Women of color, as well as young women, older women, lesbians, disabled women and poor women are especially vulnerable to male violence. During the 1990s, reports were released that indicated that violence against all races, Hispanic women and non-Hispanic, were equal -but also indicated that African American and Latina women were more likely to suffer violence at the hands of a stranger. In 2012, African Americans topped the percentages of violent victimization in terms of violent crimes and serious violent crimes; with Latinos ranking in 3rd with violent crimes, and 2nd with serious violent crimes. This is precisely why women of color need to learn how to defend themselves against attackers.

Domestic violence, rape, femicide, forced abortions, forced prostitution, human trafficking, or "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life," disproportionately affect women of color.

And, often, women of color face discrimination from police after an attack, they face skepticism in courtrooms, and are ostracized by the public after already suffering from crimes which were motivated by race, sexuality or, simply, gender. While protection and self-preservation shouldn't be up to women alone, it has become apparent that it is up to women to be self-reliant; as this society has failed to equip its men with a proper understanding of how they should treat women, and how they should treat women of color.

IMPACT, a national organization, is a committee that educates women about personal safety, assertiveness and self-defense, in an effort to prevent interpersonal violence, boundary violation and sexual assault. Their programs teach through realistic scenarios: simulation that involves non-physical and physical violations. They instruct women on how to protect the vulnerable areas of their body, and they do it in a supportive environment, so that participants feel powerful and capable of protecting themselves. The classes are sensitive to those who've suffered trauma, and works with people of all ages, sizes and physical abilities. IMPACT has chapters in California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, North Dakota, Ohio, and Washington, and Isreal and the UK.

There are also a number of other organizations that work to empower women, provide support for survivors and prevent violence, including CHKA (offering week free women's self-defense classes every Tuesday), Center for Anti-Violence (offering free LGBTQ self-defense courses), and Edificio de Mujeres (offering free bilingual self-defense classes).