After years of rising concern over safety, more women are learning how to fight back |
One of common questions I often get asked when carrying out self-protection courses, is Can a woman really fight back against bigger stronger male adversary?
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Over the years, I have advised high profile figures and their families and delivered seminars, talks and practical workshops to numerous companies and trained various security personnel.
Since the tragic murder of Sarah Everard five years ago, more and more women, especially in London, have shown a genuine concern for their personal safety.
Still that question will be asked- Can a woman really fight back...?
My answer is never given lightly. Everything conveyed is relative to the context of a scenario. My answer is one that I hope will give more women the realisation that there are many ways to fight back; there are many ways to prevail. The woman who always comes to mind when I get asked this question; the brave woman I will use to support my answer, was a remarkable individual- a formidable female force and an exemplary example of women's fighting spirit. Her name was Nancy Wake.
Follow the White Mouse
Nancy Wake, AC, GM was a World War 2 heroine who served in SOE (Special Operations Executive) behind enemy lines in occupied France. This lady was petite in stature but colossal with courage and presence. Her actions were very impacting, causing significant disruption to Nazi operations- so much so that she became number one on the Gestapo's hit list. Determined to neutralise her, the Gestapo codename for this enemy of the Third Reich was White Mouse.
This was an appropriate name for her- Nancy was an elusive target. Her ability to be effective and survive behind enemy lines was based on her training as well as her skills at blending in and use of awareness to evade the threat. It's also worth noting that Nancy received training in Combatives from the famous SOE instructor W.E.Fairbairn. This hardened gentleman had worked in the Shanghai Municipal Police. Along with studying various martial arts, he survived numerous street encounters. Nancy took this training from Fairbairn very seriously.
Nancy was small in stature but with intensity, she absorbed her lessons on accessible hand to hand combat along with the other aspects of field craft such as firearms training and concealment. In one situation, she apparently used her close quarter training in direct fashion, delivering an open hand strike to an SS Sentry, to prevent him alerting the enemy forces and ultimately ending his contribution to the Axis war effort.
Nancy had an ability to read situations- she knew when to deliver relentless force or when to evade and move. The ability to use one's innate survival instincts can be incredibly powerful and this is what we aim to develop in the training.
Attacks Against Women
In modern urban environments around Europe, for most women the priority is not to become a hardened fighter but to know how to avoid the threats that are out there. Attacks against women can occur very suddenly. About four years ago in London, Dr Preema Vig was in Notting Hill and she was suddenly assaulted by a man who punched her in the face, in a mugging situation. Dr Preema is the owner and medical director of a leading Aesthetics clinic in Mayfair. The heavy blow to the eye area required to her to have reconstructive surgery and meant that even the experience of going outside to meet friends felt traumatic for a while.
Dr Preema however is a very resilient and philosophical individual. She contacted a top global security company, headed by a female CEO and we were soon introduced. Dr Preema spent some hours training with me, readily absorbing lessons on situational awareness, movement skills, urban disengagement and fear management. To this day, Dr Preema is open about how this experience helped her. She points out how the training made her feel "more present and aware of [her] surroundings." She also adds:"It gave me a renewed sense of confidence walking about London."
The attack had awoken a strong feeling of resolve in Dr Preema. Not only did she make the effort to sharpen her self-protection skills- she felt it was important to share her experience and raise awareness about violence against women- with her clinical community. The result of this was that I made various visits to the Dr Preema London clinic to deliver various workshops on personal safety.
At first, I thought I was going to be talking to a few of Dr Preema's clients over a coffee round the table but the turn out for these events kept increasing. I believe there were about 30 or more women at one event. Those attending would often share their own experiences on everything from phone and bag swipes to being followed from a venue, at night. It was clear that more women were becoming concerned about the level of crime in London and other cities.
The Power of Intuition
Recently, another woman who has got involved in this training is music artist and journalist Elle L. Based in London, Elle appreciates that the priority is to avoid the threat as she points out:"I think the physical side of self defence would always be a last resort, but having the fundamentals locked in elevates how you move through the world."
With a kindly, thoughtful manner matched with a Lara Croft sense of adventure and optimism, Elle is keen to help other women raise their awareness, having experienced her own hostile encounters in London and whilst working on a project in Nairobi with American artist, Heron Preston. She conveys that it's not that women are more fearful these days but more aware of the risks. As this rising media figure points out: "many are simply more informed and proactive about protecting themselves and have a better understanding of their boundaries and surroundings."
Elle is also the creator of a soon to be launched podcast series where she interviews and chats with women who have overcome incredible challenges to find their own resilience. One of the guests she interviewed was Dr Marine Vincent.
Dr Marine is the founder of The French Pharmacy in Marylebone and a survivor of the Borough Market terror attack of 2017. She was seriously injured during the terrorists' horrific knife rampage but now inspires many people with her powerful story of overcoming this life changing ordeal.
Another impressive woman Elle has interviewed is Dame Tessy Antony de Nassau, a former princess of Luxembourg who served in the Luxembourg army and is an active and highly respected champion of female empowerment and involved in various charitable endeavours.
When I work with Elle, we do address edge weapon scenarios and she is quick to identify with the key concepts we have in Tri-Trier- about being calm under pressure and flowing with your intuition. She states: "Many women I’ve spoken to say that they had a feeling something wasn’t right, but ignored it out of politeness or not wanting to seem rude."
This raises an interesting point that whilst intuition can be a powerful, empowering tool- the key is being able to listen to that quiet inner voice of protection and act on it. This is why along with physical skills to enable a person to disengage from an aggressive party, we will work on subtle mind body exercises to help people reconnect with intuition and wield it with laser like precision.
There are also women who rely on self-protection skills to carry our roles in security and law enforcement. As I write these words, a friend just contacted me- to train his daughter who has joined the police -for situations where a physical situation could end up on the ground.
Another friend and security associate based in Virginia, USA serves in the US army's military police and is a highly trained close protection officer and firearms instructor. Softly spoke yet exuding inner confidence, Falon Muffaletto is a specialist in executive protection and skilled in various physical defence tactics.
Although in the USA, close protection operatives are often armed, Falon clearly appreciates the value of heightened situational awareness and the resilience that physical training provides.
The Women who Fight Back...
So we see from history and in modern times, there are many wonderful examples of women ready to raise awareness and empower others to keep safe and move with confidence. These women are taking responsibility for their personal safety using awareness, guile, security knowledge, intuition and elusive movement skills.
Can a woman fight back? What would Nancy Wake say...
Aran Dharmeratnam works in private investigations and risk intelligence. He is also the founder of Tri-Tier - which equips executives, families, organisations and high profile figures with situational awareness and hybrid self-protection training.
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