Self defense for women, Lisbeth Salander style

Last year, I fell in love with Lisbeth Salander, one of the most fascinating, exciting, tough, and empowering literary heroines ever created. And what kills me is that a man conjured her from her, giving her skills, intelligence and strength to defend herself against a misogynistic and violent society that attacks women and her supposed fragility. Lisbeth Salander may be less than five feet tall, but she fights back physically and intellectually, her survival instincts sharp and relentless. She beats up a school bully who beats her at school with a bat, sets fire to her violent, degenerate father, and endures abuse from a psychiatrist in an institution when she’s only twelve. She fights back with equal fervor when beaten by drunken men at the train station, raped by her guardian, chased by the police, shot by her father, and buried alive by her half-brother…and she’s capable of doing it all alone. , without the help of anyone, man or woman.

According to Amnesty International, “in the United States alone, 700,000 women are raped annually.” He also cites the following examples of violence against women:

• In Bangladesh, 50% of all murders are of women by their partners.
• In Britain, there is a call for help from victims of domestic violence every minute.
• According to the World Bank, at least one in five women and girls has been beaten or sexually abused at some point in her life.

Stieg Larsson was progressive enough to create a heroine that all women could look up to and learn from, especially since all three of his books are framed around the theme of female strength, female warriors, and the fact that the world punishes. and openly tries to victimize them. Here are some tips for sticking with Lisbeth Salander’s self-defense style, minus the photographic memory and hacking skills Larsson bestowed on her:

Pepper spray or mace: Lisbeth carries a bag full of interesting items, and one of them is Mace, who can temporarily blind your attacker for up to 60 minutes, rendering them powerless and giving you plenty of time to escape. Women’s Law is a great site for women that tells you the difference between mace and pepper spray, as well as her rights when she is being attacked.

taser gun:Because she is so small, Lisbeth needs to subdue her “victims” first, and I put this word in quotes because they aren’t really victims, they are often gang members, rapists, and murderers, even though they cry. when they are at your mercy. As she addresses someone, an electrical current disrupts her muscle control, rendering him once again powerless. This allows our heroine to tie them up in very creative and clever ways so that she can interrogate or punish them. Not a bad small weapon to put in our bags, just in case.

Boxing: Lisbeth not only uses weapons to immobilize her attackers long enough to get away from them, but she has also gained boxing skills, which are revealed to us in the second book. The girl who played with fire. Of her own free will, she walks into a boxing club full of boys and stubbornly insists that they teach her how to fight boys, which she does. She takes the blows from her, falls on her face, and gets up to fight some more. She isn’t afraid of getting hurt, especially as she learns important self-defense tactics that she can use to save her life and protect herself against bigger, stronger men.

Trust nobody: There are very few people Lisbeth trusts. She trusts her girlfriend/her lover to whom she entrusts her apartment; Mikael Blomkvist, the journalist who defends her through her writings; and allied hackers whom she only knows by her name. With great rigidity, she refuses to trust police officers, lawyers or doctors, as all have proven to be hypocritical and blatantly vile, save for a few exceptions who strive to prove her worth to him through her actions. To tell the truth, we must trust in moderation, not everyone has good intentions.

Protect your secrets: Trusting no one, Lisbeth is a girl of few words, and her secrets, well, only belong to her. She is a dark, quiet, thoughtful, and suspicious person, and these qualities serve her well. The only time her secrets come out of her is to close the coffin on the men who took advantage of her and abused her. Secrets are called secrets because they shouldn’t see the light of day, and because we trust too easily, we let them spill out of the dark abysses of our lives, our inner longings to be understood, seen and recognized by others, but they do better. when they are also locked inside the coffin of our minds.

Poker face and outer cover: Lisbeth hides her true self behind a poker face and outer shell. Her face, pierced and painted, her body covered in a dragon tattoo, her flesh hidden under dark grunge clothing, combine to paint a portrait of self-control and detachment. She loves, feels, hates and hurts, but no one would know. She hides everything she is, believes, and knows beneath an exaggerated, socially unacceptable caricature of a person most people wouldn’t feel comfortable getting close to. Her attire and outward appearance make her unapproachable and thus protect her from intentional attacks that are usually directed at women. Stone-cold and unyielding to smiles and wiles, her face offers even more protection against emotional and psychological assault. She is well protected, inside and out, and only the important people in her life, few and far between, see the real one. This is a bit extreme, but poker faces are generally not taken advantage of. If you wear your heart on your sleeve and your feelings on your face, people tend to know how to get to you and you.