This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at F and M chapter.
Lancaster may not be a big city, but every girl has to be prepared to defend herself.
Have you ever thought about what it would actually be like to be attacked, raped, or violated? Do you know what you would do? Or do you think, “It will never happen to me?” I am completely guilty of thinking the latter. My sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, had a mandatory Self-Defense Workshop this morning. It made me realize that if I ever was attacked I would honestly not know any specific defense tactics, so I’m am sharing a list of the key points I took away from this workshop.
- Use your voice. – You want to draw as much attention to yourself as possible; scream NO! because it’s simple and easy to say, and it gets your point across very clearly.
- Make a game plan. – Imagine how you are going to escape and act on this plan immediately.
- Your ultimate goal is survival. – Ultimately you want to survive, so assess your situation and do whatever is necessary for your survival.
- Always be aware of your surroundings. – It doesn’t matter where you are or who you’re with, always be aware of the people who are around you.
- Make eye contact with the people you pass on the streets. – This simple recognition could stop an attacker, because the second you make eye contact with someone you are making it clear to them that you have noticed what they look like. Act confident.
- Let your adrenaline give you strength. – Don’t let fear paralyze you, let it make you stronger.
- Attack the most vulnerable parts of the body. – Use your fingers, fists, palms, elbows, heals, and knees to attack eyes, throat, nose, chin, belly, groin, forearms, shins, and feet.
- Always trust your gut. – 99% of the time your gut instinct is correct, so use this internal tool to your advantage. Don’t ignore your intuition.