It is a dangerous world out there – particularly if you are a woman or a female-presenting person. Something as simple as walking home from seeing friends can become a life or death situation, as was the unfortunate case for Sarah Everard in the UK a couple of weeks ago.
Countless women have stories to share about close calls or sticky situations that they found themselves in. My mother was once harassed by a man at 2:00 pm in the afternoon while at a museum. A man tried to lure my 13-year-old friend away from her family while on vacation. My best friend was once drugged at a bar. Thankfully, another woman noticed something was up with the guy and told her. In college, I was once harassed at the gym at 9 in the morning by a guy who then tried to follow me in my car. He finally gave up after I pulled into the nearest police station.
Every single woman alive has a similar experience to those mentioned above. Every. Single. Woman. If she has been fortunate enough not to have personally experienced something frightening, then she definitely knows someone close to her who has. And before you @ me with this #notallmen, you need to remember that we’re not calling out all men for being creeps, but that doesn’t change the prevalence of the situation or the complacency of men.
But until things change and men and women alike take a more active role in being a part of the solution, women will continue to do little things to make them feel safer when walking home or to their cars alone. Again, every woman has her own version of self-defense that makes her feel a bit more secure when she’s alone in a public space. Some of us might carry mace or tasers in our purses, or make sure that we’re always parked in a well-lit area. We will often ask to be escorted to our cars by a male friend, colleague, employee, or security member, depending on where we are. And if there is no one around, we’ll sometimes be on the phone to a friend – most women are probably familiar with that call, either as the caller or the one being called. The person picking up usually hears something like, “I’m walking to my car at such and such location, so if I scream or the phone goes dead call the cops.”
I’ve made several of those phone calls when leaving the library in college after a marathon study session, and several more when I worked overtime and left the office in the dark. But perhaps something that many women do, is carry their keys in their hands. Many of us have spent our entire lives hearing that if you’re walking home, carrying keys in your hand can help fight off a potential attacker.
But how we use our keys could make the difference as to whether or not we survive an attack. Hopefully we’ll never have to face such a situation, but it’s important to be aware. And thanks to a TikTok video, knowing how to use keys properly in self-defense could be potentially life-saving.
TikTok user faesfx shared that holding them between your knuckles isn’t the best idea. Using a makeup bag, she demonstrated how easy it is for them to slip and possibly injure you rather than your would-be assailant. Instead, she suggested you hold your longest key in your fist so it faces outward. From there, it’s much more effective in stabbing your attacker – especially if they surprise you and attack from behind.
The video was met with a lot of positive reactions from people who were happy to learn this safety tip. Others also snowballed on faesfx’s tip with suggestions of their own, with one person adding, “and don’t forget! always always ALWAYS take the chance to gouge out your attacker’s eyes when given the chance!”
Someone else also shared, “Also make as much noise as possible.. like an alarm it can help deter the attacker. So scream as much as you can and move as much as possible.”
Watch the video below:
@faesfx Stay safe #fyp #saraheverard #reclaimthesestreets
What do you think of the video? Do you have any self-defense tips that you’d like to share? Let us know!