When is the most important time to know how to defend oneself? “When being attacked” is the almost instantaneous response. This is partially true, but it is even more important to know self-defense before an encounter with danger. A split second head start from noticing a person who is preparing to strike and taking a corresponding defensive stance could make all the difference in the outcome. It is incredibly important to learn self-defense tactics to prevent harm from an attacker.
An online article titled “How to Defend Yourself’ attempts to solve the problems of injury, rape, death, and theft associated with a lack of knowledge of self-defense and safety precautions. To do so, the article assumes that the reader is frightful of attack from a bully, fearful of an attack by random, wants to avoid altercations, and/or is too unobservant to remain safe while outdoors. While the website is geared towards young adults and children based on its “anti-bullying” campaign, the article’s message applies to people of all ages.
There are many ways to defend oneself from attack, both verbally and nonverbally, of which most people may not know. Every fifty-three seconds in the world, violent acts take a life (Poodwaddle). Defensive techniques can help to prevent violence and sexual assault. The alternatives are injury, rape, loss of possessions, or even death. In the text, “How to Defend Yourself,” verbal communication and clever physical maneuvers are the “go-to” methods of self-defense. The text first recommends peaceful resolution through deescalation.
It says that the most important step in doing so is through a calm, lowered voice. It also states that saying soothing phrases such as “I don’t want to fight you” and “calm down and talk to me” can help neutralize an argument. Verbal communication is essential to self-defense because there is no guarantee that once an altercation begins that the defendant will not get hurt, no matter how skilled he or she is in combat. Secondly, the article begins to describe physical defensive maneuvers in the event that peaceful negotiation fails. Firstly, the best option may be to run if it is possible to get away.
Next, assess and determine whether the aggressor has a weapon; if so, the text says that one should always try to run away. If escape is not an option, a wide stance will help with fighting someone off. If he or she is trying to steal something, the text recommends dropping it or otherwise giving it to him or her and getting away as fast as possible. No possession is worth a life. If the attacker is a man, it advises a strong kick to the groin; other similar attacks that will work on either sex include a kick to the knee or a stomp of the foot onto the aggressor’s foot or feet.
If the aggressor is close enough, one should attempt to injure the adversary’s eyes. The last piece of advice the article gives is for attacks from behind. It says to sit down as hard as possible if grabbed from behind. If it results in both parties landing on the ground, the defender should try to get on top of the aggressor to gain control. The article recognizes that these are especially important when attacked by surprise, but that they can be even more difficult to implement.
However, this is why the text highly recommends wearing “rape whistles” to signal for help and to carry a can of pepper spray, especially when traveling at night, though it adds a warning against walking anywhere when it is dark or desolate, such as a deserted road. Nevertheless, always be vigilant when outdoors because it is hard to notice danger if absorbed in something else, such as music, reading text messages, or scrolling through social media sites on a phone. The text, “How to Defend Yourself,” makes several assumptions about the audience.
It assumes that the reader is fearful of some kind of altercation from a specific person. Based on the website’s name, he or she may be experiencing some effects of bullying, or otherwise fear it. Bullying can be extremely traumatic and diminish self-esteem. For instance, typing in “suicide from” on Google will yield the top search result: “suicide from bullying. ” Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University (Bullying). Clearly, there is more to fear from a bully than a black eye or a wedgie.
This is why this article is geared towards children and young adults. Young people must learn to protect themselves because bullying is extremely harmful to young minds and bodies. The reader may also be afraid of an attack in general, or may be a victim of violence or know someone who is. This assumption is shown through through context as the search results place this article among the top results when typing “how to defend yourself’ into Google. Also, a large portion of this article is devoted to attacks that are not aggravated, meaning they came out of nowhere.
This supports the idea that someone who was fearful that he or she could possibly be attacked would look at this article, which the author would know, and assume as such. From the large emphasis placed on preventing attacks through communication in the article, it assumes that the reader does not want to fight anyone because they will not be able to defend themselves physically and/or that the reader does not know basic self-defense. This is extremely important because this article is a “how-to” guide, specifically designed for those who have no idea what they are doing.
It affects the article more than any other assumption because the whole article is presented step by step and with vivid detail. Lastly, the article implies that people are not as observant as they should be in public because of the remark about listening to music outdoors. As a primal detector of danger, hearing is crucial to safety. However, with the popularity of personal music players, especially expensive players, the author recognizes that this form of distraction would be extremely common and could give an incentive for an attack or theft.
He or she also believes that avoiding such distractions could help prevent violence. These assumptions are important to note because they drove the purpose and direction of the article. The stakes of neglecting to learn self-defense can be devastating. While self-defense cannot always prevent an attack, it could help lower the instances. In the world, theft is reported every two seconds; homicide every sixty-five seconds; kidnapping every four and a half minutes; and rape every minute and forty-five seconds (Poodwaddle).
These heinous crimes are incessant. They may never stop, but they can be slowed, which is the aim of this article. “How to Defend Yourself” is an important piece of literature because it gives detailed advice in order for one to protect himself or herself. With the high numbers of theft and violent crimes, it is important to prepare for what is out there before coming face to face with it. People of all ages are affected by acts of violence. Its effects ripple outwards, touching the lives of loved ones and friends.
The threat of their pain at one’s loss or injury should be extra fuel on the journey of living a safe life by protecting oneself. This includes following the article’s sage advice of preemptive caution: do not travel at night; carry pepper spray and a whistle; avoid areas where there are not many people around to help if one gets into a dangerous situation; travel with other people; and do not escalate arguments into fights that either party may regret or be seriously injured.
