This week has been up and down for me. However one serious issue has come to the forefront of my thought recently and it happens to be focused on self defense. Twice this week I was presented two situations where my personal safety and well being were at risk. Both happened when I was out in boy mode. First early in the week, while walking the half block to the parking ramp from my apartment I noticed two teens walking towards the intersection that I was approaching, the were coming from a different street and slightly farther down from the intersection then I. I over heard them talking to each other about how they were going to take my bag. ( a cross body sling backpack, if that matters) anyway, since I was fairly close to my vehicle I sped up my walking but not enough to be obvious, and managed to get to the stairs and up to the ramp where I parked, moments after I had entered the stairway I heard the teens pass and say "where did they go?" Obviously in reference to me as I had ducked around a corner to get to the stairway. The second was just this afternoon at work. To make ends meet I've been driving a school bus part time, my current route has only two students both about sixteen years of age, and both have had trouble with the law, as that is why I transport them to this specific school. While in transit a student has had issue with remaining seated, had been verbally warned and had the rules stated to them. While dropping the student off, they stood again while backing my bus, which is the most dangerous part of driving one of those things because you can not see directly behind you except out of your mirrors and a small window in the back, add to that an uneven and iced over and crowed parking lot right after school and the potential to cause serious harm to property and any bystander rises. I requested that the student sit and that's when all hell broke loose with them cursing and such at the statement. As required, I parked the bus and directly addressed the student. Not yelling, calm and collected while "f you" this and "f you that" flowed out of his mouth. My point being, both then and the days prior I was in boy mode, with several layers to bulk up since the winter was wicked this week so I appeared to be a larger male, when the reality is I'm very small framed. What would have happened if I was presenting female? Could either situation turned violent, and how would someone go about defending yourself when the situation came to it? Has anyone had to deal with this? What did you do, and how do you protect yourself while out as your true self? Thanks for reading sorry about the long post.
