Operation Self-Defense with~ Deva Hoffman

Self-defense can be a crucial part of strategies to prevent rape. Yet most self-defense courses taught on college campuses don't prepare students for the violence they are most likely to face -- sexual assaults perpetrated by people they know. Please tune in and support our guest, Deva Hoffman. Ms. Hoffman has more than 15 years of self-defense training, Deva Hoffman has a passion for helping women learn how to defend themselves. Deva learned firsthand the importance of self-defense after almost becoming the victim of a random violent crime in 1988 when a man attempted to pull her into his car in a grocery store parking lot. Since then, Deva has been on a mission to help women avoid becoming victims of crime and abuse.  

National Statistics about Sexual Assault provided by the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center

• 1 out of every 6 American adult women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape).1
• About 3% of American adult men — or 1 in 33 — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.1
• 15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under age 12.2
• 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger. 2
• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday.
• 93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker.3
  • 34.2% of attackers were family members.
  • 58.7% were acquaintances.
  • Only 7% of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim.
  • Nearly 50% of all victims of forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, and forcible fondling are children under 12.