Sunday, February 6, 2011

Taking a bite out of crime

When being "bad" is as good as it gets

While reading through some of the cases from the 'Women Can' reports, it appeared to me how often a victim successfully fought back through biting her attacker. You really ought to check it out for yourself.

And without a doubt, using your teeth can be a formidable weapon, something a self-defense course or self-defense instructor may forget to include. Nothing wrong at all with traditional self-defense methods like punches, kicks, ground-defenses and such. Just don't forget that clawing, biting and piercing screams may be just as effective!

The last thing you want is to exclude these "less aesthetic" (for lack of a better phrase) fighting/self-defense methods. It is indeed times when you might need to fight dirty in order to survive or avoid major harm. In a real-life assault scenario every rule in the book goes out the window, and you simply have to do what ever you do to get out of the situation - from going along with the assailant and surrendering, to feigning, lying, stalling or manipulating; and all the way to using massive counter-violence.

Below, you will find a select few of the cases from the 'Women Can' e-books, instances where the victim fought back "tooth and nails". These examples are some of the more severe ones. There are also hundreds of similar cases where the self-defense action of biting the attacker were not quite as extreme.

'Teethching' him a lesson

- In Oslo, Norway, a 21-year-old woman was assaulted by three men. Two assailants allegedly held the woman, while the third man began to rape the woman orally. The young woman bit down on her attacker's penis with all her might, escape the ordeal.

- An 18-year-old in Salisbury, North Carolina escaped an attacker by biting off part of his genitals, according to police. The woman was walking along a street when a man jumped her and dragged her into nearby woods. Police say the man forced her to perform a sex act.

- A man attempted to kidnap a young girl in Orchard Mesa, Colorado. Police said a man lured the young girl to his car by offering her a free kitten. She escape when she fought off her attacker by biting him in the nose.

- A 23-year-old man from the village Mfungwe in Mungwi (Zambia) had his tongue bitten off by a woman he attempted to rape. The incident reportedly happened when the man tried to kiss the woman whilst trying to rape her.

- Upon arriving at a hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan (China), a 30-year-old man was arrested by police. The man had come in for treatment of his badly bitten tongue, an injury said to be inflicted by a woman he had attempted to rape.

- In South Africa, a man definitely got more than he bargained for when he had his tongue bitten off during an attempted rape in a village in Limpopo, early on Saturday morning. The incident happened early Saturday morning when the perpetrator broke into a house and found the victim asleep.

- A 21-year-old man was reportedly arrested in a queue at a medical clinic in Sekhukhune, South Africa just before he was going to have his tongue attended to. A police spokesman said the man had allegedly attempted to rape a woman. The intended victim had then asked the man to kiss her first before they had sex.
When the suspect was relaxed, she bit his tongue and lower lip and kicked him in the groin, causing him to flee, police said.

- A robber gained entry to a house in Westonaria, South Africa, where he woke up a 50- year-old woman. When the woman confronted the robber, a fierce struggle ensued. When the intruder attempted to rape the woman, she bit off his ear. The man escaped, leaving his ripped-off ear behind.

- In Taiwan, a 35-year-old man, whose tongue was bitten off by a women he attempted to rape in Chiayi City, was handed a lengthy prison sentence.

- In San Antonio, Texas, a 30-year-old man was arrested, based on a piece of evidence the victim kept - a chunk of his lower right earlobe. Police said the assailant sexually assaulted a woman on a San Antonio West Side street when the victim bit his ear and kept a piece in her mouth.

- A 24-year-old woman was reported to have bitten off the tongue of a man who raped her in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

- In the UK, an attempted rapist described by officials as fat, around 5ft 7" tall and in his mid 50, attacked a 20-year-old woman in a Rickmansworth alley. The culprit would likely be nursing a "significant thumb injury", officials said. When the attacker forced his thumb into the would-be victim's mouth - attempting to stifle her cries for help, the young woman bit the finger as hard as she could – a counter attack which drew blood.

- A 32-year-old registered sex offender from West Covina, California had his tongue bitten off by a woman he attempted to rape Friday morning in Murrieta. The suspect was arrested when he sought treatment at an emergency room, police said.

- An Italian would-be rapist, aged 28, had his penis severed after it was bitten off by his intended victim in Roccabianca, northern Italy.

- A woman was attacked on Prince's Island in Calgary, Canada. The victim bit off a portion of the man's finger, which was left behind as he fled the scene. The woman had been partially undressed before she fought back, kicking, punching and biting the tip of his finger off.

- A 25-year-old woman from Belfast (Northern Ireland) fought off a 34-year-old man who raped her in north London, UK, by biting through her attacker's tongue as he tried to kiss her, a court has heard. The victim fought back when the man forced himself on her outside her house and tried to put his tongue in her mouth.

- A man attempted to rape a woman who bit off a part of his tongue in the Masoyi area of South Africa. The attacker had forced the victim to undress her and made her lie down. When he tried to kiss her using his tongue, she bit down hard.

Friday, February 4, 2011

You're not a rape victim...

...You're a rape accuser

At least that may soon be the case if a Georgia (US) Republican state Representative Bobby Franklin gets his ways.

This nut case seems to indicate you're automatically a victim of robbery, theft, assault, arson, burglary, fraud and what not. Just don't come dragging with domestic violence, stalking and rape. Because, God forbid, if you were to be hit with something like this, you are no longer a victim according to Rep. Franklin. No mam, you're an accuser!

It appears that Rep. Franklin has introduced a bill to change the criminal code in Georgia so that in criminal law and in court, victims of domestic violence, rape and stalking should only be referred to as "accusers" until the defendant has been convicted.

Wow.. I'm speechless. You can read more at this post from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

Why under-reported?

The crazy thing is that some still wonder why these crimes still are hugely under-reported. With people like this guy around (I can assure you he's not alone) and the way the victims still are being blamed and dragged through the dirt - is it any wonder at all?