Girls' fighting back against assault

This is the third installment of a series of articles dealing with sexual assault on college campuses.

It is intended to promote awareness of the issues surrounding sexual assault as well as shed new light on old myths and conceptions surrounding the issue. It will also provide resources on how to deal with assault should it occur.

Future articles will deal with a variety of other aspects of the issue.

On Thursday, June 12, 2004, Eastern Illinois University student Shannon McNamara was raped and murdered by an intruder in her Charleston, Ill. apartment.

Her attacker, a 26-year-old fellow student, choked her to death with a washcloth and then slashed her body with a knife. Shannon was nine days away from her 22nd birthday.

Before she died, Shannon fought her attacker. Because she resisted, her murderer left DNA behind -- skin and blood -- which were used to identify and convict him. Because she fought back, the man who murdered her would never be able to commit the awful deed of taking another life.

Erin Weed, now 28, was Shannon's friend and Alpha Phi sorority sister. Weed was inspired by her friend's tenacity and courage. "That was definitely my wake-up call," Weed said. "My eyes were opened."

Weed hadn't worried about violence before Shannon's murder, assuming that she and her friends were safe in their college community. But afterwards, she said, "I felt very afraid."

Weed knew what she would do to honor her friend's memory 5f she decided to learn how to fight. Two months after Shannon's death, Weed attended a conference of the American Women's Self--Defense Association (AWSDA) and learned how to protect herself.

The extent of her expertise is impressive; she has received intensive training in "car jacking situations, multiple assailant attacks, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga, knives and edged weapons defense, and firearms training."

The tragedy changed Weed's life completely. Weed was working as a television producer at the time of Shannon's death, but two months later she left her job to create Girls Fight Back, a seminar course designed specifically to teach women and girls how to defend themselves and stay safe in various situations.

Now Weed travels to high schools, colleges and corporate offices around the country speaking about violence against women and how to avoid it.

It's a big change from her old career, but Weed enjoys her new way of making a living.

"I love speaking about what I do," she said. "I love to travel. There's nothing not fun about my job."

Despite the gravity of her subject, Weed keeps the tone of the Girls Fight Back program light and humorous.

While it is possible, she says, to teach the basics of physical self--defense in a two-hour class, Girls Fight Back focuses on avoiding violent confrontation rather than on the physical fighting itself. Most of the seminar is devoted to learning tactics that can be used to "defuse, de-escalate and set boundaries," Weed said.

It can be more difficult for girls attending the program to learn to learn these skills than to learn physical self-defense. Weed said she knows women who are excellent fighters -- some even have black belts in forms of martial arts -- who nonetheless have trouble learning to assert themselves in confrontations.

She speculated that women particularly have trouble being assertive because "[women] have been raised to be non-confrontational beings. It goes against the grain of everything we're taught to be."

Girls Fight Back aims to change this. Weed says her program teaches women and girls to "set boundaries, say no and develop confidence," she said, and the program helps its attendees to become "strong women in general."

While she has never had to fight to defend herself in a dangerous situation, Weed is confident that the skills she has taught to other women have helped them stay safe in times of danger.

She estimates that 90 percent of the 50,000 women who have attended Girls Fight Back have had occasion to use the skills they learned from her.

In addition to her Girls Fight Back program, this fall Weed has introduced a new program, How to Be a Bad Victim, which is designed specifically for college students.

Unlike Girls Fight Back, this program is open to both men and women. How to Be a Bad Victim uses seven basic strategies to teach students how to avoid becoming prey to such crimes as break-ins and assaults.

Weed is also writing a book on the topic, called Girls Fight Back: The College Girl's Guide to Protecting Herself, which is due to be released in March 2006.

Asked for tips on staying safe, Weed said that she doesn't like to provide tips, or "fear-based advice," because every situation is different. But there are some basic skills to keep in mind as tactics for staying safe.

For instance, one useful strategy is to use the "ready stance" when feeling threatened, which she described as "standing [with your feet] shoulder-width apart, one foot in front of the other, palms facing, two hands up, and elbows bent."

This positioning may help to deter a potential attacker.

Also, a woman who feels threatened in a given situation should say "Stop. Leave me alone. I don't want any problems." In some cases, this can act to lessen the danger in the situation.

Weed also urges women to trust their intuition in potentially violent situations and to always be aware of their surroundings. Looking alert is also key, Weed said.

"We all know what a good victim looks like. The goal is not to be that girl," she said.

Overall, Weed urges women always to "be confident. Do not accept behavior that makes you feel small."

When students come out of her class, Weed said, "their faces are just completely lit up. They're thinking, 'Maybe I'm not doomed after all if someone comes after me.'"

More information about Weed's work, as well as safety strategies and local self-defense classes, can be found at the Girls Fight Back Web site at http://www.girlsfightback.com.