The Scene
It's 9:30 pm, and our Monday night film class is winding down. The instructor flips off the ceiling projector, looks up, reminds us about the homework due next week, and asks that we e-mail her if we have any questions. With that, the class is over, and my good friend Kay and I extract ourselves from the ancient cast iron and shaped plywood theater style chairs, and we walk down the two flights of stairs while I listen to the latest trials in her busy life.
We push through the large front doors, and get a beautiful view of the Stanford University campus at night. It's definitely dark out now, but the campus is lit with many light fixtures in and around the buildings. Not bright, glaring lights, but rather thoughtful, almost serene lighting, so you can easily see around you, but not so intense that it draws your focus from your thoughts.
The conversation ends, she reaches into her handbag, pulls out her keys and snuggly holds them in her hand; and gives me a quick hug before she turns and heads for her car.
I watch her walk away for a second then also turn around and head towards another street to reach my car, which is about 6 blocks away.
As I walk down the portico of these massive buildings, my heels click on the tile and echo off the walls while my minds ponders all the work issues I need to address in the morning. I suddenly look up, and realize that I have walked almost a city block without paying attention. The shadows are now longer, the lights fewer, and I can't see anybody around me.
What Am I Doing Wrong?
This is the perfect situation for a woman to be at risk; and I was doing just about everything wrong that I could to stay safe.
The Women's Self Defense Institute offers these wise self defense principles:
- Stay aware of people in your surroundings.
- Stay with people, go with people.
- Keep a barrier between you and the bad guy,
- Attract attention.
- Control his hips and hands.
- Use your strongest weapons against his weakest targets.
This is really critical for both transmen and transwomen, as both groups can be the target for hate crimes. Stay alert and you will stay safer.
