Many crimes against women are categorized as “crimes of opportunity.” The attacker doesn’t seem to care if the chance to attack comes in a large, busy city or in a small, sleepy town. If he sees a woman and he has intentions of attacking, he’s going to strike…assuming he can get away with it.

Because of this, if you are a woman, you should absolutely not hesitate: take a self-defense class. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how tall, or how much you weigh, big or small or even how prepared you think you are. Just take the class.

There is much more to a good self-defense class than learning how to kick a man in the groin or throw a punch. In fact, sometimes an assailant can be scared and run simply by the tone of a woman’s voice or the look in her eyes. In fact, predators often “interview” a woman before he assaults her. He does this to assess if he can easily overtake her, or not. He usually doesn’t automatically make the assumption that the can have the upper hand because he’s bigger and stronger. Instead, he has to determine if she’s “victim material.”

One way a man does this is by asking his potential victim for directions or for the time. He then pays very close attention to her body language, response, and tone of her voice. Women who take the right self-defense classes know how to hold their bodies in a way that can make a man back away. This doesn’t mean that women who are trained in self-defense don’t get attacked…but, it’s much less likely.

Women must be willing to hurt, harm, and injure their attacker. Good self-defense programs include instruction on how to do this. These programs also give women information about how to get out of an attack, how to fight when pushed to the ground, and even how to deal with a situation when a weapon is involved.

Attackers usually don’t think that a victim will fight back. So, the response of the victim within the first seconds of an attack often determines the outcome. A scratch to the face, for instance, is a step in the right direction, but that won’t scare him or stop him. Instead, punch him in the throat or gouge his eyes.

Seek out programs that include a technique called “adrenal stress self-defense training” which provides a mind body physical and chemical connection. In the real world, if and when a person is attacked, their adrenaline spikes. If you’ve taken an adrenal stress type training, that connection will help to emotionally and physically retain self defense training and automatically react and respond effectively.  

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.