Analysis and studies on violence against women exposed the fact that most women are killed and victimized by people known to them. Statistics have shown that violence against women are not commonly committed by strangers, but to individuals whom the female victim was familiar with. However, this incidence of violence against women does not indicate that women are free from the dangers of being victimized by a stranger. The factors of "suddenness and unpreparedness" make women victimization by strangers not only brutal, but tragic and threatening for women, especially who does not have male companions with them during the night (where most forms of victimization and violence occur). .

             This is the context in which Leslie Silko discussed the issue of violence against women in the essay, "In the combat zone." In it, she expressed her protest and disagreement with the status quo concerning the incidence and prevalence of violence committed against women, either by people familiar or not familiar to them. She argued that as long as the tradition and psyche of fear continues to prevail among women, the culture of victimization they have always felt and experienced will also prevail. For Silko, it is vital that women are able to confront their fears and passivity, for it is by confronting these realities that they will realize how the culture of victimization made them live a life full of fear, insecurity, and perceived dependence on males.

             In proving this argument, Silko narrated how she lived a vigilant life, a life that was dominated by aggressiveness, preparedness, and vigilance. Exposed to a childhood wherein violence was a part and fact of life, Silko learned the responsibility and power embedded in one's ability and preparedness to kill a life. Her early exposure and training to guns and shooting enabled her to overcome the feeling of being a potential victim and "prey" to male strangers, who felt that their being males empower them to induce fear and threat towards females.