A few groups in New York have cropped up in support of safe neighborhoods in response to a recent wave of assaults on women, each with a different way of protecting their streets. While some are offering self-defense classes, others are putting themselves in the line of fire to fight back against the attackers.
One group, called Safe Slope, is arranging a buddy system for women who don't want to walk home alone. They held a rally to take back their streets last Wednesday night to "let the perpetrator or perpetrators of these acts know we are watching and we are going to look out for our neighbors.”
Police say a man has raped one woman and sexually assaulted eight others in South Brooklyn since March.
“We’re here for the victims and we can come together as a neighborhood to help empower our neighbors to take a role in their own safety,” said Michael Crumshow of Safe Slope.
Another group called Brooklyn Bike Patrol is patrolling Park Slope on their bikes and meeting people to walk them home. The group's founder, Jay Ruiz, a 55-year-old bike messenger, says they just “want the monsters to stop already.”
“It's so bad to see women getting attacked,” said Ruiz, a dispatcher for a bike messenger company. “I feel like I have to do something.”
If only all humans were so noble. We hope things turn out all right, but we can't help but wonder ... Who's looking out for the escorts when they're alone? Hopefully the combined efforts of the community and the police will bring these men to justice without anyone else being harmed.
One group, called Safe Slope, is arranging a buddy system for women who don't want to walk home alone. They held a rally to take back their streets last Wednesday night to "let the perpetrator or perpetrators of these acts know we are watching and we are going to look out for our neighbors.”
Police say a man has raped one woman and sexually assaulted eight others in South Brooklyn since March.
“We’re here for the victims and we can come together as a neighborhood to help empower our neighbors to take a role in their own safety,” said Michael Crumshow of Safe Slope.
Another group called Brooklyn Bike Patrol is patrolling Park Slope on their bikes and meeting people to walk them home. The group's founder, Jay Ruiz, a 55-year-old bike messenger, says they just “want the monsters to stop already.”
“It's so bad to see women getting attacked,” said Ruiz, a dispatcher for a bike messenger company. “I feel like I have to do something.”
If only all humans were so noble. We hope things turn out all right, but we can't help but wonder ... Who's looking out for the escorts when they're alone? Hopefully the combined efforts of the community and the police will bring these men to justice without anyone else being harmed.
Perhaps the best way to stop these assaults is for more women to learn how to protect themselves, and I'm not just talking about those namby pamby "non-violent" self defense courses that teach women evasive actions that leave the perp unharmed, only to rape again another day. I would rather see women learning how to permanently blind their attacker with a set of keys, rupture his spleen with the tip of an umbrella, or surgically curtail his reign of terror with a pair of sharp scissors or a nail file deftly introduced into a crucial neck artery.
What law enforcement authorities prefer not to tell potential victims is that, for purposes of self defense, rape is the legal equivalent of deadly physical force and that an intended victim of forceable rape may legally kill her attacker, whether or not he is armed, if she feels, as would a "prudent woman," that doing so is necessary to prevent or curtail the rape. The police seem worried that a weapon in the hands of a victim might be turned against her by a stronger and more skilled attacker, but that presupposes that civilian women will not become trained as well as, say, female soldiers or police officers. This has to change.
Scissors, keys, nail files, and umbrellas are not considered weapons until used as such, and, if used justifiably, they do not become illegal weapons as would an unlicensed gun or a knife designed primarily for fighting. Of course, pepper spray may be preferable and easier to use, as escape is a safer option than close combat with an armed assailent, although pepper spray could backfire in a small vestibule or other enclosed space. Either way, be sure to use either the spray OR the scissors, but not both, as stabbing an already visually compromised assailant, when escape is otherwise possible, may be seen by authorities as the unjustified use of excessive force. BTW, I am not an attorney, so be sure to consult one before preparing for battle. Good luck.