Most people don’t think about self-defense training for women until it’s too late. This post is for everyone who’s ever thought “it won’t happen to me” — and for the women in their lives who deserve better than that assumption.
The following comes from a conversation with a survivor of violent assault, responding to one simple question: What would you say to convince someone they should care about self-defense?
Her answers are worth reading slowly.
What It Actually Feels Like to Be Attacked
The first thing she said: nothing prepares you for the terror of realizing in that moment that you are not strong enough — and he is.
That feeling doesn’t leave. Survivors of violent assault often carry mental and physical scars for the rest of their lives. Fighting back isn’t aggression. It’s the act that can spare you from years of that aftermath.
She also said this: becoming a victim is like crossing through a turnstile. You go through it, and you never come back to the same side. You are not the same person again.
That’s not meant to frighten you. It’s meant to be honest with you.
The Uncomfortable Truths About Violence
A few things she wanted women to know that most people avoid saying out loud:
People often look away. The ugly reality is that bystanders frequently turn their heads rather than intervene. Waiting to be rescued is not a strategy.
The legal system is not a deterrent. The odds of a rapist being caught, charged, tried, convicted, and serving time are extraordinarily small — estimated at roughly 1 in 600. The only thing a predator actually weighs is whether you pose a risk to him. Your ability to fight back is the variable that changes his calculation.
The 1993 Brandeis University study found that women most likely to be harmed were those who did not fight back. Resistance works.
The Insurance Argument
She put it this way: people pay for car insurance and fire insurance without being paranoid about accidents or fires. It’s just practical. So why wouldn’t you invest in the training that protects you from one of the most life-altering risks you actually face?
Self-defense training is insurance you carry in your body. It goes everywhere with you.
It’s Not as Hard as You Think
Learning to defend yourself is more accessible than most women expect. What’s actually hard — far harder — is recovering from assault.
Every woman who successfully defends herself does something beyond protecting herself in that moment. She proves to at least one person that not all women are easy targets. That ripples outward.
What Systema Offers
Systema isn’t about memorizing techniques and hoping the situation matches your rehearsal. It’s about teaching you to move, breathe, and respond — naturally, adaptively, from what you already have inside you.
That’s exactly what self-defense training for women should do.
Scornavacco Martial Arts Academy — Longmont, CO
Free Women’s Safety Class — Find Out What You’re Already Capable Of
No experience needed. No commitment required. Come learn what actually works — and leave with something real.
Scornavacco Martial Arts Academy · 1830 Boston Ave, Suite F, Longmont, CO · (303) 485-5425