"It Won't Happen To Me", Myths=Excuses/Facts=Reality

How many times have you said or heard someone say, "it won't happen to me"? This myth suggests that crime victims are always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Let's look at some cold, hard facts.

• Almost 1 million incidents of violence occurs every year (visual only, the entire population of Montana)
  
• 4 million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during a 12 month period (visual only, the entire population of Kentucky)
  
• At least 1 out of every 3 women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during her lifetime
• Every 2 minutes in America, someone is sexually assaulted and every 15 seconds a woman is battered
• In 2007 there were 248,300 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault of females age 13 or older
• 1 in 6 women in America will be a victim of sexual assault
• 73% of all sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knew
• 1 in 12 women in American will be stalked in their lifetime
• 40% of girls age 14-17 report knowing a peer who has been hit or beaten by her boyfriend

Often the "it won't happen to me" mentality extends to "I live, work, hang out in a "good" neighborhood. I am not likely to experience crime." This attitude that females have is totally naive.

Do you honestly believe that the numbers stated above represent women who were walking around sleazy neighborhoods, putting themselves in vulnerable situations or inviting crime into their lives? Or do bad things happen, sometimes, for reasons that are unknown and in situations that are out of our control? Most of us live in our own little imaginary worlds where unspeakable things don't exist. Most people don't think that anything horrible will happen to them, whether it be a car accident, a fatal disease, divorce, or an assault. It always happens to someone else, someone else's wife, daughter or child. At about the age of fifteen it becomes apparent that things don't always go our way and bad things happen.

Surely you know five other females besides yourself that has been or is likely to be raped. If this doesn't concern you, it better, or at least give you something to seriously think about.

The sad part of the "it won't happen to me" mentality is that it is not ingrained in our minds until something terrible happens in our "own backyard" or family. At this point, it's too late. When we don't raise our level of awareness and think offense and defensively we run the risk of being caught off guard.

In the personal safety/self-defense world, you can try to PREVENT yourself from becoming a statistic by paying more attention to your surroundings and learning how to protect yourself should something happen. This is the same reason that we have health, life and automobile insurance - you never know what might happen and when you may need to use the coverage - but if the worst should occur, you better be prepared. Why wouldn't you do this for yourself, loved ones and friends - be prepared if God forbid something would happen that you would have to rely and personal safety training?

Always be prepared.

Don't be NAIVE - call me/us today to get prepared.

It's not about strength - it's about knowledge and knowledge is a powerful tool!


Take care and STAY SAFE!
Anny
A Survivor
The Realistic Female Self-Defense Company
"Raising female awareness and skills to reduce susceptibility in response to violence."
www.annyjacoby.com
www.realisticfemaleselfdefense.com