Loud, Proud, Powerful, SAFE!

Why I work for IMPACT

2011-12-31T03:36:00.000-08:00

Most people outside of my immediate family do not know my history of sexual assault. Because of IMPACT Bay Area, I'm finally in a space where I'm comfortable sharing some of my story with others.

Here's my story...

When I was 14 years old I was raped by two young men. Two young men who I trusted and liked enough to invite into my home; one of whom I even had a crush on. I was terrified and confused as it was happening. I struggled and reasoned with both of them. As my clothes were yanked off, and I heard "let's gang rape her" from one of them, I tried to remain "cool" and not reveal my inexperience. I did not yell and I did not fight back. I was a virgin. After they ran out, I laid there bruised and bleeding and humiliated. I blamed myself. I did not report it. I blocked out most it for a long time.

I continued to blame myself for many, many years. I tried traditional talk therapy and it helped me remember and heal, but I continued to make many unhealthy choices, especially with men or in situations with men, in high school and college. Luckily, I found a very supportive man, and started a family at an early age which helped me avoid situations where I had a pattern of making unhealthy choices and putting myself at risk. I went into the sexual health and rape prevention fields to help others learn about healthy sexuality and relationships. As I was helping/teaching others, I did not realize that I still had a lot of healing to do myself.

When I took the IMPACT Women's Basics course at age 36, I began to remember more details about what happened 22 years earlier. I shared some of my story with my supportive classmates and did a "custom fight" where, through tears and trembling, I was able to successfully yell and fight off two padded assailant instructors who played the roles of my rapists. This was the most healing, life-altering thing I'd ever done. I was finally able to stop blaming myself for what happened to me. I realized that I did not have the skills to fight back at 14 and now I know I may have also had a "freeze" response to the adrenaline. I ultimately learned that I AM WORTH DEFENDING.

After my BASICS class, I was also sad that I had not had an opportunity as a young girl to learn the IMPACT self-defense skills BEFORE I invited those two boys into my home. I was determined to become an instructor so I could teach girls how to stay safe, set boundaries, yell, fight back, place a priority on her wants/needs, etc. And two years and 200 training hours later, I succeeded and have been teaching IMPACT classes ever since.

IMPACT provides self-defense, personal safety, rape prevention and empowerment training primarily for women and teen girls because in her lifetime, 1 out of 6 women will be the victim of sexual assault AND 1 in 3 women will be physically or sexually assaulted. I truly believe that taking an IMPACT class is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING a young woman can do to live more confidently, freely and not become a part of these awful statistics.

Take a Class. Make a Donation so others can take a class (most of our scholarship recipients are women assault or abuse survivors).

Ultimately, KNOW you are powerful and worth defending.

Loud, Proud & Powerful!
Erica Neuman
IMPACT Bay Area Executive Director & Certified Whistle Instructor

P.S.
DONOR INCENTIVE: IMPACT Bay Area is currently offering FREE In-Home Personal Safety sessions for monthly donors who sign up online to make a $30 or more recurring monthly donation for one year (or make a one-time donation of $500 or more).

This 90-minute workshop (a $300 value) is taught by a whistle instructor and can be scheduled anytime in 2012 (in SF Bay Area only). It covers awareness, body confidence, boundary setting, verbal self defense, effective response options to home invasions, in-home safety planning, bystander intervention strategies (e.g., what to do if a neighbor is in trouble; how to create bystanders who WILL intervene to help you) and a few of the IMPACT physical self-defense techniques taught in the air and practiced on kick pads. Make your tax-deductible donation today.

LIKE our Facebook Page

2011-06-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

During the month of June, IMPACT Bay Area is campaigning to raise awareness about the work we do to reduce violence & promote healing. Our goal? REACH 500 FANS By JUNE 30TH!! And we need YOU to step up & make it happen!!

STEP 1: 'LIKE' OUR PAGE by visiting www.Facebook.com/IMPACTselfdefense & clicking on the button at the top of the page.

STEP 2: Check back regularly during the month of June for a DAILY PERSONAL SAFETY TIP, boundary setting technique, FAQ answered, or self defense myth deconstructed!

STEP 3: SPREAD THE WORD!

