Shared By Susan Macaulay @ AmazingWomanRock.com – an online oasis for amazing women and those who appreciate them.

Susan notes: The email in which this list came said the information was gathered as a result of interviews with a group of convicted rapists and date rapists. It might help to keep you more safe and secure:

1 – The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common targets.

2 – The second thing attackers look for is clothing that can be shed quickly and easily. Many carry scissors with them specifically to cut clothing.

3 – They also look for women who are distracted – i.e. on their cell phone, searching through their purse, or doing other activities while walking. Such distractions mean they are off-guard and can be more easily overpowered.

4 – Men are most likely to attack and rape in the early morning, between 5:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

5 – The number one place women are abducted from/attacked is grocery store parking lots. Number two: office parking lots/garages. Number three: public restrooms.

6 – A rapist wants to grab a woman and quickly move her to another location where he doesn’t have to worry about getting caught.

7 – Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape alone usually carries a lesser sentence than rape with a weapon.

8 – If you put up any kind of a fight at all, rapists are more likely to get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you will be time consuming.

9 – These men said they would be less likely to pick on women who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used to defend from a distance, in their hands. Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you’re not worth it.

10 – One counterintuitive defense mechanism is to talk to a potential attacker. If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage for example, or is with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like “what time is it?”, or make general small talk: “I can’t believe it is so cold out here,” “we’re in for a bad winter.” Once you’ve seen their face and could possibly identify them in a line-up; you become less appealing as a target.

11 – If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and yell STOP or STAY BACK! Many rapists say they’d leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

12 – If you carry pepper spray, yell I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and hold it out as a deterrent.

13 – If someone grabs you, you can’t beat them with strength but you can by outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist or from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm (between the elbow and armpit) OR in the upper inner thigh VERY VERY HARD. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it and see how much it hurts.

14 – After the initial hit, always GO for the GROIN. You might think that you’ll anger the guy and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists generally want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble and you may deter him…

15 – When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible.

16 – Of course the things we always hear still apply: Always be aware of your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don’t dismiss it, go with your instincts!!! You may feel a little silly at the time, but you’d feel much worse if you were attacked.

One final note: The focus of this list is to be more aware of your surroundings with regards to strangers who are looking to rape or assault and how to protect yourself. Also, please be aware that most rapes don’t happen from strangers – they most often happen by men you know.

Thanks for reading. Please comment below with any other advice or suggestions that might keep woman from being raped or assaulted. Also be sure to stop by and check out Susan @ Amazingwomanrock.com – TJ