Personal Protection for Women

Deciding which item to carry for self defense can sometimes be quite confusing. With so many options to choose from, it can be hard to make a decision as to which of the personal protection devices are best for you.

Self defense devices for women range from harmless all the way up to causing pain and even injury. While you may not be comfortable inflicting personal injury upon someone (even though that’s exactly what they intend to do to you), there are many options you can use to deter or ward off an imminent threat to your safety.

Types of Personal Protection Devices

Personal Alarms

Emits a loud siren that gets attention. These are activated by pressing a button on the device. Once you’ve done so, the alarm sounds off making a lot of noise.

The idea behind these rape or panic alarms is that the unwanted noise could make your attacker want to get out of there so he doesn’t get caught. Noise is the enemy of an assailant. A siren going off along with the sound of a woman screaming will bring someone to help.

Pepper Spray

Dispenses a debilitating mixture of oleoresin capsaicin (OC) that causes severe pain in the eyes, nose, and throat. This is one of the most common methods of protecting yourself. These come in different forms: Stream, Fogger, Foam, Gel and can also be disguised as a writing pen or even a lipstick case.

Carrying a defensive spray on you at all times is one of the best and least expensive methods of protecting yourself. As long as you hit the person in the face with your spray, they will have no choice but to immediately stop what they are doing. The intense burning sensation and inability to breathe forces your attacker to give up the assault.

Stun guns

When contact is made, these stunning devices cause severe muscle contractions and pain. The overwhelming shock and surprise of the electricity flowing through a body will certainly trip them up enough for you to make your get-away.

Stun guns are not like what you see on TV or in the movies. They do not knock a person out cold or make them drop like a sack of potatoes. They are designed to allow you to get the upper hand in a situation and then run away and get yourself to safety or to find help. The shock factor gives you that upper hand edge.

These come in a variety of forms and can be large, small, high voltage, low voltage, and/or be disguised as a lipstick, perfume bottle…even a cell phone.

Telescopic Steel Batons

A tad on the heavier side, but an expandable baton can be extended in less than a second. With a full pound or more (depending on the length), when you swing this at an attacker and make contact, there will be no doubt in their mind that you are not someone to be trifled with. This weapon is larger, hard as steel, and causes serious injury if need be.

These flick batons are used to hit the knees, ankles, collar bones, or other bones and will cause severe pain with a solid hit. They easily break bone which would certainly stop someone from continuing an attack.

Keychain Weapons

There are a couple of keychain personal protection devices that are also beneficial for self defense.

The Heart Attack is one of them. It’s really a keychain knife that can be used as a punch. Similar to holding keys in your hand like used to be taught many years ago, a punch with one of these hard plastic knives causes lots of bleeding. It’s not a time to get squeamish about protecting yourself – you do whatever it takes to stay alive.

Kubotans

This is a smaller and lighter metal cylinder that can attach to your keyring. Although not as hefty as the telescopic baton, this defensive keychain weapon is used to strike an opponent and cause pain.

By attaching your keys to it, you hold your keys and swing this at your attacker. Hitting any bony surface gives the desired effect. Alternatively, you could hold the kubotan and swing your keys towards them aiming for the face to draw blood.

Also called a yawara stick, it is also used by holding in a fist and jabbing and pressing the end of it on a pressure point. If you were grabbed, you would jab this on a pressure point, such as on top of the shoulder area. This causes pain and hopefully for them to let go of you. You could continue to fight or choose to get away as quickly as possible.

Women’s Personal Safety Products

These are just a few of the safety devices for women that are available. Be comfortable having it with you or else you won’t carry it so be sure that:

1. You aren’t scared of it, and
2. You are able to easily keep it with you at all times.

Of all the personal protection devices, my number one recommendation to all women is to carry pepper spray. It is small enough to keep with you always. It’s not heavy at all, so it won’t weigh you down. But most of all, it is one of the most effective forms of protection there is. No matter how big the guy, a blast of OC spray in their face is going to stop them, period. When you can't breathe and your face feels on fire, you have other things to worry about than anything else you were doing.

Do yourself a favor and carry pepper spray. Hopefully, you will never have to use it. But if you do, you will have saved yourself from something potentially awful. With the cost of $10 or less, there is no reason for any woman not to have a personal protection device that can really save their life.