The Best Books for Women’s Self Defense

Sadly, when it comes to teaching women’s martial arts and self defense, there’s often a lot of hot air. Sometimes unscrupulous people are even willing to cash in on fear and sell untested techniques which can create a sense of false security for those who buy into it.

So, in this article, we’ve handpicked the 10 best self defense books for women. These books are designed to teach readers how to realistically defend themselves against aggressive attackers. Remember, it’s a biological fact that women are naturally smaller and weaker than men, so it’s common sense that women’s self defense techniques should differ and be suited towards this size difference.

Taken from various different martial arts and disciplines, we’ve ignored bogus techniques and authors and cut straight through to the real stuff.

These books have been picked on the following principles:

• Price and affordability
• Realisticness
• Depth and detail
• Easy to understand

Self-Defense for Women by Loren Christensen

What’s nice about this book is that it roughly covers everything. This includes de-escalation tactics, as well as fighting physically stronger opponents. However, perhaps its biggest positive is that it also includes various scenarios and what to do in each situation.

This is written by someone who is a black belt in multiple disciplines too, so there’s literally years of martial arts knowledge put into this book and it draws from different styles.

Fierce and Proud! by Marc Bochner

Fierce and Proud! does a nice job at summarizing all aspects of women’s self defense. For instance, it starts with verbal de-escalation and then ventures into striking and grappling techniques, including fighting on the ground. Often, this aspect of fighting is sadly overlooked.

It also looks at the most common attacks and defenses that you can use and encounter. In other words, it’s generally a good starting point and goes over everything in brief.

The Handgun Guide for Women by Tara Dixon Engel

As the title suggests, this book is ideal for women that own firearms. This is a step-by-step guide on how to use firearms and ranges from pistols to rifles. It’s one thing to own a gun, but to be able to use it correctly whilst under pressure and responsibly is another thing altogether.

Put another way, owning a firearm is probably one of the best forms of self defense for most women and this book covers the nuances on the subject.

The Lioness Within by Graciela Casillas

Written by a former female kickboxing champion, this book is about the mental and physical aspects of women’s self defense and how to keep yourself safe. Perhaps one of the best parts of this book though is its take on conditioning. If you follow these workouts, then you will improve your fitness and strength which are key when thinking about self defense.

So, this is a very realistic book which is written by someone who has genuinely lived the lifestyle when thinking about women trying to protect themselves. As stated, this isn’t just about physical defense it also looks at improving your mental state.

The Gleason’s Gym Total Body Boxing Workout for Women by Hector Roca

Although this book isn’t specifically suited towards self defense, it will teach you how to improve your form when hitting a boxing bag. The point of this is to improve your power, speed, and accuracy. It will also have clear cardio benefits as well which are equally as important when thinking about fighting.

Put another way, boxing is one of the oldest forms of self defense and is ideal to learn to counter a dangerous attacker. Another benefit of this book is that it can be taught from home and is very convenient in that sense.

Find Your Strength by Jodi Harrison-Lee

As the saying goes, the art of war is to not start a war – and this is the approach taken by the author. In this book, Jodi Harrison-Lee goes into her own personal experiences and writes about intuition, verbal communication, and much more.

It’s not just about your mentality though, as she’s also trained Taekwondo and Hapkido for decades. For those wanting to learn about women’s self defense from an actual woman, this is a good read. As said, a lot of it is based on avoiding bad situations which is a sensible approach.

Self Defense by Dan Dean

If you’re after something short and sweet then this book is ideal. It’s only 42 pages in length so it isn’t exactly detailed, but it does enough in teaching the basics for beginners. With this said, Dean delivers in this aspect.

To do this, Dan goes over various disciplines and martial arts, including Krav Maga, Dim Mak and Hapkido. As a result, readers of this book will be well versed with the right moves to defend themselves in many situations.

Wommack’s Self-Defense for Women by David Wommack

For those wanting a no nonsense, basic look on self defense, this book is ideal. Here, Wommack gets straight to the point and looks at effective methods of keeping women safe. Perhaps the most important part of this book is that it actively avoids using competition moves that aren’t effective in real life.

In short, most of the techniques used in this book are taken from Krav Maga. Over the years, Krav Maga has earned a solid reputation for self defense and it utilizes technique over strength which is great for women against stronger men.

The New Superpower for Women by Steve Kardian

This book takes a wider approach to women’s self defense and even delves into other areas of life such as cyberstalking, kidnapping, and getting drugged. In short, it’s not just about physical confrontations, it’s also based on avoiding potentially dangerous situations and how to spot them from afar.

Unlike some books, this is written by someone who really knows their stuff too. Author Steve Kardian has over 30 years in law enforcement so it’s fair to say he knows a thing or two about personal safety. If you want to learn about the mental aspects of self defense then this book is ideal.

Krav Maga for Women by Darren Levine

As previously mentioned, Krav Maga is great for women and is arguably the best martial art for women’s self defense. This book delves into this idea and is packed with information, including over 300 photos. Therefore, if you’re a visual learner that also benefits from pictures then this book is very useful.

It’s also over 200 pages long, so is probably the most comprehensive book out there for women’s Krav Maga. Simply put, if you’re a woman looking to defend yourself, this is one of the best books on the market.