The point I’m making, though, is that women are the choice demographic for quick-fix self-defense schemes - products that purport to give them the instant solution to self-defense with little or no actual training. (That’s an issue for another article.) Quick-Fix Self-Defense Widgets If we consider serious students of self-defense to be “in the know,” and those with absolutely no training to be the “uninitiated,” there are far more women than men classified as “uninitiated.” It may also be the case that, per the old Onion headline, the average man is 10,000 percent less effective at fighting than he thinks he is, so he’s less likely to take the “quick” solution because of false confidence. While men are susceptible to martial arts con games, scams, and quick-fix solutions, women are even more so because they are under-represented in serious self-defense study. In every martial art, women are the minority. Every martial arts class and self-defense seminar you have ever attended, barring the free women’s classes that are often used as sales inducements, was dominated by men. Women are particularly vulnerable to this type of marketing because, let’s be honest, their interest in self-defense is less than that of men overall.

Products like “ Tiger Lady” and “ Go Guarded” are the result. People want to defend themselves without “needing” to train for doing so.

But much like people prefer fad diets and gimmicks to the tried and true method of, “Eat less, and exercise,” nobody wants to hear that the key to preparing for self-defense is week after month after year of consistent, practical training.

A search for “jogger raped” or “jogger murdered” will return heart-wrenching results. These attacks happen, and with alarming regularity. For good reason, many women are worried about the threat of a stranger lurking in the shadows, leaping from the bushes to prey on them as they jog through their cul de sac or walk to a parked car. There exists a great deal of anxiety where women and self-defense are concerned.

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