Most women in danger defend themselves in a random and ineffective fashion.
Pushing the attacker away with the hands, slapping his face or hitting him on the chest with clenched fists represent very weak defensive maneuvers.
Crying out "don't", "let me go" or "you are hurting me" only stimulates the attacker to inflict more pain and injury.
For a woman to become capable of defending herself effectively against a man intent upon inflicting traumatic injury or death to his victim, she must possess detailed knowledge of the vulnerable parts of his anatomy and learn of the various weapons and techniques which will enable her to maximize her defensive response.
A woman's physique is equiped with much less muscular strength than that of a man and her defensive physical weapons are sadly limited to the sharpness of her teeth and fingernails.
Acquiring knowledge and proficiency in the martial arts such as kickboxing, karate, taekuondo, judo and jujitsu may be helpful but in truth a woman with first degree black belt in karate or jujitsu has little chance against a man of equal or larger size.
It is therefore a misconception for a woman to think that mastery of a certain form of martial art will enable her to cope with physical danger successfully and avoid injury or death in case of a sudden unexpected attack.
Consider the head of the attacker.
The vulnerable parts are his eyes, his nose and to a lesser extent his ears.
In some instances, using your fingers with sharp fingernails can be effective in getting you out of danger but it is always better to be in possession of a sharp penetrating instrument such as a knife or dagger when confronted with imminent danger.
For this reason, it is strongly recommended that every woman carries within her purse a weapon such as a long thin knife,which can be pulled out and used for her own defense in case of emergency.
THE EYES
The human eyeball is connected to the brain by the optic nerve, which is why when the eyeball is pulled out of its socket, it still dangles by a thick whitish thread representing the optic nerve or the second cranial nerve.
The globe of the eyeball itself is composed of the the retina in the back , the posterior chamber filled with thick vitreous fluid and the anterior chamber filled with clear aquaous fluid. The lens located between these two chambers.
The front part of the eye consists of the iris which controls the amount of light reaching the retina, the cornea which determines the clarity of vision and the outer coverings of sclera and bulbar conjunctiva, which are commonly known as the white part of the eye.
If the sclera or conjunctiva is scratched, mild and limited bleeding is induced, known as subconjunctival hemorrhage and there is no associated pain.
A scratch on the cornea, on the other hand, can cause intense pain and tearing.
POKING THE EYES WITH FINGERS
So if you want to scratch the attacker's eyeball with your fingernails, aim for the cornea or the round part of the eye in the middle and avoid the white part on each side.
A better technique for causing eye injury is to directly poke the eyeball with the index or middle finger as deeply as you can, or to gouge out the entire eyeball with your thumb.
Penetrating the eye socket of the attacker with your index or middle finger will cause crushing injury to the cornea, sclera and conjunctiva, as well as to the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye.
The cornea will be displaced and the lens will be dislodged by this maneuver.
Hemorrhage will occur within both the anterior and posterior chambers.
Blood filling the two eye chambers prevents light from reaching the retina and results in sudden blindness of the injured eye.
Intense and incapacitating pain will cause the attacker to scream and release his grips from your body.
He will intuitively cover his injured and bleeding eye with his hands and allow you to disengage and run for safety.
It is also important to know that the posterior part of the bony eye socket behind the retina is very thin and it is actually possible for your penetrating fingernail to break it , allowing the tip of your finger to reach the brain itself.
If your feel the tip of your index or middle finger break through the orbital bone and come in contact with the brain tissue, be sure to wiggle your finger as much as you can.
This will induce disruption, maceration and hemorrhage within the frontal lobe of the brain, which can potentially be fatal.
The defensive maneuver described above can be even more effectively performed using a sharp penetrating weapon such as a knife.
Eyeball gouging is best performed by placing your thumbs on each side of the bridge of the nose and the four remaining fingers on each temple of the attacker.
The eight fingers on the temples serve as stabilizers, preventing the attacker's head from moving from side to side and allowing your thumbs to dig into the sockets and sweep laterally to dislodge each eyeball, a maneuver similar to dislodging oyster from its shell.
When the eyeballs are out of their sockets, grab them and pull downward until you disconnect the optic nerves from the brain.
This defensive maneuver ensures total incapacitation of the attacker, who will experience excruciating pain and sudden complete bilateral blindness.
He will release his grasps from your body in order to cover his own eye sockets and you will have effectively liberated yourself.
The criminal will abandon his attack and be preoccupied with his intense pain, physical misery and sudden loss of vision, giving you the opportunity to flee.
EYE GOUGING WITH THUMB USING FOUR FINGERS AS STABILIZERS
THE NOSE
Attacking the nose, in particular the nostrils, can yield significant dividend in the defense of yourself.
Just before the opening of each nostril near the tip of the nose is an area called Little's area, where there is a copious collection of blood vessels.
When Little's area is scratched and injured, there results a profuse nosebleed medically known as epistaxis.
Deeper disturbance of the nasal passages causes both greater hemorrhage and pain.
Your index and middle fingers can serve as effective penetrating instruments in your attempt to damage the nose of the assaillant.
Simply push your straight index and middle fingers as deeply as you can inside the nostrils of the attacker and lift upward or move your fingers vigorously from side to side.
This maneuver will cause bleeding from both Little's areas and detach the nose from its foundation.
The nasal bridge, containing a thin and weak bone called Vomer, will bend or become dislodged.
The nasal septum, which is a thin membrane separating the right from the left nostril, will become deviated and torn.
Profuse bleeding and traumatic disruption of the nasal anatomy lead to severe interference of respiration and the attacker will be moderately incapacitated.
