I sure that you have heard about the rash of girls attacked in Southern California lately. Is there any one answer? Is it safe for girls to go out of the house anymore? Is is fair that girls can be victimized like this?

There are far too many of these questions that people think of to rationalize their view – so the world still makes sense if you will. While I generally think that girls and women that go out running alone with sparse people around, are at higher risk. I still tend to think that the vast majority of these girls and women will not get assaulted.

This is of no value to the girls that do get attacked. First off it is not fair that girls have to take more precautions then boys do. Boys have to be careful too but seem to take more chances then girls do and end up ok more often. This is a feeling I get and have not validated it statistically (based on my own experience.

In this post I will talk a bit and like to stories of the recent victims. I will talk about women’s equal rights and expectation of safety in a free society and how this should be mitigated by reality. I will stress that none of they girls did anything wrong. There are just some bad people in the world. I will talk about how I try to stay safe and the precautions I have to take and how girls and women might adjust their safety plan to decrease their exposure to risk. Here is one video of recent events to start the dialog.

That video highlighted that fighting back can work to a girls advantage. It is a tough call for a women though to decide to fight back. I mean has a woman had any self-defense training so she is confident that she can do something? Does she have mace or a stun gun (handy)? What if she pisses off the attacker who only (I use the term “only” in the lesser of evils sense) wanted to rob her and let her go? All of these things should be considered before one finds herself attacked (hopefully).

I guess it does not help that there is no right answer but I can say for sure that it is possible the bad guy does not want any evidence of the attack and he will kill the victim. It is also true that fighting back in some way is the best chance a woman has to get away. Acquiescing and hoping for the best is not for sure the best possible outcome (although it might work).

So before we talk about the victims, what can you do and is it fair? Girls and women to be safe have to limit exposure to areas that are remote or do not have lots of people around to help out.

Is this fair to women and girls? NO. Will most women and girls heed this advice? NO. If anything happens is it the women or girl’s fault NO!

Let me say at this point that as a lifetime self-defense instructor (of the karate persuasion), that I too have to mitigate my exposure to bad situations. I used to be a bouncer at a bar for a couple of years when I turned 21 years old. I’ve been in 100 or so bar fights while dispensing my duties. Do you want to know how many fights I’ve been in for the next 29 years? None. Why? Because I don’t hang out in bars or go the the bad parts of town after dark (or mostly even in daylight).

You might be wondering why I, a black belt in karate with lots of street fighting experience would avoid bad areas even though arguably I could probably handle it? Well an attack is a living – breathing thing. I mean there are no assurances the other guy won’t have a hidden knife or gun. No one can for sure know he or she will win a fight!

So looking at this from the hindsight of reality – girls and women should not take as many chances as I do. Women are the weaker sex (please know that I am not talking equality here but reality) and most men are stronger than most women. That means women need an edge in an altercation. But the best plan is the old adage, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The rules should be something along these lines:

• Avoid high risk activities such as jogging at night or in remote areas without a guy, big aggressive dog, or mace/pepper spray/stungun
• Be aware of your surroundings (yes that means no iPods/phones in your ears ladies – save them for the gym’s treadmill where you are safe)
• Take at a minimum a self-defense course and I would suggest some type of fighting training – what does not really matter – they all should be good so long as you practice
• Walk against traffic in the daytime. Try not to drive alone at night

Work your muay thai with thai pads by Windy.

I am sure many girls and women will look at this advice and think it is not fair. I mean most if not all have done these high risk activities and nothing happened. It is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security due to past experience. The small minority of bad experiences that some women encounter should point out that it is far better to be safe then sorry later.

I have some experience with this as my step-daughter has heard it all from my wife and I. I have mentioned to her all of the ways to keep safe and then she saw that none of her friends take any of these precautions so she has given lip services to my wife’s and my concerns (and did what she wanted most time probably). The fact that she is safe today is good but I wish that she (and all girls and women) would take the extra precautions.

Now for the recent events in SoCal. Logan Jenkins of the local San Diego newspaper, wrote a nice article about girls jogging entitled, “Beware, there may be monsters on the trail.” He gives an overview of the Chelsa King incident and argues that girls must be warriors too – relates an incident of a Maryland woman. His piece does not really have any answers but asks all of the right questions. We are all reeling from the latest spree of attacks on young women.

This next article points out that another runner, Candice Moncayo was attacked last year in the same park and it might be tied to last year’s Amber Dobois kidnapping (she has not been found as of this writing) in nearby Escondido, CA. Update while writing this post Amber Dobois’ remains have been found – story here.

Now it is thought that the animal that got Chelsea King might have attacked Amber Dubois. Another recent attack took place in Chula Vista (South of  San Diego) while a woman was jogging in a park at night here. Here is a video last week about the suspect in the Chelsea King murder.

Let me stop here because I am getting overwhelmed by the totality of these animals stalking girls. Please remember that girls and women in a free society have equal rights but not equal outcomes if attacked. So women and girls should take extra precautions AND learn self-defense at a minimum. I also endorse pepper spray, stun guns, large protective dogs and protective boy friends and husbands along with basic home and vehicle safety.

Remember there are no perfect solutions to bad men stalking women but with some simple – easily doable percautions, most women can mitigate some of their risk.