Self Defence

 

Safety At Work 

Even with the best judgment in the world, 

you can still find yourself in an unpleasant 

situation with a client who seemed 

perfectly sane and rational when he came 

in the door and now seems determined to 

be aggressive, violent or worse. 

Where and how you work plays a major 

part in the self-defence strategies you 

may need. If you’re working in a sauna 

with a door onto a central corridor and 

other people wandering by or waiting in 

reception, attracting attention will get you 

the help you need. If you’re an escort 

doing an outcall to a detached house, 

you’re going to need to be able to get 

yourself out of there, and that might 

mean bringing him down to give yourself 

a head start. 

These are the basic tools of self-defence: 

Awareness 

This term is used in self-defence speak to 

mean avoiding danger by thinking ahead, 

such as clocking your escape routes 

before you go into the room, not allowing 

a client to lock you in, or any forward 

planning that is going to help you get out 

of the situation. If you’re working in a 

sauna or flat, this can be simple and 

straightforward; if you do outcall work, 

you’re going to need to be good at 

thinking on your feet. 

De-escalation 

This means using your body language, 

tone of voice and words to calm the 

situation before it gets violent. Speak 

calmly, keep your hands open and be 

sympathetic and understanding. 

Flight 

Also known as running away. If the 

situation hasn’t become violent, make an 

excuse - you left the lube next door, you 

need to pee, whatever - and get out of 

the room or house. If the situation has 

become violent, you may need to stun 

them to give yourself a chance to get out 

– see Fight, below. 

Attract attention 

Use a personal alarm if you have one 

(and you need to have one), scream, 

shout, smash things - particularly good 

for getting neighbours on the phone to 

reception or the police if you’re in a hotel 

or flat. 

Fight 

Most women have an inherent size and 

strength disadvantage against men. If 

you do need to fight, you still need to run 

– you’re unlikely to be able to hold your 

own against him in a prolonged tussle. 

You want to get him down, and you want 

to get out. Don’t wait to see how he 

reacts to your attack. Picture yourself 

fighting through him to the door rather 

than with him to win. 

Aim for the eyes, groin or throat if you can, 

but anything soft and fleshy will do. Don’t 

kick unless you’re already down – it’s very 

easy to predict a kick, grab the leg or foot 

and knock someone to the ground. 

Self-Defence 

If you’re regularly in the kind of situation 

where you might need to fight your way out, 

you may want to think about doing some self- 

defence training. A lot of course offer the first 

class free, so it probably won’t cost you 

anything just to have a look. A web search for 

“women self defence Edinburgh” (or 

wherever) will give you a good idea as to 

what’s on offer. You may want to try 

something that is specifically aimed at self- 

defence (such as Krav Maga), rather than 

taking up a martial art from scratch. Although 

martial arts can be a great way to keep fit, it 

can take quite awhile to get good enough to 

defend yourself, and some are aimed more at 

‘performance combat’ – where you learn how 

to perform set moves with an opponent – 

rather than teaching you how to respond to an 

unfamiliar attack.