Have you ever realized with perfect clarity you are alone with a stranger in a vacant house? I have and it is quite the uncomfortable feeling.
In a National Association of Realtors safety survey of Realtors, 67% have experienced safety concerns, incidents, or other harassing situations while working. The majority of issues involve open houses or vacant properties.
With a background as a real estate appraiser and realtor, I am uniquely familiar with the world of real estate and the potential threats women Realtors face while doing their job. That is why I have developed a specialized Fight Like a Girl seminar geared towards Realtors, in particular; but also for individuals who frequently work around, in or with vacant houses or travel to strange houses for their jobs (appraisers, meter readers, home inspectors, interior designers, dog trainers and the list goes on.). In addition to learning the awesomeness that is the FLAG program, you will also get safety tips and strategies for showing houses, touring vacant houses, working model home complexes and visiting strange houses. Give me a call for more information and to register for the Realtor based self-defense seminar.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
SEMINAR GRADUATES
Congratulations to all the graduates on Sunday July 11, 2010 from the FLAG and GOG classes. Both classes were loads of fun and everyone did a fantastic job. My favorite quote from the day: "I feel strong!" Well done ladies!
Monday, July 5, 2010
SEMINAR OFFERING
We are offering 2 (count them 2!) seminars on Sunday, July 11th. From 10 AM - 1 PM we will be holding the Fight Like a Girl module seminar and from 2 PM - 5 PM we will be offering the Girls on Guard seminar. Participants will learn something different in each class, though they compliment each other.
The fee is $40.00 for each class. A $5.00 discount will be given to returning students, if you bring someone with you or you are taking both seminars! I personally recommend taking both seminars.
Participants will get to practice what they learn on the only male in attendance, the co-instructor, who will be wearing a (very) thick padded suit. Come join us in our women's self-defense seminar. Taught by a woman, for women.
The fee is $40.00 for each class. A $5.00 discount will be given to returning students, if you bring someone with you or you are taking both seminars! I personally recommend taking both seminars.
Participants will get to practice what they learn on the only male in attendance, the co-instructor, who will be wearing a (very) thick padded suit. Come join us in our women's self-defense seminar. Taught by a woman, for women.
RISK FACTORS
And now a message from:
Sexual Assault of Women, Prevention Efforts and Risk Factors, Ingrid Sochting, Richmond Hospital, and Nichole Rairbrother and William J Koch, University of British Comlubia Hospital, Violence Against Women, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 2004 p 73-93
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that women trained in self-defense are three times less likely to be raped.”
“…forceful physical resistance, forceful verbal resistance, and fleeing have consistently been found to be the most effective (in preventing rape completion), whereas non-forceful verbal resistance has been related to rape completion.”
“Although some authors have found a link between forceful resistance and an increased risk for injury, others have not. It is noteworthy that the injuries stemming from resistance tend to be minor, that is, cuts and bruises. Only 4% of the women in the study suffered major injuries, such as broken bones. Similarly, only 3% of rape victims in their study required overnight hospitalization, and they concluded that the risk for serious injury during a sexual assault is not high. However, crimes with fatal outcomes were not considered in their data set. Knowing that injury in the form of a completed rape is likely in the absence of any resistance; we can with greater confidence advocate resistance in sexual assaults.”
Sexual Assault of Women, Prevention Efforts and Risk Factors, Ingrid Sochting, Richmond Hospital, and Nichole Rairbrother and William J Koch, University of British Comlubia Hospital, Violence Against Women, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 2004 p 73-93
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that women trained in self-defense are three times less likely to be raped.”
“…forceful physical resistance, forceful verbal resistance, and fleeing have consistently been found to be the most effective (in preventing rape completion), whereas non-forceful verbal resistance has been related to rape completion.”
“Although some authors have found a link between forceful resistance and an increased risk for injury, others have not. It is noteworthy that the injuries stemming from resistance tend to be minor, that is, cuts and bruises. Only 4% of the women in the study suffered major injuries, such as broken bones. Similarly, only 3% of rape victims in their study required overnight hospitalization, and they concluded that the risk for serious injury during a sexual assault is not high. However, crimes with fatal outcomes were not considered in their data set. Knowing that injury in the form of a completed rape is likely in the absence of any resistance; we can with greater confidence advocate resistance in sexual assaults.”
Friday, June 25, 2010
A LITTLE MORE ON FIGHTING BACK
A quote from:
Rape: A Century of Resistance, Patricia D. Rozee and Mary P. Koss, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25 (2001), 295-311,
“Because of the view of women’s chances against a rapist that these news reports instill, it is not uncommon for families, friends, or male partners to undermine women’s confidence in their ability to defend themselves.
