IphigeniaSaysHi Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Mace is safe® and works well. That seems over the top and unfair. I hate how it feels like no one cares about women's safety. Link to comment
greywolf Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 bleh, I'm stop now before I turn this into a whole political debate. lol I'm sorry that happened to you, Jen. You could take some women's self-defense classes. Link to comment
jengh Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 bleh, I'm stop now before I turn this into a whole political debate. lol I'm sorry that happened to you, Jen. You could take some women's self-defense classes. haha I know, I could go on such a rant about it!!!!! I actually have taken those classes, but it just all went out the window and I freaked. Link to comment
Sn0man Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I'm going to give some money to a homeless person today. Glad you're OK and sorry this happened to you, you must have been scared witless!!! I can't believe the police did nothing Link to comment
hers Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Yea I second self defense classes. Did you get a good look at him? Can you get a sketch artist to draw him up and put fliers up around the area to warn people of him? Link to comment
Sn0man Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Exactly. I just had that conversation with Will. I'm like, is there ANYTHING I can carry to protect myself that's legal? He's like, "no" Mace and Bear Spray are both legal. If you needed to use the Bear Spray and anyone asked any questions just say you just bought it and are going camping tomorrow. Link to comment
Catdancer Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Jenn...look in the little Dollar stores (dont know what you call them in Europe...Euro Stores???) for a small purse size hair spray bottle/mister/water bottle. And then carry a mix of lemon juice and water. Use 3 parts lemon juice and 1 part water. This is legal to carry and when sprayed in the eyes burns like a mother $%#&, yet doesnt cause permenant blindness or complications. I used to carry it when petsitting to use if me and the dog I was walking got attacked or chased by stray dogs. Link to comment
greywolf Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Jen, call the police station and nag at them every day until they do something about it. Link to comment
jengh Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 Mace and Bear Spray are both legal. If you needed to use the Bear Spray and anyone asked any questions just say you just bought it and are going camping tomorrow. Oh, mace IS legal? Bear spray, haha. That's funny, I've never heard of that before. I'll look into it. Hell if i know where to buy it though Link to comment
Sn0man Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Oh, mace IS legal? Bear spray, haha. That's funny, I've never heard of that before. I'll look into it. Hell if i know where to buy it though An outdoor sport supply store should either carrry it or be able to order it in for you. Check with hunting/fishing/camping supply stores. Link to comment
jengh Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 Jenn...look in the little Dollar stores (dont know what you call them in Europe...Euro Stores???) for a small purse size hair spray bottle/mister/water bottle. And then carry a mix of lemon juice and water. Use 3 parts lemon juice and 1 part water. This is legal to carry and when sprayed in the eyes burns like a mother $%#&, yet doesnt cause permenant blindness or complications. I used to carry it when petsitting to use if me and the dog I was walking got attacked or chased by stray dogs. Ohhh, that's a great idea!!! I'm going to do that I think. Easy, legal, effective. Win. Jen, call the police station and nag at them every day until they do something about it. Will just rang the police (I'm not good with phones) and demanded they come take a statement. They should call/arrive? within the hour. Link to comment
greywolf Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 And if they still don't do anything, contact the media. Link to comment
jengh Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 An outdoor sport supply store should either carrry it or be able to order it in for you. Check with hunting/fishing/camping supply stores. Hmmm, I think I saw a camping store somewhere in the city centre... I'll have to look. Link to comment
Mavh25 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 yeah, call the liverpool echo if the police don't do anything. Link to comment
annalisa84 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I'm so sorry, iLoveMyBabyCairo, that happened to you! You must have felt paralysed by fear! As a woman I get cold chills just thinking about it.. The homeless man was a blessing! But thanks for writing here. I will definitely start carrying around that lemon spray as well. If these things happen in public places surrounded by other people, we cannot take our safety for granted. Big huggs. Link to comment
KG Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Jenn, Thank heavens you are OK! Homeless man was your angel! Link to comment
Parsley Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Oh my god that's unbelievable! I feel so ashamed of the people in my country for not doing anything, and even more of the police. I definitely think that getting in touch with the local paper would be a good idea, I have this slight fear that it was xenophobic as well, the attitudes one hears towards americans these days, I can just image the police deciding you must have brought it on yourself! It's absolutely disgraceful. Mace isn't legal in the UK. Trust me, I've tried to get it before because of the area I live in and it's a no go. You can get a rape alarm, which though may not bring attention, often frightens the attacker away. I'm not sure if they're available here, but I have heard of alarms that you put in the face of your attacker and the noise makes them nauseous and dizzy, maybe look into one of them? Whistles as well, one of them going off in your face isn't pleasant. I'm so sorry that his happened to you, SO angry, and so happy to hear that there are people in the world who will help. *hugs* P xxx Link to comment
IphigeniaSaysHi Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 It's not just that area, I think people everywhere are desensitized and not using their brains. Link to comment
