 Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. Every nine seconds in the United States, a woman is assaulted, usually by her partner. Every day, three women are murdered at the hands of their partners. Self-defense encompasses much more than preparing to fight off a mugger or stand up against someone trying to bully you. I mean, sure, knowing how to fight is definitely an advantage, but exercising self-defense sometimes means knowing when or how to ask for help. On November 4th, 2021, the Laurel County Sheriff's Office received a phone call from a driver who was traveling down the highway near London, Kentucky, approximately 150 miles southeast of Louisville. The driver was calling to report a silver Toyota driving down the highway, and inside that Toyota was an older man and a young female passenger. Now, the female passenger had made eye contact with the caller who said she looked rather visibly distressed. Now, once the young woman made eye contact, she made a hand gesture that this random driver fortunately recognized so a call was placed immediately to 911. The Sheriff's Office took note of the vehicle description and location and sent cars ahead to intercept. They found the silver Toyota as it was exiting the highway, and then they took action to pull the vehicle over and box the driver in so they couldn't escape. Inside the car was the older man and young female passenger that was described by the caller. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the female passenger was a 16-year-old girl who had been reported missing just two days prior. The man driving the car was 61-year-old James Herbert Brick, who knew the young girl and her family from the neighborhood in North Carolina. He had kidnapped her. Brick was arrested on the scene, and he has since been charged with unlawful imprisonment, possession of a matter of sexual performance by a minor, and kidnapping. So how did this young woman signal for help? She used a hand gesture that she learned from TikTok of all places. Now, we all have mixed feelings about social media and the different platforms, but sometimes it's worth noting the power that social media can't possess, and today we're attempting to use this platform to spread that message. The hand gesture she used is formed by folding the thumb against the palm of the hand and enrolling the four fingers down over the thumb in one motion, essentially trapping it. This is a distress signal for domestic abuse or to convey the need for help. This signal was created by the Canadian Women's Foundation in April 2020. During the pandemic, due to more people spending time at home, domestic abuse cases skyrocketed, so the foundation came up with a signal that women, or anyone really, could use in a subtle way to call for help. This was especially helpful during a time that video conferencing calls were also on the rise, so a person may have had the discrete opportunity to ask for help during the call without alerting their abuser. The signal was then picked up and spread across TikTok. So what do you do if you see someone using this gesture? Well, it greatly depends on specifics, but it is advised that if the situation allows, try to reach the person on alternate form of communication and ask yes or no questions so that the person can respond without making it obvious. In any case though, calling 9-1-1 may be the best course of action to get the authorities involved. However, do not attempt to interject yourself into the situation as that might escalate things before help can even get there. I personally did not know about the signal before the story, and neither did the local law enforcement who answered the call. Lucky for the young woman, the caller did recognize it and made the right call to the authorities. Brick had driven this girl from North Carolina all the way to Kentucky, and it's not clear how long she was making this attempt or how many drivers saw it before action was taken. So I think it's important to continue to pass this on to as many people as possible. If one life can be saved from it, then it's worth the effort. And this is not the only subtle way to ask for help. Many bars across America have signs in the women's restroom informing them to order an angel shot if they need help. The instructions give them more specific information, such as ordering an angel shot neat if she needs to be escorted to her car, angel shot dressed if she needs an Uber or Lyft called, or ordering an angel shot with lime if she's asking for authorities to be contacted. Now there's also the tactic of calling 911 and pretending to order a pizza or food order and being able to answer yes or no questions. Now, a lot of these are common knowledge already, and there's criticism about putting this information out there because the more people who know about this, then that means the attackers are also privy to the same tactic. To answer this, the Canadian Women's Foundation replied that it's not something that's going to save the day, but rather a tool someone can use to get help. It's not perfect and it's not foolproof, but at least it gives the victim an option of trying to signal for help discreetly. Now regardless of which tactic is used, it is up to the person to determine which sign they can get away with without causing too much attention to themselves. So please teach this one to all of your loved ones. The more people aware of this, the better chances it has of saving someone you care about. Learning how and when to ask for help is paramount and it's not just for adults, but children too. Millions of children are subjected to or witness domestic abuse a year and it's important to teach them when to ask for help as well. I believe it was a banner of some sort or perhaps a bus stop ad that looked like a generic advertisement, but when viewed from a much lower angle, like that of a child, it conveyed secret information about asking for help. I thought that was pretty clever. So as martial artists, I do think that it falls on us to some degree to try to help others. For those of you who run schools, you are in a position of great influence and let this statistic sink in. One in seven men and one in four women will experience abuse at some point in their life. How many kids do you have in your class? Do that math and then teach them that it's okay to ask for help when they feel like they're in danger and give them the tools to do it. The most effective hand technique isn't always a strike.