“Should I try and fight off an attacker?"; This is a very good question and I believe it deserves an answer but a quick one word answer won’t do. I promise I won’t bore you with a ton of statistics but a few are going to be necessary.
According to the Dept. of Justice, in the year 2003 there were roughly 174,570 rape/sexual assault cases where victims took self protective measures. Out of 174,570 cases where the victim used protective measures:
• 54.2% said it helped the situation
• 14.4% said hurt the situation
• 4.3% said it both helped and hurt the situation
• 23.7% said it neither helped nor hurt the situation
• 3.3% didn’t know either way
U.S. Department of Justice - Office of Justice Programs, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/sheets/cvus/2003/cv0372.csv
Now to be honest, if I personally was about to be raped, first I have to say “damn you’re hard up" and then I would take the 54.2% chance of getting away unmolested by taking some type of self protective measure. Don’t laugh a large number of men are raped each year as well a women. Sick little world we live in for sure.
If you really think about it 23.7% of the victims said it neither helped nor hurt, so they must have lacked self defense training and/or a good self defense weapon or personal alarm. That means that if they spent just a small portion of their energy on learning how to defend themselves and practicing what they learned, the number that said it helped should have been more like 77.9%.
Now those are damn good odds in my eyes considering all victims of a completed rape/sexual assault are considered to be injured mentally and/or physically.
Don’t be one of the good people out there walking around today who are nothing but a statistic waiting to happen. Crime gets worse each year and there is no better way to stay safer from sexual assault or crime in general then to be trained and prepared to defend yourself or those you love.
Always remember to trust your gut feelings, if a situation “feels bad", get out of there right away; it is better to feel a little silly then be a victim of an attack.
I also highly recommend you get a self defensive spray at the very least. A combo of personal alarm, some type of pepper spray and a stun gun would be better. This way you are better prepared for different situations and the backup protection is nice as well. You should also look into getting a book or DVD and/or attending a class on self defense (taking a class is the best option of the 3).
So the short answer for this question of “Should I try and fight off an attacker"? is that there is no short answer. As I said before the best defense is to avoid bad situations all together but if you can't then you must trust your gut. All attacks are different and you need to quickly assess the given situation and react accordingly. The more prepared you are the better you will be able to handle any bad situation.
Stay safe and until next time…
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