SCENE | SEPTEMBER 20, 2005 | Send features tips

Night Light
Defense course prepares women for the unexpected

Photo Illustration by Michelle Proksell

By Megan Wright
The Shorthorn staff

It’s late at night, and you’re at the the Central Library studying.

You feel like you can’t keep your eyes open a second longer, so you finally decide to go home. Weighed down by books, you don’t have a free hand as you begin the long trek to your car.

As you walk, you suddenly hear footsteps coming from behind. You quicken your pace but so does the person behind you. You tell yourself, “No need to worry — I have pepper spray,” though it’s at the bottom of your bag.

Suddenly, you feel the steps get too close, and an arm jerks you back.

What would you do? Would you even think to scream?

What is RAD?

The UTA Police Department offers a free program through the Rape Aggression Defense Systems to all female faculty, staff and students.

The RAD Web site, http://www.rad-systems.com, states that the program, offered nationwide and in Canada, teaches women “awareness, prevention, risk reduction and risk avoidance” while incorporating self-defense training. Special courses for men and children are also available.

Crime prevention officer John Morrison has taught RAD here for five years. In his two-day seminar, he covers ways women can change their actions to avoid and fight off attacks. These lessons include how to walk to your car, using pepper spray and what to do when alone.

“You’re trying to avert, distract or incapacitate an attacker so you can get away from them,” Morrison said.

Valerie Goodwin, administrative specialist at the Mav Express Office, took the course more than a year ago. She said she felt empowered and that the program taught her how to avoid situations she hadn’t thought of before.

“[Morrison] really slammed you with this information,” she said. “He just drives it home about how important it is to protect yourself.”

Morrison said RAD teaches women to think like an attacker so they don’t look like victims. If a woman knows what an attacker looks for in a victim, she can try to not fit that profile, he said.

The second day of RAD consists of fight simulations. The women will don padding, helmets and boxing gloves as they learn to fight off attackers when grabbed from all angles.

Morrison also wears a padded, full-body outfit as he plays the role of the attacker.

During an attack, Morrison said hitting an attacker may not be effective unless the woman knows where to hit. He said women can focus their attacks on the throat, nose or eyes to inflict more damage.

“At the very end there’s a full-out attack simulation where you pretend you’re at an ATM, and I come up behind you,” he said. “It’s pretty scary.”

Morrison said many women ask to repeat this exercise to get better at it. One woman asked to retry it seven times.

At the end of the course, Morrison gives all women who complete both days a self-defense manual and a certificate. He said the certificate helps with the RAD Systems’ lifetime return and practice policy. Women can show their certificates anywhere nationwide and in Canada that offers the RAD System to attend the class again.

“The more you practice it, the more it becomes natural,” he said. “It has to become instinctive.”

Courses

A faculty and staff RAD course will be held Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Continuing Education/Workforce Development Center. Both days must be attended for a certificate.

Interested women can register for the course by e-mailing preventcrime@uta.edu. This week’s RAD faculty class filled up quickly. Morrison said 12 women signed up for it with two waiting on standby.

“We don’t want to have the class so big that they don’t get adequate practice time,” he said.

Morrison said the UTA Police Department has previously held the course at residence halls so that students could attend. He said no plans have officially been made yet for a residence hall class this semester, but he would like to have one at Trinity House or the Centennial Court apartments. He said that additional ones might be held at Kalpana Chawla or Arlington halls.

Goodwin said university students should press the issue to ensure a student’s RAD course.

“All of our students should have this course,” she said. “There’s not one female student that should not have taken this course.”

Lecturer Mike Johnson echoes this sentiment. His Self Defense for Women class is offered each semester, and students can register at regular university registration times.

“This is the most important class they take at the university,” he said. “No one’s ever going to walk up to them and put a gun to their head and ask, ‘Who’s the fifth president?’ ”

Goodwin said self-defense courses can be especially important for young women who are adjusting to living away from home. That’s the case with psychology freshman Tobi Adeyemi.

Enrolled in one of Johnson’s classes, Adeyemi said she has learned several kicks and punches.

“[I’m taking this course] for self-defense purposes — to learn how to defend myself because I’m a freshman on campus,” she said.

Tips

During an assault in the Central Library a week before school started, the victim yelled, and the suspect ran. Morrison said the victim’s verbalizing helped in this situation.

“That actually makes them appear not like a victim,” he said. “The attacker is looking for someone who freezes up — that’s the perfect victim.”

Sometimes the sound of a woman’s own voice can grab her out of that freeze, Morrison said.

Adeyemi said Johnson’s class also learned how to use their voices to get unwanted people to stay away.

“To let people know you need help, using your voice can be a weapon or a tool,” Johnson said.

He said the worst things women do in bad situations are not being aware of their surroundings and not listening to their instincts. Both classes give advice on how women can avoid these things.

Morrison advises women to watch their body language. A woman’s mannerisms can signal to an attacker that she is an easy target.

“Be more assertive in your appearance,” he suggested. “Put a backpack on so your hands are free.”

When it comes to pepper spray, Morrison said women who use it should become familiar with it. They should practice with the spray in their backyards, so they know how to spray it properly in the attacker’s eyes.

“If you have pepper spray, get in the habit of having it in your hand and unlocked,” he said.

Goodwin said she has not been in an attack situation, and she attributes this to the simple tips from the course. She said she learned to completely close her draperies when home alone so that potential attackers cannot see into her home.

“I learned avoiding those situations,” she said. “For example, going to the grocery store, I’m going to park under a well-lit area.”

Adeyemi said she had some advice of her own to give to women.

“Tell girls to never give up the fight,” she said.

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