Self-Defense, Unarmed

Unarmed self-defense involves protecting one's physical and psychological safety against assault, without the use of weapons or external devices. Assault can be verbal or physical (with sexual assault considered a type of physical assault). The same is true for self-defense; verbal self-defense techniques might include the use of clear directive language, de-escalation, lying, and getting others’ attention and assistance. Physical self-defense techniques include using one's body to strike, kick, or hit another person, as well as a strong and confident body posture, hand gestures, and facial expressions.

Self-defense is one way that women can protect themselves against violence, and there is a critical need for protection, since violence against women is a global health problem. Increasingly, self defense is seen as a viable strategy for combating violence. Self defense training is offered or encouraged for women in multiple countries, including, but not limited to, Turkey, China, Israel, South Africa, Australia, and the United States. Recent news stories that have highlighted self defense training for specific populations, such as for older women in Kenya and female sex workers in India, underscore that bodily integrity should be a right of all women.

However, women, and women's resistance, are embedded in cultural contexts. Legal battles for women's rights to protect themselves from sexual violence are taking place worldwide, from Iran to the United States. The options women have-or do not have-available to them differ depending on where women are positioned physically, socially, and structurally. Resistance, then, is not just about individual choices, awareness, and motivations, but about the individual, cultural, and legal contexts in which women live.

Historically, strategies for preventing sexual violence have focused on avoidance, requiring women to [Page 1292]curtail their own behavior in an attempt to avoid victimization. Women are advised to seek out male protection and to avoid “provocative” or revealing clothing, “unsafe” areas, and walking alone, especially at night. Some organizations (e.g., the U.S. National Rifle Association) suggest women carry firearms as means of self-protection. More typically, women are advised to carry whistles, horns, mace, or pepper spray as methods of thwarting an attacker or gaining outside assistance. These strategies are designed to reduce the risk of stranger assault, yet the data indicate that the greater risk for women is from an acquaintance or intimate partner; clearly, these strategies will do little in reducing that risk. However, feminists, women's health advocates, and others have suggested that these prevention efforts are misguided. Instead, they argue that the best, most effective means of preventing sexual violence is to target those who perpetrate it-namely, men. While women can, and do, perpetrate sexual violence, the data indicate that men are the most likely perpetrators. Focusing prevention efforts on perpetrators places the onus for stopping violence on those committing it, rather than relying on those who might be victimized to try and avoid it.

Regardless, neither avoidance nor primary prevention provides strategies for women when a sexual assault is imminent. The relative dearth of information about what women might do in the face of assault communicates that once an assault is attempted, there is little that women can do to stop it. In fact, women are more likely to be advised what not to do than what to do (e.g., don't fight back because he's bigger/stronger/might get angry/might hurt you).

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