Women face higher instances of harassment and various kinds of abuse compared to men. In the United States, more than three-quarters of women have been subjected to street harassment, whereas just over one-third of men have reported similar experiences. Additionally, 81% of women in the U.S. have reported encounters with sexual harassment or assault at some point in their lives, in contrast to 43% of men.

Mastering self-defense techniques is an empowering way for women to improve their personal safety. Self-defense covers a broad range of survival skills, from avoiding potential dangers and maintaining awareness of your environment to defending yourself and surviving a physical confrontation.

Learning self-defense helps you develop vital skills like handling stress, making quick decisions in tough situations, and staying alert to what’s happening around you. It also builds your confidence and assertiveness, making you less likely to be seen as an easy target.

Why You Should Consider Learning Self-Defense Techniques

In today’s world, women face more reasons than ever to focus on protecting themselves, highlighting the need for specific techniques addressing self defense for women. Here are the top reasons you should empower yourself with self-defense techniques:

7 Self-Defense Techniques for Women

Learning self-defense techniques is critical for women to stay safe in risky situations. These tips can prepare you for anything, from getting mugged on your way home to dealing with an intruder. Here are seven practical self-defense moves that can help you protect yourself and the people you care about:

1. Focus on Situational Awareness

Being situationally aware means staying alert to what’s happening around you, spotting potential dangers, and quickly figuring out how to remain safe. It means picking up on the small details, like a car that doesn’t fit in your neighborhood or someone behaving oddly in a crowd.

Understanding how these observations can affect your safety is also vital. By staying alert, you can often identify and avoid potential risks before they become problems. Improve your situational awareness with these tips:

2. Maintain Confident Body Language

Potential predators tend to target people who look vulnerable, with women often being their primary focus. Displaying uncertainty or signs of emotional turmoil can make you a more noticeable target for these individuals, increasing the likelihood of an encounter.

On the other hand, if you appear calm, in control, and aware of your surroundings, you present yourself as someone less likely to be an easy target. This heightens your self-assurance and deters would-be aggressors, possibly stopping confrontations before they even begin.

Below are some strategies to help you exude a stronger sense of confidence:

• Walk with purpose. A notable 2013 study in the NIH National Library of Medicine highlights that psychopaths and similar predators often pick their victims based on their walking style. People who walk slowly or with caution tend to seem less confident.
  
  Your walking pace and style can signal vulnerability to those looking for a target. To ward off potential threats, walk at a moderate to brisk pace with firm, purposeful steps. Whether or not you know your destination, showing you do can make a big difference.

• Re-adjust your posture. A slouched or slumped posture can make you seem less sure of yourself and project vulnerability. Instead, when walking in public, stand upright, with your shoulders back and your head held high and forward.

• Keep your eyes up. Make it a habit to keep your eyes up to look and feel more confident while staying alert to your environment. This minor adjustment improves your posture, projecting greater self-confidence, and gives you a better vantage point to see what’s happening around you. This way, you can more accurately evaluate any potential dangers or scenarios.

• Make brief eye contact. To avoid confrontations, aim for quick eye contact with people as you cross paths, avoiding extended gazes. A quick glance acts as a gentle nod to your alertness and mindfulness of the environment around you. 

• Mind your facial expressions. A 2015 study uncovered that individuals with malicious intentions also scrutinize the facial expressions of those they consider potential targets. Expressions of fear, sadness, neutrality, or shame are often seen as signs of vulnerability and weakness. Stay calm and friendly, smile when it makes sense, and show confidence with the right amount of assertiveness.

Luring is a tactic some aggressors use to lower a potential victim’s guard or entice them away from a safer, more populated area to a more secluded one. It allows them to control the victim’s location and minimize risk to themselves.

Attackers might also use luring to close the distance between themselves and their target, seizing the chance for a direct assault. This approach was used by serial killer Ted Bundy, who feigned an arm or leg injury and solicited assistance from his victims to carry books to his car.

