Mysteries big and small surround us every day. Life is full of them. Some leave you wondering if they will ever happen to you and if they do, where they will occur and when it will occur. Fortunately, that is really not the case for attacks on women. According to police statistics, there are certain places that women are much more likely to be attacked. If you know where those places are, you can develop a heightened sense of awareness for your personal safety and personal protection and either avoid them or be prepared for the worst.
The facts are that they can occur at any time or anywhere because women are attacked so many more times than men are. This list is certainly not all-inclusive, but statistically, these are the most common places for assaults on women.
- As difficult as it may seem to swallow, the most common place for assaults on women is at home with domestic violence. Domestic violence abuse affects nearly one in every three women in a relationship at some point in her life. In the 10 plus years, we have been writing about domestic violence we have noted that it affects all races, creeds, color, social status or any other demographic you can think of. We call it “an equal opportunity destroyer of lives.”
- Another common place for women to be assaulted is in parking lots.
Parking Lot Assaults This may seem counterintuitive at first, but it makes sense when you think about it. When women go shopping at the mall or grocery store, they leave their cars in parking lots. When they return to their car, they can often be distracted by talking to a friend, talking on a cell phone, watching the kids or any other number of distractions.
- Predators are aware of these distractions and use them as a means to assault women. They also take advantage of the fact that many parking lots are poorly lit, usually not patrolled by any type of security personnel and may be in a secluded area with lots of hiding places.
- These bad guys also take advantage of secluded areas on public trails where women often love to jog, walk or cycle in the early morning hours before they get off to work. A large number of assaults happen to women when they are exercising in the great outdoors.
- Another place that is almost predictable for assaults on women is on a college campus. According to statistics, nearly one in three women at some point in her college career will be sexually assaulted on a college campus. The scary part of this is that the assailant is known to the victim in close to 90% of the cases.
Those are five places where it is a near certainty that an assault may take place on a woman. Of course, those are others but these are the most common.
What Can Women Do To Protect Themselves?
Obviously, the first thing that women can do is heighten their awareness when they’re in these places or in these situations. Be vigilant and ready to defend yourself.
Secondly, women should have at their disposal a self-defense weapon of some kind. We usually recommend a pepper spray or stun device that’s on a keychain, because that way it is with you almost wherever you go. It isn’t enough to have a self-defense product with you, you need to practice using it so when the time comes you are not fumbling around trying to figure out which end of the device is the business end. Make sense? You want to be prepared in advance.
Please read our post on How To Use Stun Guns Safely And Properly to gain proficiency in their use.
Ladies, if you have been attacked please chime in with your thoughts.