One emergency that many people, especially women, will face is being attacked. A self-defense class is a wise investment for nearly everyone. A self-defense class will teach you how best to defend yourself when being attacked. It will also teach you things that you need to be aware of in your surroundings so that you can avoid dangerous situations.
While I was in college I had the opportunity to take a self-defense class to fulfill my P.E. requirements. It was a great class. It was based on the RAD system of self-defense, which is a women focused rape defense class. This class was eye opening to me, as several of the women in the class had been attacked. They had decided to no longer live in fear, and so they took the steps necessary to learn to defend themselves.
A good place to look for self-defense classes is through your local colleges and universities, since there is a real focus on reaching college age individuals. When you are looking for a class, make sure you find one that you are comfortable with. A good class will focus more on what you need to do to escape, rather than beat up the individual. A good class will also address the basic things you can do to avoid the need to defend yourself.
One point that I learned from class was to never carry a weapon (gun or mace, etc) unless you can use them quickly and accurately. Also anything that you carry can be used against you. If you would rather not be sprayed with mace, it would be best not to carry it with you. The seconds you spend fumbling with it are seconds that you could be running away. Also if you are grabbed from behind, you may not have time to locate the weapon that you have with you. Your best defense is to run, and to yell. If you do decide to carry a weapon make sure that you take a class on how to safely use it to defend yourself.
You do not necessarily need to sign up for karate or martial arts to learn simple self defense moves. I have a younger sister who took karate for two years. She was attacked walking home from school one day. She used her karate moves to escape. She hurt him while trying to escape. Most men don’t expect a five foot ninety pound girl to pack any punch. However, my sister was lucky. The best self-defense you can use is prevention, but that doesn’t guarantee that you won’t be attacked. It is important to learn the methods you need to so that you can get away.