Cait has listed some invaluable tips on self-defence and ways to get out of dangerous situations:

1. The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! Most often, an attacker will not bother with someone who will fight back. If you choose to fight back, fight with every available weapon: teeth, nails, feet, head butts, eye-gouging, hooking your fingers in his nose and ripping upward, screeching at the top of your lungs. Do whatever it takes to get away. Also, attackers will often not attack a woman who looks confident and agressive. Walk with a purposeful stride, head up, looking around you, observing.
2. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you…chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives. While you’re in the trunk, see if you can locate the tire iron. A tire iron is a dandy weapon.
4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, talking on a cell phone, or making a list, etc. DON’T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.
5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
   A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat.
   B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.
   C.) Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.
   IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)
6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!) (Cait’s note: I’m not too keen on elevators either.)
7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig-zag pattern!
8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP. It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked “for help” into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

You may have heard the story of the crying baby on the porch. A woman hears a crying baby at her front door, opens the door, and an attacker rushes in. This is actually an Urban Legend. But there is a lesson here. Be wary of opening your door without knowing who or what is outside. If you’re not expecting company, and you don’t recognize the person at the door, just don’t answer the door. It’s your house, apartment, whatever. You can choose NOT to open the door. There is actually a whole category of rapist, the most common one, who typically will not break into a house. He will enter through an unlocked door or window, or gain entry to a house by getting a woman to let him in. By keeping the doors and windows locked, and not answering the door to strangers, women can thwart a whole category of predators. Do it.