[dansangel]

In fact, a wide range of self-defense options, from chemical sprays to street fighting, gives women the tools to fight back.

*This* advice will get more women killed in the long run. I don't care how agile, trained, crafty, etc, etc, ad nauseum that a woman is, she is no match for a 250-lb enraged male. Period.

Ms. Palmer needs to get her butt out of school and into the real world before launching lofty, laughable theses such as this.

[gridlock]

My Momma taught me that you never fight with a woman, because no fight with a woman will ever be fair. Ever.

[Lazamataz]

Ms. Palmer needs to get her butt out of school and into the real world before launching lofty, laughable theses such as this.

Is there anything more ignorant -- and more ignorant of their ignorance -- than a recently-graduated student?

[challenger]

[she wrote]
"In fact, a wide range of self-defense options, from chemical sprays to street fighting, gives women the tools
to fight back."

Not bad for a mere grad student. She actually has the beginnings of an actual thought. If she would just complete the analysis and say, "A wide range of self-defense options gives women the tools to fight back. The most effective of those tools is the firearm, since it equalizes strength differences and is effective at a distance, unlike almost all forms of unarmed self-defense and defense with contact weapons. These advantages can make a life-or-death difference when a criminal is stronger or more experienced, or when they outnumber you, or when they are attacking you from a distance. No one requires any citizen to choose between defense with a firearm and unarmed defense. Anyone with any intelligence or rational thought processes knows that you are allowed to use both, and you should."