Without comedy as a defense mechanism I wouldn't be able to survive.

I was the fat kid, so as a defense mechanism, I was the jokester.

I knew her well enough to understand that when Delia pushed you away, it was her way of making sure she didn't get shoved first.

People use irony as a defense mechanism.

Lying is not only a defense mechanism; it's also a coping mechanism and a survival technique.

She never would admit it, but she felt utterly exposed at El Redentor, all those pale eyes gnawing at her duskiness like locusts––and she didn't know how to handle such vulnerability. Did what had always saved her in the past. Was defensive and aggressive and mad overreactive. You said something slightly off-color about her shoes and she brought up the fact that you had a slow eye and danced like a goat with a rock stuck in its ass. Ouch. You would just be playing and homegirl would be coming down on you off the top rope.