Safe Chicks is a Young Women's Self-Defense Class that was started by Ann Diamond.On Oct. 3 rd, 2009 Heritage High School offered the class for junior and senior young women and their mothers.The following is one participant's story of her experience in the class.For more information about the class visit www.safechicks.com
Written by Sara Donohue, HHS Senior
When I first walked into school the morning of October 3, 2009 for the Safe Chicks Self-Defense Class, I wasn't prepared for the workout I was about to endure. At first I didn't think anyone was going to show up. If my mother hadn't signed me up I probably wouldn't have taken the class. However, to my surprise there were a lot of people there eager to learn self defense.
We started off the class by reading a few newspaper stories about women who have been attacked -- some who have died and some who have just been scarred for life. It was a very hard subject to listen to and to my guess an even harder one to talk about. There was a retired police officer there with us who talked to us about some of the victims she had seen through her time as an on duty officer. She connected each of her stories to the acronym AWARE. Each letter in AWARE stands for something different that, if remembered, could save a victim's life.
The "A" stands for
awareness, which means that when walking alone or even when walking with someone you should always be aware of your surroundings and keep an eye out for perpetrators who may be waiting for the right moment to attack and violate you. The second letter is "W" which means
watchful.Being watchful follows the same lines as awareness, but the difference is to observe people and what they are doing around you. Then comes the second "A" which means
attitude. When you are walking alone it is best to act like you are someone who should not be "messed with," that is to have an attitude that says "I am a strong woman and don't touch me or you will get hurt." Next is the "R" which stands for
responsibility, meaning be smart about the actions you make. Don't make it easy for a predator to attack you, don't put yourself in a position that could make you a victim. The last letter is the "E" which means
effect. The effect of using all the other letters when walking down the streets alone could have a positive outcome because you have followed the steps it takes to show a predator that you are not someone who will be easily victimized. The message was that no matter who you are with or where you are, if you follow those 5 letters it will change your life for the better and make you a stronger person in the future.
To end the hour long conversation about AWARE, the police officer gave some statistics about young women being attacked and raped. Having these statistics helped participants to understand how important it is to take this class. There have been 17.7 million American women who have been victims of attempted or completed rape and that, of course, doesn't include the women who don't report that they have been raped. The ideal victims for predators to watch are between the ages of 12 and 24, and most of the rapes that have been reported have been performed by a person the victim knows personally. Sitting there as a group and listening to these statistics, I could feel the fright in everyone, and I thought to myself about all of the people I know and who could possibly do that to me. I could see from the look on everyone's faces that they were doing the same thing I was. It is definitely a scary thought when it is put into perspective like that.
Then the hard part came, where we had to learn each of the different self defense moves and then practice them. There were 15 moves all together including my favorite one "yelling". That was just the first one they asked us to practice and, at first, it was a little funny hearing all of the stuff that people were saying because though we all knew each other we didn't know what to say and there was awkwardness between the partner you were practicing yelling at and you. As the day progressed so did the difficulty of the strikes. They started off pretty easy with the "palm heel strike" and talking about the most valuable spots to hit on an attacker. All I could think about was the movie
Miss Congeniality when Sandra Bullock talked about the tender spots on a man that would be useful to hit when under attack. Some of the other strikes were the "hammer strike," the "knee strike," the "front choke hold," and the "back choke hold" -- which are all very useful and powerful ways of defending yourself when used right and when used with a lot of force.
People always say that there is safety in numbers and when it comes to the reality of life and the things that go on in the world around us, it is a necessity for women to know how to defend themselves. There are too many
crazies in the world and too many ways for women to become a victim. Having done so myself, I recommend that others take the Safe Chicks class when it is offered by Heritage again this spring so that they don't become a victim of sexual abuse and can learn how to be AWARE.