If you're a Basics graduate & you blog, write about your experience & link to our Facebook page. (Check out these posts by IBA grads for inspiration --> Mac: "How to Kick Ass: The Video", "Tips for Ass-Kicking", & "More Tips for Ass Kicking"; Cheryl: "In Defense of Women"; & Erin: "Erin Kicks Some Ass"!)
Have a friend that you think could benefit from an IMPACT class? Email them the link to our page, and invite them to witness a class in person by attending a Public Celebration! (Next Basics PC/Graduation: June 12th, 3pm, at 701 N. First St. San Jose)
Ask your Facebook friends to 'Like' our profile: first, click the 'Share' button in the lower left-hand column of the page. Second, add a few words about why you support IMPACT's work. Lastly, click 'Share' & spread the word!

Newscast can do more to prevent future sexual attacks

2010-03-11T11:49:00.000-08:00

You may also want to share your views with your news stations when you hear similar stories. Rarely do they report when women successfully defend themselves against attackers nor do they provide helpful prevention tips. Here is a letter I emailed to KTVU in the SF Bay Area. I encourage you all to respond as well. I've not gotten an email reply but in future newscasts they did stop saying the attacker was "hugging" women from behind.

Date: Wed, March 03, 2010 10:34 pm
To: news@ktvu.com

To Whom It May Concern:

I have a few comments about your newscast this evening.

You reported on a man at San Jose State University who is committing sexual battery against women. As a major news network you have an excellent opportunity to educate the public and help to prevent such crimes in the future. However, your newscast did little if nothing to do so.The only tips given were all extremely passive responses which will do nothing to prevent future assaults from this man.

Telling women to be more alert is very vague and you could have given more specific personal safety tips such as what being aware of your surroundings means: not texting or talking on phone while walking; walking assertively by looking all around you and looking suspicious people in the eye; and yelling "NO!" or "STOP!" or "I'm being Attacked; call 911!" extremely loudly and in a deep self-defense voice as soon as you are first attacked. We know that using your voice by yelling like this will avert the majority of attacks.

As the police officer said, this man's attacks will only continue and escalate if the women he attacks do nothing in response. We give him the power and control to continue if we do nothing. Research has proven that 86% of rapes are averted or stopped by a single act of resistance which includes yelling and striking back. I never hear the news recommend that women take back their power and learn how to use verbal and physical self-defense skills. Even carrying pepper spray in your hand would be more helpful than carrying your keys between your fingers (both of these will only work if you know how to use them to defend yourself and have learned how to react with your voice and your body so that you work through the natural "freeze" response most have when attacked).

There are very simple self-defense skills that are effective when a woman is grabbed from behind (your newscasters wrongly labeled this as "hugging" which implies consent and compassion). And these techniques work even if the attacker is much bigger and stronger (this attacker was reported as being being fairly small). It would have been a great opportunity for your newscast to include a video clip of these simple self-defense techniques.

We teach on a padded mock assailant so we can show simulated attacks and we'd be happy to be interviewed, do a live demonstration or send you a video clip of specific attack scenarios. Women should be given more information that is empowering instead of info that just adds to our fear and helplessness. Yes, the attacker is 100% responsible for the attacks but we can help women and stop future attacks by arming them with useful information.

Sincerely,
Erica C. Neuman, MS
Executive Director & Certified IMPACT Self Defense Instructor
www.impactbayarea.org

What is IMPACT Self-Defense?

2010-03-08T13:25:00.000-08:00

See our Commercial on YouTube!

Impact Bay Area is a nonprofit organization preventing violence and promoting healing by teaching Impact style self-defense, a unique form of full-force self-defense for mind, body and voice.

We are one of the only self-defense organizations in California (and one of just a handful in the USA) that uses highly trained padded mock assailants so that we can train you with realistic fight scenarios, in an adrenalized state and help you move beyond the natural freeze response we all have when attacked verbally or physically.

Our Women's Basics course is over 20 hours of comprehensive training with lots of practice, covering the emotional, mental and physical aspects of self-defense. We also offer public classes specifically for teens, young adult women,and advanced courses for Basics graduates (defense against weapons and defense against multiple assailants).If you want to book a private class or demonstration for an event or fair, we can tailor a class for your audience of all ages and genders for two to 24 hours.