Common luring tactics include:

• Falsely asking for directions
• Fake calls for help and emergencies
• Unsolicited offers, such as carrying groceries or giving you a ride 
• If you’re home, an invader may try to bait you into opening your front door by posing as salespeople, neighbors, or delivery people

If an unknown person approaches you with a request, a question, or a call for help, it is instinctual to respond and be helpful. The best way to deter luring attempts is to set, maintain, and enforce personal boundaries. Strategies to consider include:

4. Make Yourself a Harder Target

Famed criminologists Marcus Felson and Ronald Clarke, the minds behind the Routine Activity Theory (RAT), argue that all crimes, including acts of violence against women, hinge on three crucial factors: a motivated offender, an accessible target, and a chance to commit the act.

Self-defense removes the opportunity for potential attackers to catch you off-guard, essentially making you a difficult target. To reduce the likelihood of being chosen as a victim, consider the following strategies:

5. Use Strong Verbal Communication

Strong verbal communication is an effective self-defense tactic that can de-escalate potentially dangerous situations before they become physical confrontations. By expressing yourself clearly and confidently, you can assert your boundaries and deter aggressors without resorting to physical force. 

Implement the following verbal approaches to help avoid confrontations: 

• Stay calm. Project confidence by keeping your voice steady. For instance, if someone is invading your personal space, say: “I need you to stop. I’m not comfortable with this situation.” 

• Be assertive. Clearly express your intention to leave a threatening situation by saying, “I am walking away now. Please, do not follow me,” setting a firm boundary without aggression.

• Speak clearly. Be clear and assertive if you’re dealing with unwelcome attention or a possible threat: “Leave me alone. I do not want to engage in a confrontation.” This approach removes any uncertainty and clearly communicates your wish to avoid conflict.

• Maintain eye contact. Showing that you are attentive and not quickly intimidated can be emphasized by keeping eye contact and firmly saying, “I’ve asked you to respect my boundaries. Please step back” to an individual infringing on your personal space.

• De-escalate the situation. In situations where tensions escalate, channel the energy toward a peaceful resolution. When faced with aggression, a soothing phrase such as, “I recognize there’s an issue. How can we work together to solve this calmly?” encourages dialogue that might solve the problem, moving away from conflict and toward mutual understanding.

6. Evade Attack With Soft Physical Control

In some instances, the other individual might not heed verbal warnings, continuously breach your personal space, or escalate to physical aggression. This behavior makes them a potential risk to your well-being. 

If you can’t easily escape the other person or they start trying to touch or hold you down, you may need to use soft physical control techniques. These typically include moves practiced in martial arts, such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and mixed martial arts (MMA). Here are a few of the top self-defense maneuvers: 

• Wrist release. Learn how to break free from a wrist grab by twisting your arm in the direction of the aggressor’s thumb, using the weakest point of their grip to your advantage.

• Arm drag. This technique allows you to redirect an aggressor’s momentum to maneuver around them or create an opening for escape. It involves controlling one of their arms and moving to their side or behind them.

• Guillotine choke. If an aggressor attempts to tackle you, using their forward momentum to apply a guillotine choke can control their head and neck, giving you the chance to escape. This move must be executed with caution and as a last resort.

• Escape from a mount. If you find yourself on the ground with an aggressor on top, BJJ provides techniques to escape by trapping one of their arms and legs on the same side, then using a bridge and roll motion to reverse the position.

7. Use Necessary Force

A fundamental principle of self-defense is to match a potential threat with the necessary force required to neutralize it. To determine the appropriate level of force, it’s crucial first to assess the severity of the threat.

The use of force continuum is one key strategy used in the United States to assess and handle threats. Law enforcement mainly uses this approach to grade threats and guide their responses, but it also benefits women’s self-defense.

The principle behind it is straightforward: the more severe the threat of the use of force ladder, the greater the need for force to either stop it or bring the situation under control.

Below is a detailed chart that outlines each level of risk, from minimal to most severe, along with the corresponding level of force recommended to address each.

Using Less-Lethal Force

When faced with an attack involving punches, strikes, or kicks, opting for less-lethal force allows you to protect yourself without aiming to cause fatal injuries. This approach includes techniques intended to stop or deter an assailant with minimal risk of causing them serious harm. Use these techniques to defend yourself and create an opportunity to escape.