Women who do not resist are more likely to be raped; more often blamed for the rape and are likely to suffer the associated deleterious physical and psychological aftereffects.
The evidence is consistent: resistance may prevent rape and resistance poses no increased risk of injury. For example, Sarah Ullman found that more forceful victim resistance (verbal and physical) was related to less severe sexual abuse even when partialling out level of situational danger and offender aggression. In addition, these researchers found the victim resistance was not related to the level of physical injury. When sequence of events is considered, it is found that women resist more when they are being hurt rather than the reverse.
Self-defense mastery has a strong empowerment effect on women including enhanced perceived control and coping, decreased perceived vulnerability to assault, reductions in negative thinking and anxiety about safety, decreased avoidance behavior, and most potent of all, increased freedom of action.
Consciousness of one’s own ability to resist leads women to feel stronger, more insightful, and more capable of responding effectively to future danger. On the one hand, there is the strong cultural message that rape resistance is both futile and dangerous, and women have been conditioned to believe it. On the other hand, women who do not resist are more likely to be raped, more often blamed for the rape, and are likely to suffer the associated deleterious physical and psychological aftereffects. In addition, if the victim-survivor wants to prosecute the man who raped her, she will encounter negative reactions from juries, because the absence of verbal or physical resistance in creased judgments of victim-survivor consent. The more the victim-survivor resisted, the more certain are the observers that a rape occurred. Although the law does not require resistance, juries still rely on it to decide conflicting claims about consent. Immediate physical or forceful verbal resistance is more likely to successfully prevent rape and, in the case of completed rape, convince the jury that the victim-survivor did all she could to avoid being raped. The evidence is consistent: resistance may prevent rape and resistance poses no increased risk of injury. Self-defense mastery has a strong empowerment effect on women including enhanced perceived control and coping, decreased perceived vulnerability to assault, reductions in negative thinking and anxiety about safety, decreased avoidance behavior, and most potent of all, increased freedom of action.”
Rape: A Century of Resistance, Patricia D. Rozee and Mary P. Koss, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25 (2001), 295-311,
“Because of the view of women’s chances against a rapist that these news reports instill, it is not uncommon for families, friends, or male partners to undermine women’s confidence in their ability to defend themselves.
Women who do not resist are more likely to be raped; more often blamed for the rape and are likely to suffer the associated deleterious physical and psychological aftereffects.
The evidence is consistent: resistance may prevent rape and resistance poses no increased risk of injury. For example, Sarah Ullman found that more forceful victim resistance (verbal and physical) was related to less severe sexual abuse even when partialling out level of situational danger and offender aggression. In addition, these researchers found the victim resistance was not related to the level of physical injury. When sequence of events is considered, it is found that women resist more when they are being hurt rather than the reverse.
Self-defense mastery has a strong empowerment effect on women including enhanced perceived control and coping, decreased perceived vulnerability to assault, reductions in negative thinking and anxiety about safety, decreased avoidance behavior, and most potent of all, increased freedom of action.
Consciousness of one’s own ability to resist leads women to feel stronger, more insightful, and more capable of responding effectively to future danger. On the one hand, there is the strong cultural message that rape resistance is both futile and dangerous, and women have been conditioned to believe it. On the other hand, women who do not resist are more likely to be raped, more often blamed for the rape, and are likely to suffer the associated deleterious physical and psychological aftereffects. In addition, if the victim-survivor wants to prosecute the man who raped her, she will encounter negative reactions from juries, because the absence of verbal or physical resistance in creased judgments of victim-survivor consent. The more the victim-survivor resisted, the more certain are the observers that a rape occurred. Although the law does not require resistance, juries still rely on it to decide conflicting claims about consent. Immediate physical or forceful verbal resistance is more likely to successfully prevent rape and, in the case of completed rape, convince the jury that the victim-survivor did all she could to avoid being raped. The evidence is consistent: resistance may prevent rape and resistance poses no increased risk of injury. Self-defense mastery has a strong empowerment effect on women including enhanced perceived control and coping, decreased perceived vulnerability to assault, reductions in negative thinking and anxiety about safety, decreased avoidance behavior, and most potent of all, increased freedom of action.”
