Being safe as a woman jogger

[trancejeremy]

I'm confused by you saying it's not an option. Of course its an option, the permit is easy to get, I know of no one who tried to get one and was turned down. As for not being that bad, there are different types of spray, and IIRC it is possible to have a severe respiratory reaction to it. Imagine Merkuri carrying police grade Mace and instead of avoiding first, spinning around and macing the senior citizen from paranoia and it's not hard to see why some places might want to license it.

Hrrrmph, peanuts can cause severe respiratory reactions, but you don't see them licensing peanut M&Ms. (Yet, anyway). And I actually think most of the deaths related to it are caused like that woman that was just died in an airport after being handcuffed, freak accidents mostly caused by weird circumstances. (And I did say pepper spray, not police grade mace.).

Plus, most old people on the east coast live in Florida, anyway

But still, if you need a firearms license to get it, I imagine it would be expensive and not easy to get in Mass, thus making it not a viable option.

 

[Howndawg]

Incidently, always jog FACING traffic and wear light or reflective clothing if jogging in twilight hours. A young woman who lived near my mom got killed because she was jogging with traffic and drifted in front of a car she didn't see. Please jog safely.

Howndawg

P.S. If you're a guy and have a dog, you might want to try exercising with your dog. For some odd reason I've noticed that women out exercising feel more at ease around guys with dogs than around guys alone. I'm a big guy and I sometimes creep women out when I'm exercising by myself. But when I had a dog, women would feel more at ease. Don't ask me why, but its true.

 

[Merkuri]

Incidently, always jog FACING traffic and wear light or reflective clothing if jogging in twilight hours. A young woman who lived near my mom got killed because she was jogging with traffic and drifted in front of a car she didn't see. Please jog safely.

Very good points. Luckily I live in an area where there are plenty of sidewalks. The type of car that'll hit me on the sidewalk would probably hit me regardless of what I was wearing and which way I was joging.

I'm a big guy and I sometimes creep women out when I'm exercising by myself. But when I had a dog, women would feel more at ease. Don't ask me why, but its true.

Well, logically a guy with a dog is less likely to stalk and rape you because, well, what's he gonna do with the dog? A dog would just get in the way.

But emotionally, people with dogs just feel like more trustworthy people. It's like seeing a guy with a baby. Someone with a baby or an animal must care about that creature, or so our instincts tell us, and if they care then they can't be bad people.

 

[Pbartender]

It's like seeing a guy with a baby. Someone with a baby or an animal must care about that creature, or so our instincts tell us, and if they care then they can't be bad people.

Of course they can't...

 

[Merkuri]

I was illustrating the process the brain goes through, not necessarily stating facts. What people think and what really happens are often far apart.

That link doesn't work for me, by the way. The page it links to looks broken.

 

[Joker]

It's from Fox, everything is broken there .

 

[Pbartender]

I was illustrating the process the brain goes through, not necessarily stating facts. What people think and what really happens are often far apart.

Oh, I know. It's the only place I could find the video, so sorry it doesn't work. It's a clip of a news story about a modern day Fagan. An adult who makes small children sneak into unauthorized places and uses them to steal stuff. Just a ludicrously extreme example that goes against the expected norm, is all.


Anyway, that said, here's another possibility, depending on your finances and the available routes...

If you don't like people sneaking up behind you while you are out for your morning constitutional, just make certain you are the fastest person out there. Ride a bicycle instead, or run. That way, you are the one catching up to and passing others, rather than vice versa.

 

[Umbran]

The advantage of martial arts practice is that, unlike the self-defense courses, you're not going to a few seminars. You're training for years to get certain movements patterned as instinctive responses, so that the automatic "freeze" response gets overwritten by a "hit" response. Self-defense seminars can teach that, but it doesn't necessarily stick for everyone after one weekend..

That is an advantage. But it is also the major disadvantage I was thinking of - the martial arts route is a long haul before it is practically useful. A person who has gone for a few months and earned a yellow belt is typically in more danger of getting themselves hurt in a conflict, rather than less.

A self defense class usually focuses on three things - avoiding the situation entirely, techniques for scaring off an attacker, and escape techniques. A martial arts class typically focuses on beating the other guy - and that means staying in their dangerous presence for longer.

IMHO, if what you want to do is be a bit more safe, a few days of self-defense class is the best first bet. If what you want to do is render attackers unconscious so you can haul them off to the cops yourself, take a few years of martial arts.

 

[Umbran]

But still, if you need a firearms license to get it, I imagine it would be expensive and not easy to get in Mass, thus making it not a viable option.

Technically, for MA it is a restricted firearms ID card. It costs a whole whopping $25, and one form to fill out, if I recall correctly. The only real difficulties are that it can take six to eight weeks to process the form, and you have to purchase yoru pepper spray from a licensed firearms dealer (there are no shortage of said dealers, btw, but you don't have a quick online option). It doesn't help if you feel threatened this instant.

 

[Merkuri]

Technically, for MA it is a restricted firearms ID card. It costs a whole whopping $25, and one form to fill out, if I recall correctly.

That's one of those things I've been procrastinating on. When I first moved here I knew mace was illegal without a permit (I found out because I had it confiscated once when I went to Six Flags - it was legal in Rhode Island where I was living, but not in Mass, where the park was - the really scary thing was they only found it when I re-entered the park, not the first time my bag was searched) so I looked up what was necessary. It didn't look too bad, but it went on my to-do list and promptly dropped to the bottom.