A 12 year old and 1 self defense class.

[Eliz]

The clip below was forwarded to me by Zozer7. It's a news report on a young girl, 12 years old, who was sexually assualted in an elevator. She had taken a self defense class just two weeks prior to the attack and used much of what she learned in the class to get away from her attacker.

For those of us active with women's self defense, thought you would be interested.

http://www.local6.com/video/4741903/detail.html

[DragonMind]

Two things she did wrong: used her key to let him in the building, got in the elevator alone with him. Sounds like the class covered technique but not situational awareness. I'm glad she is OK, but there are lessons to be learned from this.

[Eliz]

Great point. I think there is a lot to be taught from this incident. I hate to be the one to say it, but the dangers are not restricted to young girls.

After my original post, I thought too of my own kids that are reaching an age where they are becoming more and more independent of my husband and I. Of course, they are teenagers - so they "know everything." But being aware of your surroundings and knowing smart choices to make are cautions everyone should be alerted to.

[Kim Chi]

Great point. I think there is a lot to be taught from this incident. I hate to be the one to say it, but the dangers are not restricted to young girls.

After my original post, I thought too of my own kids that are reaching an age where they are becoming more and more independent of my husband and I. Of course, they are teenagers - so they "know everything." But being aware of your surroundings and knowing smart choices to make are cautions everyone should be alerted to.

I totally agree. It drives me crazy when I go to the local mall, and on more than one occasion, I've seen women sitting in their cars, with the motor running, the drivers door is OPEN, and they're yakking away on their cell phones, totally oblivious to anything going on around them....Or, I'm walking on a path through the local forest preserve, and I see a young girl jogging alone through the wooded path, wearing headphones and again, blissfully oblivious to her surroundings.

I could go on and on....but situational awareness and common sense will more likely save your life than any technique you learn in MA class.

[Aikido_Girl918]

COOL!!!!!! good girl! she has got to be good at what she does!

[MMAfighter]

ya know people who try stuff like that are just sick, why would you want to molest a a person knowing that if you get caught and you probably will you'll be in deep. If i could snap my finger and have everyone in the world like that drop dead i would.

[TKDGirl18]

I am a teen myself and yes most do think they know everything and think they can defend theirselves. Most who don't know the first thing about defending themselves well end up on the missing persons list or causing the family greif because they were murdered. I don't mean to sound harsh about that, but if you think about it, it is totally true. She got lucky since she was able to get away, but if it happened differently if he didn't alert her at all it could have become more serious. I am personally aware of my surroundings, but not everyone is. I say she just got lucky on what she did and what she learned two weeks before may have been the cause of her saving, but not completely.

[dao]

While I am all for people learning to defend themselves I don't thing that most who don't will either be kidnapped or killed. Fortunately most people will go through life without having to face an attack by a stranger.

Caution is a good thing, paranoia isn't.