Many bullies bully their targets by using physical violence and force, or the threat of it. Nobody wants bodily harm, and there’s no shame or blame in that. So, instead of just standing there and letting the bully pound on you or continue to threaten you, you must defend yourself. But if you aren’t the kind who believes in throwing punches, how do you protect yourself without resorting to violence?
Here are a few ways:
1. Talk your way out of the altercation. You do this by giving the bully a small dose of (false) empathy and sympathy. Pretend like you feel bad for “the poor guy” and use the appropriate tone of voice and body language to make it sound convincing. And your body language and tone should match your words and convey empathy.
For example, you can begin with, “I understand why your upset about XYZ…” then state your case.
But don’t overdo it! Don’t say any more than what needs to be said, don’t talk too fast or look nervous. The last you want to do is to come off like you’re trying too hard because the bully will only think you’re scared or fake.
2. If talking doesn’t work, leave the situation (if possible). Find a way to get way away from the person. If you can’t get away because the bully has you cornered or trapped, then, by all means, fight your way free if you have to.
Although you may not want to resort to hitting back, sometimes there’s no other choice. It’s either fight or get your butt handed to you.
3. Call for help. Call 911 and get the police involved. The bully may get away with it, but at least there will be a record of the call, and a police report on file should the bully come after you again.
4. If all else fails, FIGHT! Sock the bully in the nose! Sometimes, you have no choice but to use the last resort for self-defense. You’ve tried everything else so you have a record on the bully. Chances are that others will know you fought in self-defense and give you a pass, which is another benefit to establishing a recorded history of your bully’s bad behavior.
You can’t go wrong with establishing a recorded history of bad behavior. A trail of records will go a long way in keeping you protected.
Great advice. Thank you.
You’re so welcome, Texas Jack! 😀
Thank you for following my blog
It’s my pleasure! 🙂
Something I wish I’d done when I was beaten by Rachel & Louis, and in the 80s Kevin & Maria…the palm strike. You open your hand and strike the attacker right in the front of the face. It’s pretty powerful, I’ve practiced it on pillows.
Although I did knee Louis in his safe deposit box when he tried to rape me 3 months after the double team effort with Rachel.
My heart goes out to you.
And please accept my sincerest apologies for not seeing this comment much sooner. WP has been sending a lot of legitimate comments to my spam folder lately and I didn’t think to check it. I’m truly sorry.
My previous comment disappeared.
What???
Didn’t see it earlier, but then I did.
A couple of things here.One I agree if you can talk your way out of it, it is the best way but be very careful. You don’t want to look scared (even if you are) and you don’t want to justify their behavior so you have to be careful with that. And I agree with fighting back physically. I will put it this way if someone is physically attacking my kid, they have a right to defend themselves male or female. If my kid is being pounded on and they start fighting back if they get suspended, that is okay. The other thing with that is in most cases people assume the bully is some kind of badass. If he or she wins the fight, it was expected and the fact the person who fought back stood up to them sometimes will make them think twice. On the other hand if the person being bullied wins the fight then the bully loses all his/her power. The bully actually is putting more at risk.
I agree that if someone is pounding on you, it’s time to get bowdy and fight back. Do what you have to do to protect yourself! Knock the bully’s block off. Sometimes you have no choice but to push somebody’s face in.