalation methods. Showing strength isn’t the only way for women to stay safe.
By learning self-defense, women try to put themselves in the shoes of their assailants. Why are they doing this, and what could be their motives? They then find ways to use these insights to neutralize an unsafe situation with words.
But please always keep in mind that not everything can always be clarified with words. Even while a woman is trying to de-escalate the tense situation, an assailant can suddenly attack. Self-defense teaches women always to expect an attack!
Through self-defense, women are learning to draw attention
There are times when all the safety precautions have failed, and the attack is imminent. When that happens, a woman can only try one thing.
Get attention at all costs. Women learn self-defense to master ways to draw attention to an emergency by shouting. Gradually they learn that efficiency here depends on using strong trigger words like fire, not help.
They learn to address people specifically. For instance, “You in the blue jacket, call the police immediately.” Or “You with the yellow shirt, please help me!”
It helps women attain a good state of mind.
It is actually the mind that plays the most critical part in self-defense. To protect themselves and their families, women train their minds to think fast and effectively in tricky situations.
Help isn’t always available in modern society. People automatically rely on their skills in stressful situations, such as during an attack or survival situation. Adapting to problems we’ve never encountered or haven’t prepared for is difficult when we’re under stress.
Understanding self-defense is therefore essential. If a worst-case scenario happens, women are better prepared to survive if they prepare for it and prepare for it.
Self-defense items for women save lives.
In self-defense training, women learn the importance of running away from danger. This way, they don’t run the risk of injury or a legal dispute. Fleeing is not embarrassing. It shows that the woman has a sharp intellect regarding her personal safety.
Women learn to fight with their hands.
If the fight can no longer be avoided and a woman doesn’t have a weapon for self-defense at hand, they have to fight with their bare hands. But how does it work, and what do they have to pay attention to? The tips and tricks are revealed in self-defense training and tutorials.
It helps to improve balance.
So that a woman doesn’t just get pushed around and so that she can keep her balance when attacked, she learns to put her feet shoulder-width apart and distribute the weight evenly on both legs.
As a woman, you learn to always avoid falling on the ground. It poses a high risk of injury, and on the other hand, women are bad at fighting on the ground.
In addition, a firm stance signals that a woman is ready to defend herself. If she starts with strong facial expressions and gestures, the probability of being attacked decreases. After all, perpetrators are always looking for victims and not women who are ready to fight!
They learn the proper gestures, facial expressions & body language to ward off attackers.
Through self-defense, women always learn to straighten their upper body and head. They learn to press their shoulders down so as not to show unnecessary fear.
Skills such as making a serious face and fixing eyes on an assailant’s upper body save lives. This is how the potential attacker knows that a woman is ready to fight back. And as already described above, perpetrators look for victims, not fighters.
Women learn to trust their instincts.
As soon as you get into physical distress, you should call up all of the knowledge and skills you have learned. Trust your instincts and use force as part of self-defense to avert the attack on you.
Do not hesitate long, do something. Don’t give your opponent time to attack, but buy yourself time by defending yourself. And don’t get into a fight that lasts for minutes, but use a favorable moment to run away. These are some of the critical life-saving skills that inspire women to learn self-defense.
Women learn to use everyday objects to defend oneself
A woman doesn’t need a baton or baseball bat to increase her strength in a punch. Often the handbag, the umbrella, or the shopping bag will do.
Women have been able to use these everyday objects to prevent an attack. Through self-defense, women learn to improvise and focus on sensitive areas of an assailant, such as the genitals.
As seen, there is not one all-embracing answer to this question. Instead, various reasons and possible situations make learning self-defense techniques useful for women from all walks of life.
UrbanSafetySolutions.com is a valuable resource for women or anyone searching online for personal protection options.
https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/factors-increase-sexual-assault-risk
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26638125
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2784921/
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/208346.pdf
https://bmcwomenshealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12905-018-0675-0