How I (48f) aced my self defence class

I recently completed a self-defence course for women, a cheap course provided by my local government. I normally wouldn't post anything about it, but it's an important topic, and I think it might be useful for some of you. I'll use some martial arts terminology, but I'll try to explain what everything is if I'm not sure how widely known it is.<br><br>It was a 5 hour course, divided into 2 hours of theory, a 1 hour break, and 2 hours of training. There's a men's course later this month, and a course specifically for young girls next month.<br><br>The course was run by a black belt karate instructor who had worked in security before (and might still, but it was over a year ago, so he might not be anymore). He was very aware of the limitations of training compared to being attacked in real life, and how difficult it can be to fight once your adrenaline is going, especially if you're injured. In that case, he gave advice on how to try and escape, and how to try and limit your injuries while protecting your vital organs.<br><br>We started by going over common rape tactics and escape methods. There was a lot of overlap with the stuff we did in the second half. I think the idea was partly to go through it slowly before we got into it physically. I didn't write down everything, but here are a few of the things he mentioned:<br><br>* The "lift and dump" method - This is when a rapist grabs a woman by the hips, lifts her up, grabs her crotch and carries her somewhere away from prying eyes. If someone does this to you, or you think they're going to, try and lock your legs together, and try and push your hips back. This will make it harder for them to carry you. Now, the part where you push your hips back is a bit tricky, because you don't want them to push you forward, which would make you fall over. The idea is you push your hips back just enough to make yourself more difficult to carry, while still keeping your centre of gravity far enough forward that you don't fall over. If you can, you can try to reach forward and grab their head or hair, and use your grip to pull your hips forward and make yourself heavier, or you can pull their head back and hit it on the ground. If you fall over, try to fall onto your front. If you land on your back, your rapist can use their body weight to pin you down. If you're on your front, you can turn around and fight them, or you can try and escape. If your rapist loses their grip on you as you fall, you can use the momentum from the fall to push yourself forward and get up and run. This is why it's so important to fall onto your front.<br>* The "bear hug" method - This is when someone grabs you from behind, often with their arms under your arms and their hands on your shoulders or chest. If someone does this to you, try to push your hips back, lean forward, and then bend your knees slightly. This will make yourself "heavy" and difficult to carry. If your knees are locked straight, you'll just pivot forward, which might make falling over more likely, and if you bend them too much, you'll lose your strength and stability, so try and find a middle ground. If you can, try to push your arms up under theirs and grab your shoulders. This should hopefully cause them enough pain to loosen their grip on you, or if you're lucky, you might just dislocate their shoulders. If you can't push your arms up, you can try to push your hips forward and backwards, or swing your arms to try and unbalance them. In a pinch, you can try stamping on their feet. Try to avoid hitting them in the head, since they're behind you and you can't see what you're doing, and you don't want to miss and hit yourself in the face (and you really don't want to break your hand on their skull). If you can, you can also try to throw yourself backwards onto them. If you do this, try to arch your back as much as you can. This will protect your vital organs from the impact of the fall, and it'll also make it more likely that you'll land on your rapist, which should hopefully hurt them and leave them reeling.<br>* The "hair grab" method - If someone grabs you by the hair, it can be very difficult to move. If you can, try to block their arm with one of your hands, and with your other hand, grab their wrist. From there, you can hopefully use their arm for leverage and throw them off you. You can try and hit their face with your free hand, although again, you need to be careful not to miss and hit yourself. If you can't block their arm, you can try and lean away from them and use your body weight to throw them off. If they lose their grip on your hair, you might be able to turn around and fight them, or you might be able to run away. If they don't lose their grip, you might be able to spin around and kick them in front of you, which should leave them reeling.<br>* The "choke hold" method - If someone grabs you around the throat and tries to choke you, the first thing you should do is try and protect your windpipe. You can put your chin down onto your chest, you can cross your arms over your throat, or if you're wearing a jacket, you can pull the collar up and use that to protect yourself. Don't try and pull their arms away from your throat. It's very difficult to do, especially if they're bigger than you, and if you try, you might just make them squeeze harder and choke you. Instead, you can try and pull their elbows towards you. If you can do this, it should loosen their grip on your throat, and you might be able to escape. If you can't loosen their grip, you can try stamping on their feet or kicking their shins. Try and aim for their ankles, since a kick to the ankles will hurt more and be more likely to make them loosen their grip. In a pinch, you can try and hit them in the face, or you can try and push them backwards and fall onto them. Again, arch your back when you fall to try and avoid injuring yourself.<br>* Various types of punches - I'm not actually sure how common it is for rapists to punch their victims in the face, but we went over how to defend yourself from various types of punches. If someone's about to punch you in the head, but hasn't yet, you can try and dodge the punch by moving your head out of the way, and use the momentum from the punch to throw them off you. You can put your hand on their forearm, near their elbow, and use that to push them in the direction of the punch. If they're about to throw a straight punch, and you can see the fist coming, right before it hits you, you can bring your head to the side, and the punch should hopefully hit your ear or your hair instead of your cheek or forehead. Obviously this isn't a foolproof method, but it should hopefully help. If someone actually manages to punch you in the face, and you're reeling from the pain, you can try and use the pain to your advantage. If you pretend you're more injured than you are, you might be able to convince your rapist that you're too injured to fight back, and they might loosen their guard. From there, you can try and grab their balls or eyes, and get them in a vulnerable position to attack.<br>* What to do if you're pinned to the ground - If you're pinned to the ground and you can't push your rapist off you, you can try and push their hips forward. If you can do this, they should hopefully lose their balance and fall forward, and you might be able to push them off you. If you can't push their hips forward, you can try to push their shoulders instead. This is a bit more difficult, since their arms can absorb some of the force of the push, but if you can do it, you should hopefully be able to push them off. You can also try to lock your legs together and push against their hips to try and make yourself "heavy" and difficult to carry. In a pinch, you can try and hit them in the face. Again, be careful not to miss and hit yourself, but it might be better than being raped.<br><br>We also talked a bit about how to avoid danger in the first place. A lot of this is old-fashioned anti-woman stuff about how women shouldn't be out alone at night, but since I think it might be useful, I'll post it here anyway:<br><br>* Be aware of your surroundings. If you're walking down a street at night and you see a man following you, don't keep walking straight. Turn around and go the other way, or cross the street if that's a safer option. Don't be afraid to look the man in the eye, since this will hopefully make them realise you're aware of them and you're not someone to be fucked with. If you're being followed by multiple men, you might need to choose which one to look at. Aim for the man who appears to be in charge, and try and stare them down.<br>* Don't walk near alleys. If you need to walk past an alley, try and walk as far away from it as you can. If you're walking along a row of shops, try and walk on the outside of the row rather than the inside, since this will reduce the number of alleys you need to walk past.<br>* Don't overdrink. If you're out