Assaults against women are so common as to defy description. Here we’ll bring you some stories from the headlines about assaults on women. Read on to learn more.
This story on a Guide To Women’s Personal Safety And Security mentions that this Bureau of Justice Statistics PDF document confirms that women are the subject of violence at least eight times more often than men.
Since so many of our readers are women we devote a lot of our articles to the subject of attacks on women and self-defense for women. We are interested in raising awareness of the problem and offering advice on how to keep safe.
“Statistically these are the most common places for assaults on women.
1. Domestic violence at home. Somewhere between 25 and 30% of all women are victims of domestic abuse.
2. At a college or university. With more women going on to get degrees and advanced degrees, for the first time in history there are more women in college than men. Much has been made of the fact that college sexual assaults happen to as many as 30% of all college age women.
3. In parking lots. Think about poorly lit and secluded areas of many parking lots and the distractions that women face when coming out of big-box stores. Those factors combine to make women susceptible to assaults.”
This first article is from Dublin, Ireland where local police officers are seeking the help of the public over a number of sexual assaults on women in the Shankill area of Dublin. In each case a lone man approached the woman and an assault took place. An investigation is underway including CCTV footage and statements from a number of victims.
In Austin, Texas police are investigating a string of sexual assaults along a corridor of what was previously believed to be safe area. Businesses and homeowners are reviewing footage from their security cameras in the hopes of helping police catch burglars and assailants.
Over in Europe people are still talking about the reports of as many as 1,000 women being sexually assaulted, groped and robbed at Cologne’s central train station on New Year’s Eve. Then many of the perpetrators, it was alleged, appeared to be of North African or Arab descent all in conjunction with a mass immigration of refugees from Syria.
This shocking survey done by the University of Colorado at Boulder reveals that 28% of female undergraduates at that school reported that they were sexually assaulted while in college. The survey was taken last year with 13,000 students participating. The college chancellor who has been a member of the campus community for 42 years, called this finding very disturbing.
Two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department have been charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting women over the course of more than two years, prosecutors said.
The officers, James Nichols, 44, and Luis Valenzuela, 43, were each charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, including rape, according to a statement from the office of the Los Angeles County district attorney, Jackie Lacey.
Prosecutors said the string of attacks began after the two officers were assigned to work as partners in the Police Department’s Hollywood division in late 2008 and continued into 2011. Some of the victims were assaulted multiple times, prosecutors said.
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the case stemmed from an investigation into complaints against the two officers, who were longtime veterans of the force. Mr. Nichols was a police officer in Los Angeles for 15 years and Mr. Valenzuela for 18 years, the department said. Both men have been relieved of duty.
The charges in Los Angeles have echoes of another recent case involving accusations of a police officer assaulting women. In that case, a former Oklahoma City police officer, Daniel Holtzclaw, was convicted in December of raping 13 women while on duty.
From the organization called Crimestoppers in the UK comes these safety tips for women.
- “Prepare and consider your travel arrangements carefully and ensure someone knows where you are going, who you are with and when you might be home.
- Look as assertive as you can, walk with confidence and be aware of your surroundings and who is around you.
- Avoid short cuts and dark isolated areas, vary your routine and be discreet handling cash, phones and wearing jewelry in a public place.
- Never take your safety for granted and look after your friends so that they don’t become vulnerable. Remember your personal safety is more important than your phone or other valuables.
- Keep your bags close to you and secured with zips closed. Check your belongings and your pockets regularly.
- Wearing headphones and talking on the phone can make you unaware of your immediate surroundings – this makes you appear vulnerable and gives an advantage to a criminal.
- If you feel uneasy about an individual or situation, trust your instincts and leave the area and head towards a public place such as a shop.”
We recommend that women everywhere carry a self-defense product with them as their primary means of defending themselves.
Pepper sprays are legal everywhere which is one of the reasons why we recommend them. But stun devices including Tasers are very effective as well. There is a reason why law enforcement officers carry Taser stun devices on their utility belt.
As a woman, how do you defend yourself in an assault? Please share your secrets with us.