One of the questions I get asked most often is whether it is better to carry pepper spray or a stun gun. I am also asked my opinion on carrying a lethal force weapon such as a firearm.

The answer always comes back to what the person is most comfortable with, what type of lifestyle they live and most importantly, what they are willing to practice with. Without proper training and knowledge of how a weapon works, all you have is something that can potentially be used against you.

There is a way to predict the future of a relationship. There are many reliable indicators associated with spousal abuse and murder. If a situation has several of these signals, there is reason for concern. These MUST be taken and considered in context, because many people will have a few of these traits. Focus on the big picture.

As a woman, you have to know that most crimes committed against women are crimes of opportunity. This simply means that the victim presented an opportunity for a criminal that he couldn't pass up. It's unfortunate that a lot of women unknowingly put themselves in dangerous situations. As a result, they fall victim to criminals who are just minding their own business before these women presented themselves. In addition, these criminals are around these dangerous situations.

Most self defense instructors recommend that you have a multi-prong strategy for defending against an attack. This way, if one thing fails, you can try something else. The key is to have multiple options. Security whistles can be an integral part of your safety strategy.

Let's face it -- women are smaller and generally weaker than men in physical terms. However, this does not mean that you as a woman are totally helpless when it comes to self protection.

A little canister of Pepper Spray will immediately even up the sides!

Pepper spray has to be one of the finest self protection tools that a woman should have in her purse or pocket at all times.

Something that not many people know is that Pepper Spray not only comes in small, hand-held canisters but it also can be disguised in other, innocuous containers such as a lipstick tube or a perfume bottle. Think of what an advantage this is to a woman who is threatened.

In teaching self-defense to women it is important to stress at the outset that the tips we will be covering are suggestions. They are not iron clad, as every situation is going to be different, and women must assess for themselves whether they have a fighting chance.

It is also important to stress the fact that if a woman did not follow any of the steps you will be teaching, they didn't necessarily do anything 'wrong'. (There may be women in your class that have been assaulted in the past, and you don't want to sound like you are attacking their behavior).

To be clear, it is indeed a sad state of affairs that we even need to address this topic. No woman deserves to live in fear for her safety. The sad truth is, there are a lot of sick individuals in this world, and they prey upon the meek.

Women's safety is a major issue in today's day and age. With the rise in domestic violence, sexual abuse and violence against women - it has become a mandatory requirement for the women counterpart to train themselves with diverse self-defense techniques and methodologies.

Women have to ensure their own safety by being independent and fighting intruders

There are streets and places that women feel utterly unsafe. The sinking feeling and nervous emotion while walking or traveling alone at night is excruciating. With the right techniques to combat intruders or fight off a person who has been harassing or stalking you, will increase a level of confidence and strength within you.

Close combat training turns victims into survivors, because they have the knowledge to stop evil. Sadly not everyone sees the need for training or even the need to fight back when encountering evil, but personal security should be your number one priority. In California in 1985, Richard Ramirez, a criminal and Satanist, murder 15 people along with many other crimes, and he didn't stop until people fought back. Not resisting won't keep you safe, but self defense training will. Don't be a victim, be a fighter.

Unfortunately, date rape (also referred to as acquaintance rape) is a common phenomenon in our society. Although we typically think of rapists as masked men jumping out from darkened shadows or sneaking through an open bedroom window, the reality is that 70 percent of all rape victims knew their assailants. More shockingly, 84 percent of college females report being raped by acquaintances. Relationships and dates should be fun, not violent, nor deceptive. To protect yourself from date rape, consider the following counter-measures:

Fiction Based on Fact Murder Mystery:

There was a murder I didn't exactly participate in around Gahanna, Ohio in the 1970s. I simply told my father to ask "the guy at work" to pick me up, implying something. I think that man, who's dead by now, murdered his wife and buried her somewhere. To this very day, I'm not sure if I caused those murders, or was only an innocent victim of them. Did it matter that I asked my Dad an open-ended question, one which may have meant that I was giving up on life and living, in order to become a murder victim?

e NSA Women-Safe Network began offering self-defense programs in the River Valley close to 2 years ago, and I've presented a number of danger awareness workshops and seminar talks in churches, schools, and to civic groups. But in talking with people on the street as I go about my daily life, I've found an interesting, yet dangerous, attitude among many women I speak with about rape or assault..."It won't happen to me."

