Self Defense for Women NOW! » rape

Whistles as a deterrent against rape and assault?

Liza Cooper — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:53:41 +0000

Many people advocate carrying a whistle or personal alarm with you. A personal alarm is a noisemaker, usually battery-operated, that makes a loud, piercing noise when it is set off. Lung powered whistles, often called “rape whistles” also fall into this noisemaker category.

However, most experts feel that having a noisemaker on your person is an over-rated concept. When you blow a whistle or set off a siren, you are banking on someone coming to your aid and that is not as likely to happen as you might hope.

The act of activating the alarm or blowing a whistle can take anywhere from 2 to 20 seconds, but the outcome of an attack is usually decided within the first 8 to 10 seconds. So, if the noise doesn’t work, you may be out of time before you can try other options.

Segnala presso:

Rape – A Crime to Fear

Liza Cooper — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:34:47 +0000

Rape is the most common serious crime against women. Although the reported incidence varies somewhat from year to year, most authorities agree that the number of rapes far exceeds the numbers actually reported.

Rape is a very serious crime. Actually, it is serious enough to be legally classified right up there with murder and robbery as the most serious of crimes. Even if a minimum of force is used to carry out the rape, the possible consequences to the woman (pregnancy, AIDS, herpes, other venereal disease, and post-traumatic physical and psychological effects) are extreme, severe, and very long lasting.

There are many different kinds of rapists, ranging from the easily discouraged to the sociopath who has decided that he won’t stop until you are dead, or he is.

Segnala presso:

Women and Crime

Liza Cooper — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:28:10 +0000

Anyone can be a crime victim, but you face heightened risk simply because you are a woman. In fact, a 21 year-old woman faces a 1 in 4 chance of having a violent crime committed against her. These crimes can range from purse snatching to car jacking to rape. And then there is domestic violence which affects 1 in 6 households…

So what do criminals want?

• Your property

• Your power

• Or worse

Segnala presso:

Roman Polanski vs. the Public

Liza Cooper — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:46:09 +0000

Roman Polanski’s arrest has been the talk of the town for the past few days. He was arrested in Switzerland on his way to a film festival where he was to be honored for his work in film. He had pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13 year old girl in 1977 and went on the run to avoid prison.

As a writer about issues of women’s self defense and safety this controversy is of great interest. After all, it is public attitudes that ultimately shape our justice system and the attitudes of women and perpetrators themselves.

As it turns out, the “unlawful sex” refers to an incident where he fed her champagne and a quaalude. forced her to undress, and penetrated her both vaginally and anally. Stronger charges were dropped to save the victim the ordeal of a public trial.

The public reactions reveal a great deal about attitudes about women victims of rape, their rapists and their standing in the world. Hollywood and the governments of France, Poland and Germany have rallied around Polanski. But many women, feminists and even right wingers are appalled.

That Hollywood mavens reflexively jump to Polanski’s defense belittles the suffering of his victim and supports an attitude that artistic achievement and fame somehow elevate a man beyond the reach of the law. It is gratifying to see that so many people have leapt to the victim’s defense that some Hollywood types are retracting their show of support.

Still the fact that so many leapt to Polanski’s defense shows us how far we have to go in treating rape as the soul destroying crime that it is.

Segnala presso: