Bill ~
Please forgive me for participating even slightly in a thread hijack, but chopinbloc said something that is dangerously wrong. I don't want some naturally-timid woman to read what he wrote and think it is the truth.
chopinbloc said:
to survive a violent encounter that one has been unable to avoid in the first place, one must be highly aggressive.
That is absolutely, utterly
not true.
The very most violent and dangerous variety of rapists -- serial killers -- will often stop what they are doing if their chosen victim fights back even as much as simply yelling for help when first attacked. That is because these career criminals do not want to risk getting caught and are canny enough to know that there is always a more compliant victim they can catch another day. For these most-dangerous attackers,
any level of fighting back is absolutely the right thing to do.
You do not have to be some sort of extraordinarily trained super fighter in order to fight back and save your life if you are attacked. While it is generally better to have better tools and better training,
any method of fighting back, even one that you aren't very good at, usually has a better outcome than passively submitting to murder.
This is why pepper spray that a woman
will use and have with her is infinitely better than nothing at all. Even though pepper spray isn't the perfect defense tool in every situation, if it gives her the confidence to fight back, it is the perfect tool for her.
We now return you to your regularly-scheduled thread.
****
Bill ~
I'd also recommend she visit Marc MacYoung's website,
www.nononsenseselfdefense.com He's put out an amazing amount of information about self-defense and criminal behaviour, and is very down to earth about the types of things to look for in order to avoid being targeted by a criminal.
By the way, the whistle really isn't the best investment. It'll help
a lot if she's ever lost in the woods, but its use as a crime deterrent was probably more effective back in the day when police patrolled on foot and summoned help with a whistle.
The SureFire is a great thing to have in any case, not just useful for criminal attacks but for road-crossing safety and just as a general tool for finding stuff in the dark. Tell her she needs to get in the habit of digging it out of her purse
before she leaves any building after dark. None of this stuff will help at all if it's buried at the bottom of her purse instead of in her hand when she needs it.
Also, in addition to weapons-tools, make sure her car is well-equipped in the event of a breakdown -- a can of Fix-a-Flat, a working cell phone, a membership in AAA road service, and a comfortable pair of tennis shoes in case she decides to walk for help.
pax