Beyond the Gun: Trusting Intuition & Common Rationalization

Preparing for self-defense goes beyond the gun. Call it what you want — intuition, instinct, spidey sense, gut reaction, sixth sense — we all have it, and it’s important to pay attention to it. This video from Personal Defense Network discusses intuition as it relates to women.

In fact it’s often called women’s intuition. Our self-defense expert notes many women have told her of being in a situation where something or someone felt “off,” where they had an uncomfortable feeling.

Don’t Be a Good Girl

Unfortunately parental and societal conditioning has taught women to do as they’re told, to say yes, to not cause a fuss. One result of this is that women often do something potentially dangerous — for example, helping a stranger who is giving off major creep vibes — instead of getting as far away as possible, out of fear of being seen as impolite or inconsiderate.

PDN has numerous videos on self-defense for women that present tactics and techniques for dealing with the next step: when a person crosses the line into an attack.

Trusting intuition is essential, but doing something about it is even more important to self-defense. Don’t be afraid to be that woman who asks a person not to get so close to her if he is making her uncomfortable, or who leaves the area quickly without responding to a question.

Emotional “Flinch”

In PDN’s self-defense training, we talk about the physical “flinch” reaction to danger. Think of intuition as an emotional flinch. It’s telling you something may be wrong. Don’t ignore this and don’t hesitate to act on it. If you’re rude to a stranger who turns out to be an innocent — so what? Don’t take the chance that he’s an attacker waiting to pounce on the woman who’s too polite to get far away from him.