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Imagine you are a 15 year-old girl, after just getting your allowance on a mid-summers day, walking over to your friends house. On the way you suddenly notice a guy opening a car door and running up to you! What do you do? This is one of the defining moments in any one’s life – how they will respond to danger. I wrote a post about this here, that describes what feelings a person might have and how do deal with the fight or flight response.
In this post I am going to tell you about four recent stories of girls having to fight or run away to safety! I have noticed Internet chatter about karate instructors recommending to just kick the guy in the nuts and the girl will be safe! What? I would like to say that no matter how good I or any other blogger out there is, we cannot teach fighting skills over the Internet.
The only thing I hope for is to somewhat explore an issue or two in any one post! This means that if I say a girl should gouge the eyes out and try to run away – I am not saying that is all that it will take to get away! Who really knows? It depends on how badly the attacker (the bad guy) gets hurt or surprised. If you really want to know how to escape an attacker – go take a self-defense class at a minimum! With that caviot, here is a picture I found a funny photo on flickr of a scary guy attacking a girl (he is not really a bad guy)!
The first attack took place in Plant City (Florida?) where a guy on a bike tried to grab a girl. The article here, states the girl fought the guy off and ran away. I’m not sure where the guy planned on taking the girl but I would assume somewhere close. There are not any details on exactly how the girl fought the guy off.
In this case the girl chose to fight back and run! This is an ideal self-defense strategy because the guy does not get a chance to put the girl in some bushes or a car. The girl has some chance of attracting attention from passersby. Had the girl gone with the guy she also would have lost a physiological advantage because she would have been a prisoner.
The next article here, talks about a girl walking home from school and a car with three guys in it, stopping. One guy grabbed the girls arm and tried to pull the girl into the car! In this case the girl was able to pull free and run away! I don’t know if the girl had any self-defense training but most schools teach students how to break free from holds.
The girl did pull free but I would have liked to know if the girl was walking with or against traffic. Some of you might be screaming at your computer screen now assuming that I am about to say the girl did something wrong by waking on the sidewalk! Well the point I am trying to make and reality being what it is, this girl might have lowered her attack profile by waking against traffic! In either case she did not do anything wrong (I’m not blaming the victim) but walking against traffic is an easier way to see stopping cars. The girl did really good to break free and get away from a car with three guys!
This next case was really scary as a 12 year-old girl was playing outside with her baby sister. The article here, tell of a man walking up and grabbing the girl, telling her she was coming with him. The girl said no and pulled away. The man grabbed her baby sister and the girl pulled the baby away and ran to a neighbor. The neighbors held the door shut as the man tried to get in! Later the police caught the guy!
It is unclear where the parents were in this but it may not have made much of a difference with such an aggressive attacker! The girl did great! She was protective of her sister and got them away twice, ran and found a helpful neighbor. That is the kind of neighbors I want on my block! The kind that will put themselves at risk to save neighbors children!
This last article here, is about a 13 year-old girl walking in the early evening (still light out) and a pickup stopping with two guys. The guys attempted to grab the girl but she ran! The guys were later arrested and at least one was found to be on drugs.
The girl avoided trouble at the first sign and got away from the attackers! This is what I love about running, it does not take any special skill other than awareness! Had the two guys grabbed her, she would have had a tougher time getting away and it might have went poorly for her.
The common theme in these attacks I noted was the time frame, between April and May of 2009. I would like to say that stranger abduction is a small part of the overall attacks on women. This does not mitigate the effect if it happens to you or yours. My oldest son when he was eight was a target of an abductor. A guy in a pickup truck pulled in diagonally in front of him and was getting out. A couple of ladies walking started yelling at my son to run. He did and got away! Again neighbors helping saved my son.
The reason I publish stories of attacks on people is that I want to highlight the the issue so men, women, and children will start becoming more safety conscious and optimally take at a minimum, some self-defense training!
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May 21st, 2009 at 11:47 am
Just reading these stories bring back frightening images of my past. When I was a teenager I was blessed to have an older brother who was in martial arts and taught me how to kick.
Those many, many afternoons of fighting with my brother (even when I didn’t want to) came in handy when I was attacked later in life. The combination of kicks, teeth, punches, hair pulling, scratching, and a great determination to survive really helped me make it through some horrible experiences.
I am glad to hear those girls survived, and that Adrian did too. Thank God for the “good ones” out there who are willing to step in when help is needed.
September 29th, 2010 at 8:26 am
This was a great post for me on a personal level. Ive been in the transport business most of my life so much of what youve said has rung true to me. Thanks