Source:
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/selfdefense.html
[site location: www breakthechain dot org / exclusives / selfdefense.html]

Details:
The narrative above [beginning with "FYI - Through a rapist’s eyes!"] contains few verifiable facts. We don’t know who the author was, and the “guy who taught the class” wasn’t named either. It doesn’t say where the supposed interviews took place or how many rapists and date rapists constitute “a bunch.”

So, the only thing I really had to verify here were the tips themselves, and some of them certainly seemed fishy. I contacted a couple of women’s self-defense experts to see what they thought of the tips. First, Suzanne Pinette, Executive Director of EveryWoman’s Self-defense, Inc., and Administrative Coordinator of the Association of Women Martial Arts Instructors, had this to say:
“Ok, I can’t stand to read the whole thing. It seems like a colossal waste of my time, but my first impression as a member of the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation Self-defense Instructor Certification Board…

“1. Interviewing “a bunch of rapists and date rapists in prison” does not constitute a scientifically compiled study. The results of such a “study” do not qualify as facts but maybe as personal observations from very biased sources.

“2. Being a student of Segal or the boyfriend of a rape victim does not impress me as giving anyone any qualification to teach women’s self-defense.

“3. Most of what I read was what we call “fear-based” teaching. Most modern women’s self-defense instructors use an empowerment based teaching model.

“4. There are people who are lifelong professionals at teaching women’s self-defense. Many of them are women. Male martial artists who feel a desire to work on this social problem should either focus on supporting women to become instructors or they should work on changing male attitudes towards rape. They might start by learning to address women with something more respectful than ‘Hi, girls!’”

Mary Eastland of Everywoman’s Self-Defense has another suggestion for good tips:
“I stopped reading the article when it was forwarded to me from a list, after the first statement about hairstyle. It is simply not true. A good resource to find out how women really defend themselves would be the book ‘Her Wits About Her.’ Men sometimes try to come off as authorities about how to prevent rape by teaching general ideas like these. (This message) does not seem authentic to me.”

RE:

> A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:…[etc.]