Keeping a cool head in a crisis

"Every woman has the potential to be taught self defense," said Sonny M. Lalwani from Art of Combat center of self defense and survival training.

However, some women (and men) panic and forget what they have learned when faced by a crisis situation.

"They're excellent in class, but when it really happens, they freeze up. It's a psychological thing that has to be trained," he said.

Teaching self defense for women, he added, mostly focused on developing emotional self control.

"A brother of a member had to be hospitalized because he scared his sister, and the latter was so jumpy that she attacked her brother," he said.

The advantage for women is that they tend to keep a cool head in a crisis.

"Men tend to be quick tempered while women aren't. That's a good concept for a security strategy." -- Hera Diani