If you penetrate deeply into the nostril of your attacker with a sharp long instrument, the latter will bore through a porous portion of the skull called the cribriform plate, beyond which is the brain tissue itself.
Again, after breaking through the cribriform plate, you should wiggle your instrument in order to cause disruption and hemorrhage within the attacker's brain and fatally incapacitate him.
It should be emphasized that attacking the nostrils with your fingers is not as effective as attacking the eyeballs because a simple nosebleed is painless and disruption of the Vomer or nasal septum is not as incapacitating to the attacker as injury to his eyeballs.
However, penetrating the nostril with a sharp instrument and perforating the cribriform plate to cause brain injury can cause fatality to your attacker.
THE EARS
Unless you possess a sharp penetrating instrument, attacking the ears of the assaillant is an exercise in futility.
Biting off a piece of the earlobe causes some bleeding and minimal pain and will not incapacitate the attacker.
The earlobe is made up of pliable soft bone called cartilage covered with skin.
It is connected to a long tubular canal called the external auditory meatus, at the end of which is the ear drum or tympanic membrane.
The function of the earlobe is to trap sound and conduct it through the ear canal to the ear drum.
Vibrations in the tympanic membrane are transmitted to three tiny bones called ossicles.
These three ossicles, named Stapes, Ancus and Talipes, in turn transmit the sound waves to the cochlear apparatus for processing of the auditory information to the brain.
Penetrating the ear canal with a long sharp object will rupture the ear drum or tympanic membrane and disrupt the three ossicles behind it.
Besides causing hemorrhage into the middle ear chamber, called hemotympanum, as well as deafness of the injured ear, insufficient pain is produced to cause significant incapacitation.
People with ice pick or screwdriver stab wound of the ear remain fully alert and communicative and do not exhibit much pain beyond complaints of earache and headache.
Therefore if you stab the ear canal of your assaillant with a long pointed instrument such as the long pointed handle of your comb, he will be able to continue attacking you inspite of this weak defensive maneuver on your part.
In summary, with respect to the head of the assaillant, primary attention should be directed at attacking the eyeballs, either by penetrating the eye socket with your finger or a sharp instrument, or by gouging and dislodging the eyeballs using your thumbs and stabilizing fingers.
Penetrating the nostrils with your fingers or with a sharp object represents secondary consideration in case the opportunity to injure the eyes does not present itself.
Least effective is penetrating injury to the external auditory meatus or ear canal because it is rarely incapacitating.
The neck of the assaillant is actually an excellent target but you definitely need a sharp instrument such as a knife or at least a penetrating instrument such as a sharpened screwdriver or a long and sharpened comb handle.
Your fingers alone are not strong enough to effectively compress and strangle a man's neck.
THE NECK
The neck ia actually a very vulnerable part of a man's body but in order to effectively and successfully attack this target, you
must possess detailed knowledge of the anatomy of the neck.
In the middle of the neck is the air tube or trachea, which conducts air from the nose and throat to the lungs.
The voice box or Adam's apple is part of the trachea on which are located the thyroid and parathyroid glands.
Behind the trachea is the food tube or esophagus, which connects the mouth to the stomach.
The cervical spine or vertebral bones of the neck are in turn located behind the esophagus.
Thus the midline structures of the neck are the trachea, esophagus and cervical vertebrae, as well as the Adam's apple with the attached thyroid and parathyroid glands.
On each side of these midline structures are two major blood vessels, the carotid artery which conducts blood from the heart to the brain and the jugular vein which returns blood from the head back to the heart.
Thus there are in the neck two carotid arteries, the right carotid artery and the left carotid artery, as well as two large veins, the right jugular vein and the left jugular vein.
The front part of the neck is fortified by two large muscles called the sternocleidomastoid muscles.
Each sternocleidomastoid muscle runs from the sternum or breast bone up toward the mastoid bone located behind the earlobe.
People with strong neck tend to have strong and massive right and left sternocleidomastoid muscles.
Before we speak about attacking the neck of the assailant, it is important to say a few words about the way to protect your own neck when you are attacked.
When your neck is targeted in a choke hold or by strangling hands, there are maneuvers that you can make for your own protection which can be helpful in the fight for your life.
When an assailant tries to strangle you with his hands and fingers around your neck, the natural reaction is to tilt your head backward and use your hands to push his arms away from your neck.
Both maneuvers are wrong. Tilting your head backward exposes your trachea more to the constricting pressure of your assailant's fingers and you will experience even more difficulty breathing.
Tilting your head forward and putting your chin close to your chest tucks the trachea away from the constricting fingers and gives you more room to breath. This forward head tilting maneuver is well known in martial sports such as judo and jujitsu.
Trying to remove the assailant's arms with your hands if futile because the assailant's arms are stronger than your hands.
There are two maneuvers recommended for dislodging the assailant's arms from your neck.
One maneuver is to grab the little fingers of the hands encircling your neck and forcefully pull downward and outward. Your hands are stronger than his little fingers and his grip will be dislodged.
The other maneuver is for you to elevate both arms then plunge both arms downward inside the circle of his arms while at the same time lowering your head and body forcefully downward. This maneuver will dislodge his grip from your neck.
A choke hold is usually applied by an assailant behind you. Again tilt your head forward, putting your chin on your chest to facilitate breathing, bend your body forward and slip one arm upward inside the circle formed by the choke hold. Your arm is now between his arm and your neck and will provide you space for breathing and fighting back.
Attacking the assaillant's neck can take many forms depending upon which structure or organ inside the neck you wish to target. The attack is best performed with a sharp instrument or a garroting string. The maneuvers will be discussed in the next chapter.
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