NSA Women-Safe Network

Sadly, crimes against women are on the rise in the United States, yet most women give no thought to how they would defend themselves against an attacker until it is too late. I have found that most women are not "danger aware" and are too busy living life to take notice of their surroundings and spot potential threats. They are more focused on getting the kids to school, buying groceries, managing a career (or a home) then they are on learning how to defend themselves.

Although there is a multitude of weapon choices for non-lethal self defense, the specific weapon you choose is a matter of personal preference. One can find everything from pepper spray to steel batons advertised on the internet. A great choice for self defense is a cell phone stun gun.

These stun guns are easy to carry, easy to conceal, they pack a real punch and they look completely innocent so an attacker is caught off guard. They can be carried on the belt, in a purse or anywhere a cell phone can be carried. With almost everyone carrying them today, they are so common place we hardly notice them anymore.

As a woman the fear of being mugged or assaulted is very real and the problem is growing everyday. The importance of personal self-protection is a must and knowing how to defend yourself will definitely bring you peace of mind..

I have always chosen the path of least resistance. Part of it is denial and part of it is lack of interest. How stupid is that! The statistics show 1 in 3 women in America will be attacked during their lifetime. That definitely got my attention, I needed to get my head out of the sand and become pro-active about protecting myself.

Maya had the dream life. She had a career she loved. She married when she was mature enough to pick a partner for the right reasons. She had a partner, a son, a daughter and a lovely puppy. Add the picket fence and you could say she had it all. On the surface of course...

Beneath the surface she was struggling with the demise of a marriage due to the malicious interactions of a verbally and emotionally abusive mother in law who was going unstopped in the family. This women had such control over the men in her family, that she could say and do as she pleased, and no one would stop her from viscious behavior. Maya became the victim of emotional and verbal abuse, first from her mother in law, then her extended family members, and then ultimately from her husband. She was a highly educated women, so how could anything so serious be happening in her life?

Kickboxing is an excellent gateway to other martial arts for women. It is very hard to get a woman into a training class for self defense skills. Conversely, it is hard for a business owner to get females into their martial arts studios even though it is a good idea for women to train in self defense.

A fitness kickboxing course is what the doctor ordered on both sides of the equation. There are a lot of people who want to look toned and fit. A kickboxing class can burn a lot of calories in an hour (said to be around 1k.) The ability of a person to execute multi-planar movement during the class means that the class is highly effective at burning calories (and therefore, fat. If the person is eating the right diet.)

In last few years we have seen considerable improvement in women education in India. More and more women are coming out of houses and opt for education in India. That is the reason, why we are seeing lot of women on top positions in India. They have done considerable improvement in all areas. Today we see women in education, in government, in teaching, in research and in forces. Today they are the CEO's of top companies. They are running successful businesses.

Rape is a social evil that has reached explosive proportions. It has ruined many lives and continues to do so at a frenetic pace. No one is immune, and age is no bar. From infants to senior citizens to corpses, rape has become a diabolic symbol of power in an iniquitous world. In USA, a rape occurs every two minutes; In India, every 54 minutes, and in Pakistan, every three hours. The tragedy is that 80% are perpetrated by fathers, brothers, relatives or friends. Six out of ten occur in the home or in the home of a relative or friend. The story of an Austrian father, who raped his daughter for 24 years, and sired seven children through her, is still fresh in our minds.

As our babies, we cradled them in our arms when they were infants. We kissed them, nurtured them, supervised them, encouraged them, supported them, loved them as they grew and matured and... protected them. As loving parents, protecting our children is not just our responsibility, it's our passion. But how do we protect them when we're physically separated from them and they from us?

How do we insure their safety in a world growing madder, more insane, more unstable and more dangerous by the day, aka the Georgia Tech Massacre on 16 April 2007 in which thirty-three people died, mostly college students, a horrible, heart-wrenching event claiming the unwelcomed title as the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history? Even when our little girls are accomplished and mature women, even mothers, they will always be our children and our hearts can never be severed from the angst to protect them and keep them safe and out of Harm's way.

