How Can Women Protect Themselves?

Fear of rapists, muggers,
molesters and purse snatch-
ers—an aftermath of five area
-'nyings of women in the past

,-> years — has made city
ai.reets off-limits for females
durins late hours.

It also has kept local police
officers brsv answering the
questions of frightened women.
Many of the callers want to
"'now how to protect themselves

i city streets. Officers in the
/:>.nn Arbor Police Department
are split over what advice to

give.

The answers aren't easy.
Police officers want women to
use any means necessary to
escape injury, but do not want
to be liable for misuse of weap-
ons or attacks of innocent vic-
tims by overanxious judo stu-
dents.

One thing, for certain, the
traditional "thumb-out" image
of hitchikers threatens to
become a lost image for Ann
Arbor women. The recent mur-
ders plus constant warnings by
area police agencies, Universi-
ty officials and parents have

•it into the number of women
i.ccepting ri'des from strangers.

Unlike other communities, it
is legal to hitchhike in Ann
Arbor. There are no restric-
tions in the city ordinances oth-
er than ones making it unlawful
to walk on a street when side-
walks are provided and for a
driver to stop his automobile,
thereby causing a traffic tieup.

Ann Arbor operates under a
state law which does not allow
hitchhiking on interstate high-
ways. Conviction means a max-
imum $100 fine and up to 90
^days in jail.

The best advice Sgt. Kenneth
Klinge can offer women is to
avoid dangerous situations in
the first place. According to
Klinge, women should stay
home after dark or, if it is
necessary to be out, take taxi-

abs to and from destinations.

Scream and run is Klinge's bas-
ic advice to a woman who is
attacked on the street.

But an 8-year veteran of the
department. Policewoman Mary
Smith, is a feminist on
the matter. "I hate to see
women inconvenienced," she
said. Screaming often does lit-
tle good because "too many
times nobody does anything,"
Miss Smith said.

She takes a different
approach. One suggestion is
that women carry a supply of
hair-spray to temporarily blind
an attacker. Tear gas ejector

Even police officers are divided over
how fo advise women to prefect themselves.
But one local policewoman suggests carrying
a can of hair spray — to temporarily blind
an attacker.

devices are illegal in Michigan,
but hair spray will work as
well.

Reports of area women arm-
ing themselves with guns and

switchblades still being
received on police telephones,
are scorned. Carrying a weap-
on without a license is illegal in
Michigan (maximum imprison-

ment is five year?\ .1 s is carry-
ing one in an . lile. Car-
rying switchblades and knives
with blades three-inches-or-
longer also is illegal. Miss
Smith even warns against car-
rying starter (blank) pistols.
"It can be easily taken from a
woman and used as a blunt
instrument against her," she
said.

It is for that reason that
V •• ••ill not suggest any
v, for women. "My only
advice is to scream," he said.
"If a woman feels she is being
followed, start screaming loud
and long. If the man was think-
ing of committing a crime, he
will run, and ifhe was
innocent, then he would proba-
bly still run. In either case, the
woman is safe."

Klinge repeats the orders in
an "Infor"' • for the Citi-
zen" pain i.. which police
officials distribute. Advice
includes: never hitchhike; trav-
el v"'' 'anion and on
we I , ,,,,... ,, well-lighted
streets; hang up on unknown
telephone callers; keep car
doors locked; blow car horn if
approached and stay one car
length behind the automobile
ahead to allow for maneuver-
ing. Why no weapons? "Be-
cause any man can overpower
a woman," Klinge said.

Policewoman Smith is not the
only one who says women need
more protection than screams.
A popular book published two
years ago also advises women
to scream and run if attacked,
but goes on to advocate
bayonet-like uses of canes and
umbrellas ("Make sure the
shaft is strong, and there is a
metal tip at the end. If you
want it to be even more deadly,
have a knife grinder sharpen
the point for you"), hat pins,
pens, corkscrews, lighted ciga-
rettes to be jammed in the face
of an attacker, and, in the
absence of these weapons, a
finger poke in the eye or knee
in the attacker's groin.

Called "The Womanly Art of
Self-Defense," the book favors
using any means necessary to
escape from an attacker,
including the safe one of
immediately handing over
money. The author treats the
situation like jungle warfare.
"You must learn to behave in a
manner completely unfamiliar
to a civilized and sensitive
woman," he writes. "There is
nothing at all feminine about
survival."

The book's instructions read
like a U.S. Army training
manual: "To i n c r e a s e t h e
effectiveness of your cane as an
' a t - h a n d ' weapon, practice
bringing the butt around into an
attacke' <• e immediately
after : ve delivered a
thrust v ane tip."

Recoii .Jons for finger-
pokes and other skilled moves
bring a "go-slow" response
from one area judo expert. "If
judo techniques are done bad-
ly, a woman could be in worse
shape than she was to begin
with," says Mrs. LaRue Coch-
ran, a black-belt instructor for
local YWCA. "Judo is mostly a
sport—and I never stress that it
is going to save somebody's
life."

To complicate matters, Mrs.
Cochran says that many girls
are uncoordinated at first,
making it a long process before
learning difficult tasks, like
escape techniques.

''Judo has a humbling
effect," Mrs. Cochran said. "It
has made me careful to avoid
looking for trouble. And
besides, no one knows how she
v/ill react in a tense situation
anyway."

A Detroit woman has what
she thinks is the final solution.
She ordered two glass-stone
rings and wears one on each
hand, planning to give the
unlucky attacker ;. : two
combination to the Not
even the author oi uie self-
defense manual thought of that
one.