Women's Self Defense Stories

I ALWAYS lock car doors and my house the minute I come through the door. Even if I’m doing housework, and I’m in and out going to and from the garage, I lock the doors. At night, I go only to places where there are crowds going to/from the venue, or I know people are expecting me. I tend to eat at “family” restaurants where I’m less likely to be acosted by drunks.

S.I.N.G. is my go-to first self defense lesson for my friends. Solar plexus, instep, nose, groin. Solar plexus is great for stunning someone, instep to break the foot, hit up into the bottom of the nose, then hit the groin for good measure. While the assailant is recovering you run and call for help. If someone grabs your wrist, break their grip by jerking towards their thumb. The thumb isn't nearly as strong as most people imagine. If you hit someone in the temples on the side of the head with your palms, you can disorient them. I've seen children […]

I would not walk on a nature trail without pepper spray.

The old men in my neighborhood in Nowhere’s Ville, Maine, have harassed me repeatedly over the past few years (5 police reports worth). I wear a body cam or have my phone with me at all times when I’m in the garden at the suggestion of the Sheriff’s office

I am always looking behind me… Especially at an ATM, in a parking lot, whenever it is dark, at a bus stop… I could keep going. I’m not paranoid, just extremely cautious based on past experiences.

If I’m walking anywhere alone and see a man, any man, I pretend I’m talking on my phone with my car key between my fingers.

When I was taking night classes in college my girlfriends and I would take turns driving everyone to their cars. Sometimes I didn’t have that protection either. In those cases I’d call my husband before I left whatever building and I’d have him on speakerphone as I loudly would tell him EXACTLY where I was the entire wall to my car. He knew to hang up and call 911 if I ever screamed or the phone went dead.

Always carry pepper spray. Park closer to doors of place I’m going. Dont park in dark places. If need be have someone accompany me to my car.

When I’m walking on nature trails, alone, and see a man approaching, I always check to see if anyone else is around before passing the man, and have my phone out ready to call for help if needed.

I don't use ATMs, ever.

if i get home at night i come in lock the door behind me, check all my other doors, windows and make sure all my blinds are closed, REFUSE TO TURN ON ANY LIGHT, bc that gives away what room i may be in or that im even home until im not home alone…. also if im ever on a walk, hike, gym, j out and ab NO HEADPHONES

Drive with my doors locked. Walk through parking lots with my keys sticking thru my fingers. Check the back seat before I get in. Only park in a parking garage if abs necessary. No eye contact w/ strangers. Very careful in elevators and always stand next to the buttons. Never book a single room and always get an extra key "for my husband." If I enter my room alone, I say, Hi honey! like someone's there. I meet meal deliveries in the lobby.

I don’t walk on nature trails alone 😞

Sadly, the everyday protection is smiling, nodding, laughing uncomfortably, staying silent, and not dating.We’re taught at a young age to be afraid of being alone. It’s not because of the violent women in the world.Men might be lonely without us. We’re alive and not abused without them. Big difference.

Not so much a daily life thing but I’m a sailor and I don’t own a boat myself so I like to go on sailing trips with folks who own boats. I’m right now sailing in Croatia with a woman skipper and her husband who have the absolute worst relationship dynamic—they bicker constantly—because it’s really hard to vet a male skipper who’s safe. There is a blackist of 300ish male skippers and counting who’ve sexually assaulted or otherwise harmed the women who’ve sailed with them.

I only work with women in my private practice. I don’t date men. I don’t sleep with men. I energetically repel them… intentionally. I check my locks multiple times before sleeping. I learned how to shoot a pew pew and own one. I don’t keep a strict routine. Freezer spells.

I never park next to big white vans…. Never in my life seen a women driving those 🤷‍♀️

What about making a post and having to tell them twice not to comment? And they still won’t listen.

I have lived in a gorgeous wooded area with two rivers in a large city for nearly 15 years. There are beautiful walking trails all around me that I used to walk daily. I came dangerously close to being sexually assaulted twice in broad daylight in 2019 and 2020. I can’t walk the trails comfortably anymore. I am not terrified, but have no sense of safety. I cannot walk on the secondary trails where all of the best wildlife is at all unless I am with a man. I lost my favourite freedom.

The invisible load of being a woman living under the patriarchy