SAFETY First!

At KickStart Self-Defense, your safety is our top priority. Of course, there are many steps you can take to enhance your safety. Taking a self-defense class is one important step. But physical resistance should be our last resort. There are many steps we can take along the way to try to maintain our safety. We came up with the acronym SAFETY to help. So what exactly does SAFETY stand for?

Strong stance

Awareness of surroundings

Face your attacker

Escape over fighting

Trust your gut

You set your boundaries

Let's break that down a bit. If we are in a situation where we're feeling threatened, we want to immediately establish a Strong stance. Our feet are apart, knees are bent, our hands are up in a defensive posture (no fists - we're demonstrating readiness, not aggression), and we're making eye contact but not glaring. We're saying to the aggressor, "I see you, I don't trust you, and I'm ready to defend myself if necessary."

Always maintain an Awareness of your surroundings. Are you the only female left in a bar? Maybe it's time to leave. Has someone been watching you or trying to isolate you? Keep an eye on them and maintain a safe distance between yourself and them. Don't reduce your awareness to your phone! We're all guilty of this at times. Think about the peripheral vision and situational awareness we're reducing by focusing too closely on our phone rather than noticing the potential threats around us.

Face your attacker. Until we can disable our attacker long enough to safely flee, we want our eyes on our attacker. This helps us to see what's coming (fists, a kick, a choke) and to hopefully defend ourselves against it.

Escape over fighting. Defending ourselves from attack is unpredictable. While it may be tempting to make someone pay for violating your boundaries, once we have the upper hand, the best choice is always to escape. Our goal is to have you survive a dangerous incident, and that means taking every opportunity to remove ourselves from a sketchy situation.

Trust your gut. You know that creeped out feeling we sometimes get that puts us on edge? Call it your gut or your intuition; we need to listen to that feeling. Many assault survivors have told researchers that they had a "bad feeling" that they wished they had listened to before an attack happened (please understand I'm not victim blaming - no one deserves sexual violence whatever the circumstances). Something felt "off" or the attacker was staring aggressively, or perhaps they felt their boundaries were not being respected. Please trust your instincts. They're usually right when it comes to safety.

You set your boundaries. You are the only one who has the right to decide what is right for your body. No one should pressure you, no one should touch you if you don't want to be touched, and no one should violate the boundaries you set. Use your voice to establish boundaries and be firm. Cause a scene if you feel threatened, and leave a situation that feels uncomfortable, even if it's awkward. Sexual assaults can progress very quickly from situations that don't feel quite right to a criminal violation. We need to act quickly if our boundaries are violated. It's much more important to stay safe, and we hope this acronym will help you!