Exposing the scope of sexual violence is futile – only a mere 6 percent of sexual assaults are reported to the police. What does this mean for women on campus where sexual violence is soaring, rape whistles are being handed out at orientation, and it’s not always a predator lurking in the shadows? Women must be primed to defend themselves. It’s critical to understand it will not guarantee your safety, but it will create an unspoken yet powerful barrier between you and a violent attacker. You will instinctively send the message that you are not a soft target. Trusted programs like my Women’s Shield Program instills lifesaving tenacity and stamina to help defend against campus rape and intimate violence.
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90% of adult rape victims are female
The Facts.
According to research, the Globe and Mail once published a piece that shared that resistance tactics work when combatting sexual violence. They are referencing a renowned Canadian-crafted intervention to teach women to distinguish risk in situations that could lead to sexual assault. This instruction reduced the rate of rape among participants by nearly 50 percent, as posted in the New England Journal of Medicine.
There are a plethora of tips and tactics that help to create a dynamic schema for defending from rape and sexual violence on your school campus. For this blog, I will hone in on three elements of my self-defense system for women—body language, situational awareness, and managing your space.
Body Language:
It can take less than 7 seconds for a predator to identify if you are a soft target – that’s pretty compelling. What’s more, their inferences are highly accurate, if not dead-on. Studies also reveal that your attacker gauges your vulnerability based on fundamental physical movements. The correlation between your non-verbal communication and observed vulnerability is a study that has been on high alert for decades. In fact, it represents 70-90 percent of communication. It discloses a person’s mood or state of mind – if they are stressed, uncomfortable, sad, insecure, scared, or tired. Of course, body language also indicates if someone is a confident, hard target.
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(Only) 20% of female student victims age 18-24, report to law enforcement.
Non-verbal cues are an influential gauge of a soft target. More specifically, open body language indicates confidence, which is a singular deterrent for a rapist or violent predator on campus. It expresses dominance over fear. It’s vital to stand erect, with your shoulders back. Gaze straight ahead, not at your feet or the ground. Avoiding crossing your arms or even putting your hands in your pockets is also essential. It’s best to let them fall naturally at your sides. The overall message is to take up space – your personal secured zone.
Closed body language is what you must instinctually learn to avoid. It’s self-protective and low-powering. It includes hunched posture, head down, legs crossed or tightly closed, and arms covering the torso. It’s valuable to remember that if your body language depicts confidence, that will be the message sent, regardless if you have yet to achieve that state of mind. Gaining more confidence is something self-defence trains you to master, to help you feel better and appear stronger.
33 % of rapes are committed by a current or former partner
Understanding how a predator selects victims motivates us to self-examine and assess what we can do about it. It’s identified that psychopathic individuals are superior at reading these cues than the average or regular person. Sadistic serial killer Ted Bundy prayed on young, attractive college women. Not only could he tell there is a science to walking in confidence – he consumed and mastered it.
Situational Awareness:
I discuss that this is the pinnacle of any self-defense system. Situational awareness is fascinating because it is a mindset and and indispensable life skill. It’s being aware of one’s surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangerous scenarios. It can be exercised by anyone with the will and the discipline to do so. Situational awareness is a powerful component in improving campus life safety and security. Knowing what is happening in a given area, how to interpret it, and, most importantly, how to respond can remarkably improve outcomes in high-risk situations.
80% of female victims know their attacker
The following tips are to elevate your knowledge of situational awareness on campus:
- Be alert to what is considered normal in your environment and setting on campus. Be mindful of anything that seems to be unusual or rare events and circumstances. Ask yourself questions to assess if anything appears suspect. Are appropriate doors locked? Are vehicles parked in the typical spots? Are there lights not working in a specific area? Is your path isolated? Are there safe spots where immediate assistance is available to you? It’s about total awareness of what peril could arise and escalate into a dangerous, even fatal assault.
- Strive to combat normalcy bias. Krav Maga’s pretext refers to a failure to sufficiently prepare for, recognize the existence of, or effectively respond to an imminent threat before or during a defensive encounter. Stress and a lack of training can lead our minds to experience a false sense of security. It delays and even paralyzes our cognitive and physical reactions to potentially dangerous scenarios, which could ultimately result in injury or worse – death. This is vital in an attack as every second counts. Training your brain to be familiar with violent situations is also a profound part of my Women’s Shield program. We practice to never rationalize your initial perceptions, or ignore your gut.
- Knock out, focus lock. These everyday distractions habitually vie for your attention which can be highly detrimental in an emergency, more specifically, a surprise assault. It may be tunnel vision or fatigue. You may commonly be immersed in reading your texts or cancel out all noise with your headphones. Although it’s prudent to have your cell phone out and ready to use in an emergency, you should resist chatting with friends until you have reached a safe location that doesn’t demand your focus.
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Managing Your Space:
The fence is one of the most influential self-defense Krav Maga tools spawned by Geoff Thompson. It controls the distance between yourself and a plausible violent attacker or rapist in a non-combative manner. The premise is to avoid escalating the circumstances. Creating a defensible space curtails the risk of being taken by surprise. Additionally, if a rapist is unable to close the gap between you and him – he is unable to strike. In a sense, it symbolizes a life-saving physical barrier or shields from a brutal outcome.
Executing your space is paramount in buying your reaction time to counter an assault or violation. Although Krav Maga advocates action over reaction – if the distance is not closed, you gain a fighting chance to react more effectively and forcibly. Fence and managing your space is about having control of the situation before it can intensify. It’s another monumental self-defense tool that should become second nature.
The Fear.
In Self-Defense Fight or Flight, I explain that fear is all-powerful and primitive; it’s a natural emotion and critical for survival. Although a biochemical response is a fundamental instinct – it can be honed in on and even controlled subconsciously by the trained individual. Understanding this and accepting the decisive role of learning self-protection is the first step in exercising courage and fortitude.
What’s vital is ensuring that it doesn’t prevent you from feeling safe on or off campus. For example, evening classes, visiting the local pub, or walking to the parking lot should not adversely affect your mental health or sabotage your quality of life.
College is about meeting new people and exploring new things – success in this means being cognitive of how others see you – most importantly, how a predator assesses you. It’s also about mastering control – failure to do so affords your attacker complete freedom to decide your fate. Leading with this thought process imparts the powerful mindset to start living and saving your life.
I aspire for women to secure a place in self-defense training and strive with everything to ensure they are proactive and in control of their safety. Mentally and physically. My Women’s Shield Program is a choice opportunity offered directly through my website nickdrossos.com, meticulously designed to teach self-defense and deemed valuable for those whose ambition is personal safeguarding, protection, and hard-core empowerment.
National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) so a trained representative can provide assistance and direction. Students who feel uncomfortable calling the police can report the assault through an app such as JDoe or Callisto.