The world is now an unsafe place. Therefore, get ready to protect yourself from the attackers. Many people opine that learning and practising karate and martial arts are very good weapons for self-defense. It can prove good and effective for the women having tall figures and enough physical strength.

However, it becomes really challenging for a woman who is small, weak and thin. Male attackers can take the advantage of their physical statures and defeat the weak and thin women easily. This is why both karate and martial arts are not very good options for all sorts of women, especially who are small and thin. Therefore, we should think of some better alternatives that can prove highly useful and effective for all sorts of women.

Everyone is prone to danger these days because our society isn't a safe place anymore. Every now and then we hear news of thefts and burglaries happening around us which makes one wonder how to counteract to these threats. Well first of all, stop depending on others for your safety.

Safety of women should be a priority

Whether everyone agrees or not, it's quite evident that women are most prone to threats. As much as it's the ill intention of some people, women also are at fault.

One of the major agendas in the social system across the globe is to empower women and achieve the gender equality which would eventually result in the sustainable upliftment of the economic status of the women. In order to feasibly achieve this, there have been several initiatives by the governments of different developing countries. Several surveys have already been conducted with the goal of determining the role of women in the several developing countries in fetching the sustainable development. This has been found that the utilization of the women labor force is still very negligible in the overall economic development of several developing countries. Also, this has been concluded that the women still have a place in the society where they have very fewer opportunities in contributing to the social development of the county. This goes without saying that though there are several special rights and privileges which have been introduced for the women but there are several instances of abysmal violations to these rights which are affecting the balance of the society. This is obvious that until the time the women are completely empowered and we achieve the gender equality in the society, women would not optimally be able to play crucial roles in the social, economic, environmental and political areas.

If you're a woman who interested in getting effective women's self defense training that will enable you to successfully protect yourself against a real-world attack - there are some important things that you need to know. The first thing is that, while many of the concepts and principles are the same, there are some critical differences between defensive training for men and women's self defense!

 Many women live alone these days, in apartments, condos and their own homes. We have as much right to live as we please as any man. We shouldn't have to live any differently or take any special precautions, but, unfortunately, we should. Self defense for women living alone is a set of habits that can help keep us safe by creating the illusion that we don't live alone and avoidance tactics that make us difficult targets.

I assembled some ordinary items that you may find in your house, your vacation spot, or that you may be carrying in your purse or on your person that you can use as a weapon to fend off an attacker. Before we begin discussing these common items as weapons, I'm going to teach you a basic stance and block. For the stance, Open your legs about hip width, and bend your legs, so that you have greater balance. Tuck your tail bone under you, by rolling the lower parts of your hips and pelvic bone forward. That way he won't be able to knock you off your feet so easily. A block is when you stop someone's hit or strike. Whenever you grab an item in one hand, with the other arm and fist, you are going to hold your arm and fist in a protective manner covering your head and your face. When you strike you are going to keep your hand and your fist up. Your arm is straight and not bent.

In simple terms, self-defense, also known as private defense, is a method, which counters the action of the opponent as the means to protect someone from harm. In the global scenario, self-defense, which is subjected to varied interpretations, is a type of acceptable legal justifications to use force as the method to defend one's self while there is imminent harm. Using this technique allows one to have the chance to avoid danger mainly when the attackers carry weapons, have accomplices or are bigger in size. Apart from that, self-defense can also offer one the desired mental and physical strength while helping a person to improve his/her balance, speed and endurance.

Despite slogans like 'woman empowerment' and 'gender equality', women do not always feel safe while alone on a road. Whether it is a lonely street or a busy one, women often fall victim to physical attacks, sexual assaults, etc. This is what most newspapers bring to us on a daily basis and is to an extent true in most cases. To combat such encounters, not all women are equipped with necessary gear and abilities to tackle them and, therefore, being trained for self-defense techniques can help them fit the bill. Self-defense techniques involve methods to protecting the body from miscreants and ensuring that they cannot cause more harm.