Fighting Dirty is a good thing!

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The Short Version of all the text below...Use "Dirty Tricks" to survive. In spite of the social directives to "be nice" "don't bite" "don't scratch" "don't pull hair" there are times for those rules to go out the window. 

When someone wants to maim, kill or rape you anything you need to do is "OK".

Dirty Tricks or Fighting Fair

Most of us were raised in an environment where we were taught to play fair and to fight fair.   Those rules make sense when the other person has agreed to follow them.  Some of our conditioning comes from our family’s expectations of having us grow up as decent folks:  "Don't hit your brother" "No biting"  "No hitting below the belt".

A lot of our conditioning comes from sport-oriented contests where the individuals involved have consented to a simulation of combat with rules, referees, timeouts, etc. The  rules exist to make sure the competitors do not become seriously injured.

In an attack we want to survive and escape, you should do whatever it takes to get away.  Don't make nice to a thug.

 An ambush or a violent confrontation doesn’t fit the nice behavior or sports contest models.  In the nice behavior model we teach our children how to play with others so we make sure they don’t spit, bite, scratch and claw at other kids.  The purpose is to get along with others and be civil towards them  

In the sports model even though the event may be very aggressive there are always rules to make sure the injuries to the players stay at acceptable levels.  Certainly even in the toughest man contests the purpose is to win, and have the judges decide you get the prize.  The goal is not to maim, to rape or to kill the other contestant.

 Neither of these models will meet your objective which is to escape as fast as you can when you are under attack by a dangerous person especially if he is much larger or there are two or more of them.

You aren’t trying out for the team, you aren’t winning a medal or a ribbon, you are just surviving.  

This system system places emphasis on awareness, avoidance, defusing, and leaving because they are the safest ways to get out of trouble.  Those behaviors are almost always legally defensible.

 Once an attack is under way due to either an ambush or the unavoidable intent of your attacker in a confrontation, you need to survive and escape.  Once that is accepted as your legitimate goal, then all the other nice behavior rules and sports contest “fight fair” stuff has to be set aside. 

It is perfectly appropriate to “fight dirty” and use dirty tricks to get away and live.  It is a good idea to claw and bite to avoid a sexual assault.  It is not wrong to hurt someone who means you harm once you have tried reason and seen it won’t work with them.

Overall Self Defense Table of Contents

Women's Self Defense Table of Contents