hers Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I saw an episode of law and order svu once where this guy was raping women on subways during rush hour. He'd grab them when the train left the station, rape them and get off before the next stop and then leave the next stop. It showed people watching it and then doing nothing. It was based on a true story from what I understood. Link to comment
Mavh25 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I'm curious as to where Carnatic walked off to for 2 minutes. Like I said, just curious. Link to comment
browneyedgirl36 Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Jen -- First off, I am glad you are OK. I was terrified just reading your story. I can't imagine how you must have felt! I know in the UK a lot of weapon-type things are illegal, so I'm guessing you can't even have a taser there, though it would be great if you could! I used to have one when I lived in a large (and fairly dangerous) city. Thankfully, I never needed to use it, but it was good to have. I agree with the poster who mentioned the lemon juice spray. I would take it a step further and put red pepper flakes in there, for good measure. OR, I would carry around a spray bottle of something else that would hurt an attacker's eyes -- window cleaner, bathroom cleaner, something of that nature. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about blinding the person. If someone is attacking me, all bets are off. If they go blind, they go blind. That's what they get for attacking me. I read a story about a burglar who broke into a guy's house, and the homeowner grabbed the first thing he could find to defend himself - a can of oven cleaner -- and sprayed the guy in the face. Oven cleaner is NASTY stuff, and it burned the burglar's eyes and blinded him. As you can probably imagine -- this being the U.S. and all -- the burglar attempted to SUE the guy who blinded him. Um...yeah...really? People are insane! As for the screaming thing -- yelling "FIRE" might help, but if people can see you, and they know there is no fire, they might disregard it. I agree that screaming "HELP" is probably useless too. What I would suggest, particularly if the person appears to have no visible weapon is to just keep screaming as loudly as you possibly can and use every part of your body to your advantage -- elbows, knees, feet, whatever -- flail your arms, kick your legs, stomp your feet, twist your body around...make yourself extremely difficult to keep hold of, in any way that you can (think of a little kid having a total temper tantrum in a store, wriggling everywhere, flailing, screaming), all the while using your voice. I would suggest screaming "NO!" and/or "STOP!" repeatedly -- in essence, make a TOTAL scene. While this may not get someone to come over and help you (it sounds like the people who witnessed your situation were compete morons and seriously lacking in any kind of compassion or humanity whatsoever) it MAY make the attacker feel like it's not worth it to persist in attacking -- that it's way too much trouble -- and he may run off. It's hard to know what you'll do if these types of situations occur -- you often only have a few seconds to decide what to do, but that MAY be long enough to see whether the person has a weapon, to scope out your surroundings, etc. Unfortunately, survival instincts in humans aren't nearly as acute as they are in other animals because over centuries, we haven't really had to use ours nearly as much, whereas wild animals use them every day. Humans have lost so much of that instinct, and our intuition is often kept on the backburner, too, thus making us more susceptible to harm. I recommend that everyone -- male and female -- read Gavin de Becker's book The Gift of Fear. I llearned so much from it, particularly about how important it is to listen to those cues we get from our minds and bodies that some person or situation is just not right and about being extremely aware of my surroundings, particularly when I am alone. I once slammed my door in the face of a "salesman" who I am almost POSITIVE was dangerous and would have hurt me if I hadn't. THere were just too many things *wrong* with him and his "sales pitch." I have had others come to my door before and have not felt the same way -- I just sensed the guy was off. Again, Jen, I am so glad you are OK! I am glad you called the police again, too. They really need to take this seriously. I hope you feel better. Link to comment
Carnatic Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 not sure about the bear spray... there are no bears (or any dangerous wild animals here) so that excuse might not hold... I'm currently making something of my own involvng fresh chilli, english mustard, surgical spririt, salt and anything else nasty I can find. I wish i could have been there... between me and the homeless guy we could have restrained him... however when exacting retribution I have a nasty habit of going too far, and I had a lighter on me that night. as for the best thing to shout in these situations... 'RAPE' usually gets most people's attentions... or seeing as this was near a train station and some majot tourist attractions, 'BOMB' might have been a good one. Link to comment
Parsley Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Just had a thought - spray on plaster, you know, Elastoplast stuff. That stuff stings like a.......I think that might be a good idea to have with you. If not for potential attackers, but at least potential paper cuts! And, you know, it's spray on plaster why *wouldn't* you have that on you? A mix of all sorts of potent ingredients may not look too good, even though it's for your protection. Just the way it is here in the UK. Link to comment
thejigsup Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Thank God for the homeless man! I know you guys are both young, but you must learn to disagree in a civil manner and never, EVER, leave someone alone in a strange town, no matter how angry you are! How would you have felt if she had been killed? You are lucky she is such a sweet person and forgave you. I think she deserves to spoiled by you for a long while. NEVER leave her alone like that again! Link to comment
hers Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I think she deserves to spoiled by you for a long while. this and stop blaming yourself. it coudl happen anywhere and it's not helping if you keep blaming yourself for it all. Link to comment
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