Street harassment is one of the most systematic and common forms of violence experienced by women in public spaces.

Most women react passively, ignoring or keeping silent about what they have suffered. This article will help us with some techniques on how to deal with verbal harassment.

We outline the six situations you can face due to insecurity in the streets and how to solve them using self-defense technique, using insights from Prof. David Adiv, an Israeli-American Martial Scientist, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu expert, 6th Degree Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, and an MMA coach.

“The Jiu Jitsu is the most effective defense sport exists. Regardless of age, build or gender, it provides the necessary tools to subdue any opponent, without having to ‘land a punch’.

“The creator of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Helio Gracie, was thin and a bit sickly. In the 1920s, he adapted the Japanese Jiu Jitsu practiced by his brothers and focused on arm, leg, and neck locks. This technique is so effective that it knocked out Kato, the world’s number two judoka, in six minutes.

“They are similar, but the Japanese need more strength to be able to apply it. Grandmaster Helio adapted this sport to his complexion, he weighed 60 kilos and faced people who weighed more than 100 kilos and did not lose,” shares Prof. Adiv.

Situation 1:
With your back to the wall, the attacker holds you with his hand on your neck and tries to hit you.

Defense technique:
The aggressor has his left hand on your neck and is going to hit you with his right hand. The victim hits the aggressor’s left hand and moves his body to the left side, leaving the danger area. With his right hand, he hits the aggressor in the face and retreats.

Situation 2:
With your back to the wall, the aggressor holds you with his hand on your chest and tries to hit you

Defense technique:
“With your two hands, you lower the aggressor’s right hand, he loses balance, and you connect a knee to the stomach or between the legs.”

Situation 3:
They take you from the back and attack you hugging you, wanting to steal your belongings.

Defense Technique:
“By doing this, you level up, level down, and raise your arms. You escape the technique by drawing your body parallel to that of your attacker. Being parallel, you can hit him with an open hand on the left ear”.

Situation 4:
Being on the floor and someone hitting you.

Defense technique:
“You have the person between your legs, and if they are trying to hit you, you first have to raise your knees and block the origin of the blow. Instead of locking your fist, you lock your shoulder or biceps. By creating an imbalance in the opponent, you can use his shirt or clothing, put it around his body with strangulation or having left the danger area, being on the floor, you kick up in the face of the aggressor, and you give yourself to the escape”.

Situation 5:
Someone attacks you with a knife.

Defense technique:
“If the aggressor attacks you with a knife in his right hand, you have to stand in profile in a boxing position and lower your base semi-reflect your knees. When he proceeds to attack you, to bury the knife, you move to your left side, blocking his wrist and hit him with your right elbow”.

Situation 6:
Verbal harassment in the street.

Defense technique:
“Normally what women often lack is the self-assurance of stopping and speaking confidently to the individual who is violating them. And that’s the best way to face him, stop, see him head-on and eye-to-eye at an arm or two’s distance and speak firmly (saying) that what they are doing is not correct. Culturally, in Nicaragua it is something so common that people laugh or take it as a joke. This especially happens in the streets to women of any age”.

Situation 7:
On the way to your car, you suffer a physical or sexual assault. You are in the area of ​​any parking lot, and someone wants to attack you.

Defense technique:
“The important thing is to always be aware of your surroundings. When you go to board your vehicle, do not carry your hands in your wallet, always have the key ready to unlock the vehicle and do not wait to be in front of the car to look for the key. If someone approaches, you do not go towards the car, but towards the security person or in the opposite direction, either from a motorcycle or from a particular aggressor”.

“Being in the car and if someone approaches you with a gun or a weapon, normally what happens in those circumstances is that the person panics. So the first thing is to try to control your nerves. And what you can usually do is open all the windows of the car and squeeze the whistle trying to get the attention of people who are around you.

Situation 8:
Your husband or any member of your family becomes an alcoholic and tries to violate you.

Defense technique:
“The incidence in cases of violence in the home due to alcohol is a common reality experienced by many families in our country. Generally, violence always comes from close people. The circumstance is that normally if the husband arrives taken and wants to abuse you sexually or physically, what someone should do is always keep a distance and always seek an exit plan, somewhere to hide, have the phone active. A drunk person tries to attack you. Surely his coordination will be unstable. Therefore, it is easier to control even if he has strength, and he can use techniques to create imbalance for the person.