Self-Defense?

I spent part of this morning learning how to take down a bad guy if he grabs my arm.

We did self defense today, probably considered the most useful part of Tae Kwon Do. I'm not sure it's really THAT useful. Master Hughes said that for 29 years, he could say ("proudly") that he never had to resort to martial arts in a fight. Recently, he did have to use self-defense, but once in more than 29 years?

I think some of the women in the class really thought this would be useful when defending oneself against, oh, say, a rapist. But I kept thinking that most rapists are people the victim knows. She doesn't realize there's a threat until the rapist is way within her personal space, not out where her feet can defend her.

We did learn one move that would actually be helpful in such situations: how to take someone down when he grabs you from behind. Once I figured it out, it was kind of interesting. Still, I think I was best at the moves that involved escape--my run away instinct is pretty strong.