Anti-Rape advice for women

Original Post Date: 2001-08-19  Posted By: Jan

From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 8/19/2001 3:54:49 AM
Anti-Rape advice for women

A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what
they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:
The #1 thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are
most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other
hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a
woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.

The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who”s
clothing is easy to remove quickly. The #1 outfit they look for is
overalls because many of them carry scissors around to cut clothing and on
overalls the straps can be easily cut. They also look for women on their
cell phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while
walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered. The time
of day men are most likely to attack and rape a woman is in the early
morning, between 5 and 8:30 a.m. The number one place women are abducted
from/attacked at is grocery store parking lots. Number two is office
parking lots/garages. Number three is public restrooms. The thing about
these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to
a second location where they don”t have to worry about getting caught.
Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence
but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years. If you put up any kind of a fight
at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for
them to realize that going after you isn”t worth it because it will be
time-consuming. These men said they will not pick on women who have
umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in
their hands. Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really
close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to
convince these guys you”re not worth it. Several defense mechanisms he
taught us are:

* If someone is following behind you on a street or in garage or with you
in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a
question, like what time is it, or make general small talk, I can”t
believe it is so cold out here, we”re in for a bad winter. Now you”ve
seen their face and could identify them in a lineup, you lose appeal as a
target. * If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of
you and yell Stop or Stay back! Most of the rapists this man talked to
said they”d leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not
be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target. If
you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and
carries t with him wherever he goes,) yelling I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and
holding it out will be a deterrent. * If someone grabs you, you can”t beat
them with strength but you can by outsmarting them. If they grab your
wrist, pull your wrist back so your hand is in waving position (palm
facing forward) and twist it toward yourself and pull your arm away. It
is hard to hold onto wrist bones that are moving in that way. They
stumble toward you and you stumble back, so you can use that momentum to
bring the same out and backhand them with your knuckles in the forehead,
nose or teeth. * If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch
the attacker either under the arm between the elbow and armpit or in the
upper inner thigh – HARD. One woman in a class this guy taught told him
she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and
was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands – the
guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you
can stand it; it hurts. * After the initial hit, always go for the groin.
I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy”s
parts it is extremely painful. You might think that you”ll anger the guy
and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our
instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble.
Start causing trouble, and he”s out of there. * When the guy puts his
hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as
possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible. The
instructor did it to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my
knees and both knuckles cracked audibly. Of course the things we always
hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with
you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don”t dismiss it, go with
your instincts. You may feel a little silly at the time, but you”d feel
much worse if the guy really was trouble. Please forward this to any woman
you know, it”s simple stuff that could save her life.

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