Unfortunately, the society we live in has made it very difficult for women to be seen as anything other than weak, fragile, helpless, and small. We are belittled, sexualized, and victimized without most people realizing it -- it has become too prevalent in our world and it needs to be addressed.

The fact is: 1 in 3 women will be victims of some kind of physical violence, 1 in 4 women will be victims of sexual assault, and 1 in 5 woman have been raped in their lifetime (these numbers are increased for black women, LGBTQ+ women, hispanic women, and so on). Women made up 70% of victims killed by an intimate partner, and females are killed by intimate partners at twice the rate of males. We cannot rely on our boyfriends, fathers, or brothers to protect us -- most attacks happen when we are alone and the one's we expect to protect us are the one's doing the attacking.

Women are seen as victims before even being attacked. The reason someone attacks a woman is because they do not see them as a human being, they see them as someone vulnerable they can take advantage of. An attack can happen to anyone at anytime and it's important to know how to get yourself out of that situation safe and alive. Knowing how to protect yourself, no matter how small or weak you might feel, against any kind of threat will help you face these circumstances. There is such a high risk that you will be attacked, most likely by a male, and you need to know how to get out of that situation by yourself without relying on anyone else. What happens if you're walking back from your night class? Or to your car in the Walmart parking lot with groceries in both hands? Or someone knocks on your door when you're home alone? We don't think we're going to be attacked when we are, and it's important to know how to get yourself out of a situation without relying on anyone else but yourself.

It doesn't matter how short, skinny, or small you are. The human body has a lot of weaknesses no matter how big or strong someone may be. Learning these tricks and moves is easy and could be life saving; learning these moves makes it possible to get you out of a literal life or death situation. The majority of attackers do not expect you, as a woman, to be able to protect yourself or know any self defense: this can be used to your advantage. Women trained in self defense not only learn how to protect themselves and the people they care about but it also boosts their self confidence and shows that woman have worth.

With recent circumstances with the outcome of the election, I think this is an extremely important time for women to take some sort of self defense training. We now have a president who has talked about "grabbing woman by the pussy" and has bragged about kissing, groping, and sexually assaulting women. The way this man talks about women is disgusting and men have waved away these comments by agreeing that "all men" have said things like this and that it's just "locker room talk". Men now have a president who can say these things and do these things and get away with it; now they see that they can treat women the exact same way because the leader of their country has done it and got away with it.

To all women reading this: we are more than that. We are not some "pussy" to be grabbed. Never let someone place a hand on you without your permission. Demand to be respected. Train yourself to defend your body and honor when men decide to see you as any less of a human and take things too far. You are powerful.