Self Defense

In the aftermath of the recent attack on campus, there has been an outbreak of security and self-defense lessons in order to make students feel safe and assure us that Tech is a safe environment. To me, the attack was definitely a surprise but I still think Montana Tech is as safe as anywhere else in town, in fact, it has to be a lot safer than most Butte neighborhoods. It is unfortunate that something like this happened on campus, but it could’ve happened anywhere and the important thing is to have a few tricks up your sleeve in case something like that happens to you. The girl who was attacked fought back, which is a pretty badass move, and overall is considered the most effective way to respond to any attacker.

A few years ago, I walked everywhere in Butte. It didn’t matter what the time of day was or how far it was, I’d walk to my friend’s house, Taco Bell, even home from parties when I didn’t want to drive. I like to walk and didn’t think I should be scared into feeling like I couldn’t even walk around town. Sometimes it almost seems as though women are being prepared to be victims. It’s true that we are the smaller, less muscular sex generally speaking. But we’re trained to always be watching our backs and avoiding dark corners and questionable situations. Growing up my grandma handed out mace to me and my female cousins like parade candy, thinking that if we ever got in a sticky situation we’d spray the attacker away. This isn’t a bad thing, but what if you just want to live your life and not constantly watch your back? Is that even possible as a girl in Butte? Maybe, but I guess it isn’t wise.
I quit walking everywhere after playing a game of football with some guys from work. I had the ball and rather than tackling like you’re supposed to, one of the guys just picked me up with the ball in my hands and carried me to his team’s end of the field. As I was in transport, I tried to get away but the guy was a lot bigger than me and it wasn’t long until I realized I was just along for the ride and didn’t have much say in the matter due to our differences in strength. That got me thinking a bit more about how small my chances were against someone much bigger than me. Even though it was just a game it made me realize that if someone has a fair amount of muscle they can dictate a lot of the situation. I didn’t like that.
As a girl who was living alone at the time, I also found everyone wanting me to own a gun. This seemed ridiculous. For one thing, I’d never handled a gun and wasn’t really comfortable enough with one to consider it a weapon against anyone but myself. If someone did break in I didn’t really want to shoot them anyway. However, over and over this was brought up to me by my dad, my boss, and my boyfriend until finally I learned how to shoot a gun just in case. I didn’t really feel any more or less secure but it seemed to put others at ease.
So, from here I knew a few things about living safely as a girl. I knew that anyone bigger than me would be pretty tough to persuade through my own brute force, mace generally effects both the attacker and the victim and in the even that I needed to use my gun, I probably wouldn’t have it readily available. So what do you do? In all the cases I had ever heard of where someone was attacked and got away, the victim fought back. It didn’t matter if they got beat up too. The point was, they were going down swinging. And isn’t the way you’d want to go? The general rule goes, fight back, yell, kick and scream. Basically relive your two-year-old tantrums. I think this is really logical. If you are as annoying as humanly possible, your attacker will likely rather leave you alone than spend another five minutes in your abominable company. I think this may be why a lady’s scream was created to be so irritating that it is unbearable. That way, no one will mess with you because they are unable to stand the sound of your voice. It is a useful little evolutionary tool. Lastly, if you don’t have any mace or gun available, which is pretty likely, if it is at all possible, use a weapon. My boss who does training for the military taught me that in hand to hand combat a fight lasts 15 seconds on average. One good hit and your opponent is out even faster than that. Judging by the fist fights I used to have with my sister I think this is accurate. The best advantage you can have is to grab a weapon of some sort. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just something to hit with besides your fist. This gives you greater distance from your opponent and saves your body more traumas from hitting someone else. The rule for using any type of weapon goes;
“Smash anything HARD against something made of bone,
Stab anything you have with a point at something soft.”
Also, as every girl has probably heard, hit below the belt. This seems to be the cardinal rule for girl on guy combat. Next, is the nose and eyes, and if you get two good hits in and just keep going your attacker should head in the opposite direction pretty quickly.
These tips for self-defense may seem obvious but in a situation where you need them, they are the basics that will help you most. In those times, it will be difficult to know what to do and your choices to act need to happen fast. Just an attitude of stubborn refusal and a good amount of obnoxious screaming could make all the difference. Always remember to go down swinging.