A St. Louis self defense trainer interviewed a number of rapists and date rapists in prison on what they look for and here's what he found: The #1 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. The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women whose clothing is easy to remove quickly. The #1 outfit they look for is overalls because many of them carry scissors to cut clothing, and on overalls the straps can be easily cut. They also look for women who are talking on their cell phones, searching through their purse, or doing other activities while walking because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered. The time of day an attack is most likely to occur, believe it or not, is between 5:00 and 8:30 a.m. The number one place women are abducted from/attacked at is at grocery store parking lots. Number two is office parking lots/ garages. Number three is public restrooms. These men are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to a second location where they don't have to worry about getting caught. Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years. If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming. These men said they will not pick on women who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used 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. | 
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