Examples of less-lethal force techniques, tools, and weapons include:

• Martial arts striking techniques or maneuvers that focus on knocking the opponent out, such as boxing, karate, Krav Maga, MMA, or taekwondo
• The best self defense tools for women, such as pepper spray and self-defense keychains
• Electroshock weapons like Tasers and stun guns
• Striking weapons, such as collapsible batons and tactical flashlights
• Pressure point weapons like the kubotan (kubaton)
• Less-lethal projectile weapons, such as pepper-ball guns

Using Lethal Force

Using lethal force means turning to weapons that could easily kill or seriously injure someone. It’s a step you should only take if you genuinely believe your attacker means to kill you or cause you severe harm.

Among the most frequently used lethal force options by women in the United States are:

• OTF Knives for Self Defense 
• Fixed-blade knives
• Firearms, such as pistols, shotguns, and rifles

The rules regarding self-defense weapons and the use of lethal force vary depending on the weapon and the jurisdiction. Check all applicable laws in your area, including city ordinances, county laws, and state legislation. For example, if you are interested in carrying a knife for self-defense, consult your local knife laws before you start. 

If you opt to carry a lethal force weapon for self-defense, seek appropriate training and become as proficient as possible in using your preferred weapon. Many facilities, such as self-defense classes for women, martial arts schools, tactical training centers, and shooting ranges, can train you.

For example, if you want to carry a knife for self-defense, consider enrolling in a local martial arts school that integrates knife defense techniques. Examples include Krav Maga or Eskrima.

Self-Defense Tools for Women

Carrying the right self-defense tools offers protection for women from threats to their safety and well-being. Here are a few of the top lethal and non-lethal weapons we carry at Uppercut Tactical: 

• Keychains. For a subtle yet powerful option in self-defense tools, keychain accessories provide a perfect mix of convenience and effectiveness. The Kubotan Keychain is a compact and portable device that boosts the impact of your strikes. 
• Keychain Kitty Knuckles are another option. They are designed to fit over your fingers, providing a more impactful punch with their durable, high-strength design.

• Stun guns. Stun guns provide a non-lethal way to stop an attacker by delivering a high-voltage shock that temporarily disables them. The Lipstick Lightning Concealed Stun Gun offers this powerful defense in a discreet package that looks just like ordinary lipstick, making it a perfect choice for women who want protection that’s easy to carry and conceal.

• Knuckles. This handheld tool improves your ability to defend yourself by reinforcing your punches with added force. The Steel Cat Claw Defense Knuckles offer durability and effectiveness, fitting comfortably in your hand to deliver a more powerful strike against an aggressor.

• Knives. Knives are practical self-defense tools, providing protection and a deterrent to potential attackers. Choose a reliable and easy-to-handle knife and use it responsibly in self-defense situations. The Tactical Comb integrates a hidden knife feature, making it a discreet yet effective option for personal safety. 

The Sunflower Templar OTF Knife offers rapid deployment with its out-the-front mechanism, suitable for quick defensive actions, while the Urban Edge Push Dagger provides a compact and easily concealable design, ensuring you have a potent tool for close-quarters defense.

Escaping a Dangerous Situation

You just ended a fight against a violent aggressor, meaning you have neutralized a threat against your life. If they are no longer attacking you, remember these three principles:

What to Do if You’ve Been Attacked

After a violent confrontation, you may still be under the effects of stress and adrenaline, which can suppress your ability to feel pain or check your own injuries.

Women involved in a self-defense scenario commonly receive injuries such as bruises, sprained wrists and ankles, cuts, bleeding, and facial injuries. If the nature of the assault was sexual, such as an attempted rape, injuries to the legs and genital areas are also common.

Whether you’ve used a soft physical control technique or lethal force to end a violent confrontation, what follows afterward is just as important. Keep calm and follow these steps:

Don’t worry if you can’t remember every detail clearly; police investigators are trained to expect memory gaps from assault victims, especially after a self-defense situation. Explain the situation exactly as you recall it.

Self-defense for women requires an active understanding of the threats and dangers women face daily, from public harassment to the threat of sexual assault.