Thursday, June 24, 2010
FIGHTING BACK WORKS
And now a quote from:
Fighting Back Works: The Case for Advocating and Teaching Self-Defense Against Rape, by Marge Heyden, Tiel Jackson, Billie Anger, and Todd Ellner, From the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, May/June 1999
“A thorough review of the available literature has led us to some surprising conclusions about the effectiveness of traditional anti-rape advice. Women are often advised to use non-aggressive strategies against sexual assault. Research suggests that this is poor advice. According to one study, women who used non-forceful verbal strategies, such as crying or pleading with the assailant, were raped about 96% of the time. In the same study, women who did nothing to protect themselves were raped about 93% of the time.
Forceful verbal resistance, including yelling and loud screaming, was more effective than non-forceful verbal resistance. These strategies were associated with completion of rape from 44% - 50% of the time. This study is particularly interesting because the data were collected from rapists in maximum security psychiatric hospitals, showing that forceful verbal strategies can be effective even against the violently insane.
Running worked even better than verbal resistance. Although researchers who relied on rape crisis center records and police records report a 55% rape completion rate against those who attempted to flee, broader studies … indicate that only 15% of women who attempted to flee were raped. Running was also associated with a lower rate of injury.
Forceful physical resistance was an extremely successful strategy. The completed rape rate dropped to between 45% and 14% [to at least 45% and as low as 14%] when the rapist's attempt was met with violent physical force. Striking was more successful than pushing or wrestling. Physical resistance also appears to be more effective when assault occurs outdoors.
Women are sometimes advised that fighting back will increase their risk of injury. There are two problems with this argument.
First, research shows that physical resistance does not cause further injury to the resister. While there is a correlation between resistance and a somewhat higher rate of physical injury (at most 3%), researchers who examined the sequence of events found that injury usually occurred before resistance. In other words, resisters were not injured because they had resisted: rather, being injured motivated them to fight back. After the initial injury, forceful resistance did not increase the resister's risk of further damage.
Second, this argument overlooks the fact that a woman who does not resist is virtually guaranteed to suffer the emotional and physical injury of the rape itself. Even when resisters are injured, the injury is typically much less severe than a completed rape would have been. Of those 40% of resisters who suffered physical damage, only 7% suffered injury as severe as a dislodged tooth. A woman who fights back incurs no demonstrable chance of additional injury, but she gains a 55-86% chance of avoiding rape altogether.”
Fighting Back Works: The Case for Advocating and Teaching Self-Defense Against Rape, by Marge Heyden, Tiel Jackson, Billie Anger, and Todd Ellner, From the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, May/June 1999
“A thorough review of the available literature has led us to some surprising conclusions about the effectiveness of traditional anti-rape advice. Women are often advised to use non-aggressive strategies against sexual assault. Research suggests that this is poor advice. According to one study, women who used non-forceful verbal strategies, such as crying or pleading with the assailant, were raped about 96% of the time. In the same study, women who did nothing to protect themselves were raped about 93% of the time.
Forceful verbal resistance, including yelling and loud screaming, was more effective than non-forceful verbal resistance. These strategies were associated with completion of rape from 44% - 50% of the time. This study is particularly interesting because the data were collected from rapists in maximum security psychiatric hospitals, showing that forceful verbal strategies can be effective even against the violently insane.
Running worked even better than verbal resistance. Although researchers who relied on rape crisis center records and police records report a 55% rape completion rate against those who attempted to flee, broader studies … indicate that only 15% of women who attempted to flee were raped. Running was also associated with a lower rate of injury.
Forceful physical resistance was an extremely successful strategy. The completed rape rate dropped to between 45% and 14% [to at least 45% and as low as 14%] when the rapist's attempt was met with violent physical force. Striking was more successful than pushing or wrestling. Physical resistance also appears to be more effective when assault occurs outdoors.
Women are sometimes advised that fighting back will increase their risk of injury. There are two problems with this argument.
First, research shows that physical resistance does not cause further injury to the resister. While there is a correlation between resistance and a somewhat higher rate of physical injury (at most 3%), researchers who examined the sequence of events found that injury usually occurred before resistance. In other words, resisters were not injured because they had resisted: rather, being injured motivated them to fight back. After the initial injury, forceful resistance did not increase the resister's risk of further damage.
Second, this argument overlooks the fact that a woman who does not resist is virtually guaranteed to suffer the emotional and physical injury of the rape itself. Even when resisters are injured, the injury is typically much less severe than a completed rape would have been. Of those 40% of resisters who suffered physical damage, only 7% suffered injury as severe as a dislodged tooth. A woman who fights back incurs no demonstrable chance of additional injury, but she gains a 55-86% chance of avoiding rape altogether.”
Sunday, June 20, 2010
SEMINAR GRADUATES
Congratulations to the most recent graduates of the FLAG program! Great class today ladies. Thank you so much for attending. I look forward to seeing you all again soon.
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