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Refinery29
  • 2 weeks ago
Whether you're living in a city or not, we've all gotten those creepy-crawly feelings when it seems like someone is walking just a little too close behind us on the street. While most of us won't encounter an attack in our lives, it's great to be prepared — both to avoid a bad situation and to defend yourself if you have to. That's why we teamed up with Gabrielle Rubin from Female Awareness Self Defense to go over the finer points of how to stay alert, avert risky scenarios, and pull out your "bitch slap" if necessary.
Transcript
00:08Hi everyone I'm Kelly Bourdais, Health and Wellness Editor at Refinery29. Today I'm
00:13here with Gabrielle Rubin, founder of Female Awareness Self-Defense. What would
00:17you say is the most important thing to remember when you're thinking about
00:20self-defense? Well first off I'm a firm believer that attacks begin before it's
00:24physical so the best objective is to be ahead of the game, try to avoid that
00:29situation altogether. Bad guys are not looking for a type, they're looking for a
00:33target. Your cell phone can be a big attraction for a bad guy. If you're on
00:38your cell phone you can't hear a bad guy approaching. If you have the phone up to
00:42your face you can't defend yourself nor can you see somebody approaching. Two,
00:46headphones. If I have my headphones in I can't hear a bad guy coming up behind me.
00:50They love that element of surprise. And three, we walk everywhere here in New York
00:55City which means we carry everything. So carry your handbag on your less
00:58dominant shoulder and keep a hand free so you can defend yourself. But what do you
01:03recommend women do when somebody actually puts their heads on you and things get physical?
01:07First thing you want to do is you want to strike your attacker. It might startle
01:11them, gives you a second to think about what you need to do next and it might be
01:15the only thing you need to do. It might loosen them up so much you might be able to
01:18get away at that point. If someone puts their hands around your neck, grabs you by
01:22the collar, puts their hands on your shoulder, any of those a good technique I like to
01:27call, answer the phone. Tighten your fist, bring your elbow in tight,
01:31bring it back and strike right up underneath the chin. It doesn't take a
01:36lot to throw the jaw up and if their tongue is there it sucks for them.
01:39Alright so what if someone were to grab me by the wrist or hand?
01:42A good strike from this distance is to do what I like to call a bitch luck.
01:46Straighten your arm and strike right into my ear. Grab your hand, turn and just go.
01:52So if someone does grab you from behind, most likely it's very typical to be grabbed
01:55like this. Right now you can do a nice elbow right into the side. They're open if
02:01their arm is up and around you. So that's one. Two, kick your own ass. Like literally
02:06just bring your foot straight up and that would hit that knee, the shin, the knee,
02:10the groin.
02:17So if someone grabs your hair, what I want to do here is bring your arm straight up
02:22like a sword, turn around and slam it. That's it. Now you can just follow up or bye-bye. See
02:29ya.
02:31I hope all this information helps you feel a lot more empowered when you walk down the street.
02:35I'm Kelly Bourdais from Refinery29 Health and Wellness. See you next time.

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