# Someone is physically harming your loved one. What do you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 27, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-is-physically-harming-your-loved-one-what-do-you-do/677298 "2013-12-27T18:02:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-is-physically-harming-your-loved-one-what-do-you-do/677298/61 "2013-12-31T19:01:29Z")
I’m pretty sure I’d have the will to jump in and try & break up gang-on-one asswhuppin, or at least disturb it to the point where we’d get some running-away time in. I suppose if I were a surprise participant in the altercation I could even take one dude out with a throat punch or something. After that I’d just be another victim though. I’ve not groomed myself for street fighting and rely entirely on avoidance for handling violence. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-is-physically-harming-your-loved-one-what-do-you-do/677298/62 "2014-01-01T02:55:25Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > I’ve not groomed myself for street fighting and rely entirely on avoidance for handling violence. Street Fighter is a videogame, there is no such thing as street fighting it is a fantasy. No one is groomed for street fights and anyone sane resorts to avoidance FIRST always, you’ll find DVDs purporting to teach you how to street fight or even knife fight(LOL) but you’d be a fool to think it has any relation to reality. Self defense is creating enough opening to flee, and if you fear for your life or someone else’s you don’t worry about nonsense like fair fist fights or anything you worry about saving your skin. It is about saving yourself injury or fatality not honorably responding to insults or threats or having a fair mano a mano fist fight all fantasy. If a group of five guys down an alley yells at me that my mother is a whore, I laugh at the idiots as I walk away, I already won because shitting in a colostomy bag or recovering from a debilitating head injury isn’t in my future. ---
**Author:** ![Boogly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-is-physically-harming-your-loved-one-what-do-you-do/677298/63 "2014-01-01T05:12:14Z")
Hulk out with my bulk out. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-is-physically-harming-your-loved-one-what-do-you-do/677298/64 "2014-01-01T05:21:06Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Assuming you are serious, this kind of bullshit will get both of you killed. In a serious fight no one is going to stop to “switch hostages” or whatever, messing around like that will just get you both hurt or killed. You need to strike first and hard and take down the threat, you can hurt yourself later when it is safe. I don’t think you understand. I don’t ask politely to switch hostages. I attack the ones directly preventing the person’s escape (e.g. the ones restraining them), and make myself just enough of a credible threat to distract them enough to let the former victim get away, then I don’t escape myself and let them attack me while the other person leaves. > [@grude](#): > > No one is groomed for street fights and anyone sane resorts to avoidance FIRST always, you’ll find DVDs purporting to teach you how to street fight or even knife fight(LOL) but you’d be a fool to think it has any relation to reality. Nonsense, as [this self defense video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2REG3-Wb5gM) shows, all you need is wrist control. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-is-physically-harming-your-loved-one-what-do-you-do/677298.md?page=3)