What are you supposed to do if you are being mugged?

[NameChangedAndForgotOldName]

Clear up an argument for me....
Do you fight back?
Or
Hand over what they want?

Oh thanks so much for not blaming us "meek" types

That's the reason I felt shit after I was mugged - because not only (as I said upthread) did I not struggle, but I also whimpered. I've never heard myself whimper.

Mind you, I was pulled backwards onto the ground with a coat over my head/face, by 4 men (I'd just walked past them) so I'm not sure how I'd have put up a struggle anyway.

So as well as feeling frightened and angry, I also felt shit about my reaction.

There was nothing wrong with my reaction. Who knows, not struggling and my voice instinctively going very quiet could have even saved my life - or certainly a kicking.

I don't like the description meek. I think it sounds negative.

When I was in my early 30s, a couple of lads ran off with my bag while I was on a railway platform. Purely on instinct (my blood runs cold at the thought of it), I ran after them. My wallet fell out of the bag and I grabbed it, and was all set to pursue them into the bushes when sanity kicked in! I then shouted after them "I've got the wallet, you might as well give the bag back 'cos all it's got in it is a packet of tampons". There wasn't: I just guessed that at their age they might be embarrassed at mentioning tampons. Sure enough, the bag came sailing out of the bushes and landed beside me.

I must have been nuts. Wouldn't do it again. (In fact, with bursitis in my hip - thanks, menopause - I couldn't do it again ).

But yeah, the sane, sensible and correct thing to do is to hand the stuff over.

Don’t feel bad . You were in a life or death situation!

I can't imagine I would do anything but freeze. I think throwing some money or a purse down if you can is good advice. I imagine a lot of muggers are looking for cash for drugs.

Pricilla A mugger will be more desperate though.

Sorry, cross-posted with Elisandra - that was really bad timing on my part. , I didn't in any way intend to make you feel bad. If I'd been physically grabbed I am absolutely sure my reaction would have been to freeze in horror. And I do think my reaction to the bag snatch was utterly stupid.

Although things happened in a flash for me, I was very aware that I was afraid I would be gang raped, possibly as I was down on the ground.
Perhaps that influenced my instinctive reaction? I was reacting to a perceived rape threat. Maybe be instinctive reaction to a perceived mugging would be more protective of my property? Less "meek".

Francis was it your daughter who had a case on recently? How did that go?

It hasn't happened to me (luckily).

I like to think I'd put up a fight but I think the sensible thing to do would be to just throw the bag/purse towards them.

Hope never to find out.

@PricklyBall no apology needed! (though thank you)
I smiled at your tampon laden bag coming sailing back at you!

@FrancisCrawford
Inadequate, but I'm sorry you went through that, and the ongoing impact.

I don’t blame the meek for handing their stuff over, it is just stuff, just as I said, I’m stubborn

You're not stubborn or brave.

You're stupid and arrogant and incredibly fucking selfish if you have a family.

I tell everyone, especially my daughter to just hand it over but one day I was collecting my bike from the car park at work and here were three blokes smoking spliffs next to it.

They looked a bit dodgy but they walked away as I approached. As i unlocked the bike and went to ride away I realised that the six very expensive lights that I had had on the bike were gone and I could see one of them in one of the blokes hands.

Oh my god I was absolutely FURIOUS. I chased after them and in the middle of the street I started to shout at the very top of my voice (and I'm loud) "You fuckers you stole my lights you fucking cunts you fucking give them back" I kept on and on and they started to deny that they had them and I kept saying that they were fucking cunts and I could see the lights now fucking GIVE THEM BACK.

People turned and looked because I made sure i made enough noise to make people look and for some reason i will never understand the blokes just handed me the lights back.

I was just to furious that they had done it - they were my lights on my bike and why the fuck should they have them.

Nobody asked if i was alright or did anything at all but I went back to my bike with my lights. .... then i realised that the little wankers had also took the bloody brackets so i couldn't put the lights back on and i had to walk home 5 miles.

If you had aksd me what I would do 10 minutes before I owuld have said i would just let it go or hand over any bag or money but I just did not want them to have what wasn't theirs. There is no way I could have stopped myself.

Not sure I would have done it in the car park but on the street I felt that making a fuss was going to keep me safe somehow.

Fucking wankers - about 10 years ago now and I'm still pissed off!

I would have sworn blind I would just hand stuff over until it actually happened to me. At which point I screamed FUCK OFF as loud as I could and grabbed hold of my bag.

I was bloody angry at myself later, I don’t know what happened, I think the scare made me angry. Like when you lose a kid and then you find them again and you get really angry at them for wondering off.

You're supposed to hand it over. Unless you're me and you're stubborn and you fought back (sorry).

Honestly,hand the bag/watch/phone over and leg it.items aren’t irreplaceable
No phone,bag,wallet is worth getting a pasting for.or worse a lasting injury
And all the sassy advice.yo!fight back.it’s crap advice

'Scare them more than they scare you.'

I've watched myleen klass talk about something similar after she saw burglars walking up to her house. She said she grabbed a knife and ran to the patio doors screaming and acting crazy.

I don't think it would work if you're face-face with a thief/attacker but it is probably effective if you're inside your house and they're outside. I'd likely freeze and hand over my stuff, if we got burgled or I saw them on the cameras I'd want to shout etc but would also likely hide away with my ds!

I've been in a mugging situation twice. The first time was carefully orchestrated and the gang grabbed my phone out of my hand and ran before I even really knew what had happened...

The second time a guy stepped out from behind a pillar and said 'give me your wallet'. He was pretty quiet and seemed a bit unsure, so in that split second I laughed, said 'no' and walked around him into the place I was going to. It wasn't until later I realised he was probably serious (as I didn't know him) I presume it was one of his first attempts and often wonder if he built up his confidence for future attempts

A few years ago I was in a South American city and a woman a few hundred meters from me got her bag snatched. As the guy ran past I stuck my hand out on autopilot and grabbed the bag back. There were several other bystanders giving chase at that point, so he kept going.
In retrospect it was a stupid thing to do as not known for being a particularly safe city anyway.
Incidentally, the throw the bag away from you and head in opposite direction advice is exactly what you should do in the event of a baboon attack. They associate bags with food but can do a lot of damage to you if you hang on to the bag. You will not overpower or intimidate a baboon!

DS1 (15) was the attempted victim of this very recently. A guy told him to empty his wallet and walk away. DS said 'You must be joking' and walked off.

When we found out we said that although we were glad he was safe that time, if it ever happened again and he felt threatened, it isn't EVER worth dying for a phone or wallet.

@PricillaQueenOfTheDesert you don't know what you will do until it happens to you. You might like to think, but you don't.

I haven't been mugged so I don't know but I know I would be really scared. My confidence has dipped a lot since I had a baby. When I was younger someone broke into my house and I chased them out, acting on instinct. These days I'd be terrified - just let us live and take the rest.