Comments

This is a comment sent in to our trainers Leila Rae Sommerfeld and Valerie Mainridge of Gresham, OR

Thank you again from our entire team! You and Valerie did such a fabulous job. Several of our volunteers commented at the end that your traiing was the best self-defense class they had ever taken - and several had attended classes in the past. you adapted your presentation to fit perfectly into our time constraints and skill level. You and Valerie brought such great energy and enthusiasm to our class. We especially appreciate you taking time on a Sunday. We feel empowered to continue to advocate for sexually exploited women in and around Portland.

We are so pleased to know you and your work. I hope this is only the beginning of our partnership.

My daughter turns 15 next month and I am an elementary school teacher in Santa Rosa, CA. I heard about the movie on Clark Howard last night and listened to a few seconds on my computer. I am really impressed.

What a proactive, "real" and effective way to reach and keep our girls safe.

I am a junior at Gettysburg College in PA. I don't know if you have been watching the news lately, but there has been a murder on our college campus last Thursday. One student (a male senior) strangled and murdered his (ex-)girlfriend of one year (a sophomore). It really shook our campus hard, along with myself, even though i did not know either one that was involved. After breaking down a little tonight, i realized, crying was not going to change the past; nor prevent incidents, assaults, nor murders like this from happening again in the future.

What will? Taking action!

I found your contact information after googling 'self defense for women classes' and wanted to get in contact with you right away. I was hoping you could hold self defense classes for female students, or any woman (faculty, staff or students) on our campus to help protect us if we were to ever get ourselves in this type of situation. It is very scary to know that an innocent 19 year old young woman was strangled, stabbed and murdered by someone that loved her for a year. Not even a stranger, or a crazy drug addict rapist on the street! Her boyfriend! Someone she trusted and loved! How scary is that? She was not able to get away, she was not able to defend herself. She died because of that.

But you... you have the power to give us woman that power. You have the ability to give us woman the ability to defend ourselves. To win. To live. And to help with our recovery of her death on our campus. I believe that immediately holding these self defense classes on our campus will prove that Emily Rachel Silverstein did not die in vain.

Please help me, help us. Give us the power, the ability to defend ourselves and live.

This is an awesome video! my last two girlfriends were both sexually assaulted in college. neither defended themselves (adequately) and neither later reported.

I have a niece who is a freshman at college and I seriously FEAR for her safety because she is a shy girl. I will send her this link to view and post on my Myspace as a Bulletin tonight. You're very courageous and the World needs more women like you!

Cheers

I used to be a Juvenile probation officer, working with girl offenders. I've tried to tell the girls not to put themselves in dangerous situations, but a few haven't been so lucky and I've sat through a few rape exams with them. Over the years, I've told the girls that if they can't get away, leave their DNA behind - a finger nail, hair etc. I think this video will be a great new tool that we will use in our girls' circle group. Now, I'm working with foster kids and hope to share this with some of the older teens on my caseload. Good luck in all your endeavors and I'll share the information on the link with my co-workers.

I am a police officer and self defense instructor. My students are mainly college age. I think this will be a good training aid. Thank You

Dear Just Yell Fire activists,

My Name is Aya and I'm 17 years old from Egypt. I adore your idea about teaching girls how to fight back against sexual assault and raping.If you allow me I'd love to help you in applying the idea in the Egyptian society.There have been increasing number of rapping and sexual assault accidents and girls don't talk about that.I have downloaded the film and I learned so much and now I don't worry anymore about walking in the street freely.Anyway,if there's any ideas about how i can raise the awarness here in Egypt I'd love to be part of your campaign.I'm also a begginer activist in a non-profit organization called ( KONOZ ) that cares about making the society a better place to live. Thanks in advance.

Sincerely, Aya

Do you two know how much you have inspired me? I'm a 13 year old in Salinas California. Nobody has tried to attack, kidnap, or rape me so far, but if it was to happen, I now know how to protect myself. You two have helped my friend though, she was walking home from school and she remembered to "just yell fire". Thank you two so much!!

Thanks for being a true inspiration

I have a 14 yr-old daughter, I read about this website & dvd in a magazine. I must commend you. When I was in high school, we didn't really call it "date rape". I was pressured into sex, I got pregnant, he then proceeded to tell everyone in the high school I was a big whore (sorry for the language). I was so humiliated I dropped out of school and moved out of town. It took years for me to come to terms with it. I want to prevent this from happening to my daughter. Thank You

Thank you and the girls for making such an awsome movie. It is important that girls protect themselves. Thanks again.