LOL! Hmmm, let's see; college club, womens self-defense, that would make me the only man in a room full of women with a median age of 18-25... Oh no, I couldn't possibly do that, oh please don't make me do that *offers an arm to twist* really All this scenario needs is a technique that involves spanking the attacker and we have the makings for a letter that begins "Dear Penthouse, You'll never believe what happened to me..."
I think everybody's lost track of the point a bit. It's not going to be a normal RBSD style woman's self-defense class, basically kick him in the balls n run. I'm assuming a BJJ instructor is going to teach self-defense techniques strongly influenced by his art of expertise? In other words defending against attackers pinning you down, controlling you in different positions. If, like most BJJ, his school normally focuses more on the sport aspect, perhaps he wants to experience some of the technical variations and differences in self defense, reality based training as opposed to sport oriented training? How will the techniques be useful for a woman but not for a man? That doesn't make sense. Your opponent's anatomy isn't going to change depending on YOUR gender. Maybe this class will be incorporting (as I would hope it probably would) eye gouges, groin shots and biting (perhaps not appropriate to train but at least cover them), generally handy dirty fighting techniques that his sport BJJ won't cover. Just a thought
Maybe the technique will be different than the class he normally goes to. The objections remain. It won't be good for the class or a good fraction of the women in it.
I'm surprised that you're the first person who picked up on that. Given that it's offered through a BJJ class, I figured most people would reach the conclusion that it's a BJJ-based self defense class, a la the Gracie Jiu-jitsu Stree Self-Defense series. I guess I shouldn't take such things for granted....
Matrat, the content of the class is immaterial. The fact is the OP got his panties in a twist cos he wasn't allowed to attend a women only class (which, to make things more troll-y, he then went on to admit he probably couldn't have made time for even if he had been allowed in! *sigh*) There are shedloads of self defence/MA classes which, tho essentially/promoted as mixed gender, are in reality dominated by men and will make some women nervous of joining up and being in a minority position when what they're looking for is empowerment. I hope the OP finds such a class for himself and leaves the precious few women only classes to his sisters/girlfriends that need the security of training with fellow females in order to gain the confidence to defend themselves.
I wanted to go to an all-girls school and they wouldn't let me. And no one would take my discrimination case.
AuntiePink nailed it. The techniques offered aren't even remotely the point. The learning environment needs to be preserved for a specific population. It's that simple.
I don't think the integrity of the class would be diminished by one male student. If it was done in the way previously suggested, with the instructor demonstrating the techniques on him, I really don't see a problem with it. In BJJ, the instructor is going to need a dummy, or he's going to have to call on one of the female students, because BJJ techniques can be quite intricate and you can't just tell somebody what to do, they need to be shown. Also, training against mainly women to keep them comfortable would be recommended, but you don't want them to build up to much confidence in their techniques in practice against women and then assume it will instantly translate to men. Chances are if they're going to get mugged, attacked or raped it will be by a man. Men and women have very different body types, and although men and women come in all shapes and sizes, your average male attacker will be bigger, stronger and more capable of overpowering your average female victim. If these women are too uncomfortable to even train around men, how can they expect to overcome adrenal responses when faced with a male attacker in the real world? One of these women could be in a lot of danger if she's held down by a man with intent and she suddenly realises it's a whole new kettle of fish to rolling around on mats with her 115 pound girlfriend. And yes, again, I agree that most schools/dojos etc. are male dominated and this could be intimidating for women, so by all means have a school advertising women's self defense techniques that is majority women so the majority of the time women train with women. But for their own sake there should be a couple of guys thrown in there for realism, unless they're training for bar room brawling in lesbian bars. And if a guy wanted to learn self defense style jujustu and had to settle for sport BJJ, why should he never get the chance to learn to properly defend himself in a real situation, because he might never find out what BJJ might be helpful and what would be idiotic on the "street", where people won't hesitate to bite and gouge and headbutt n crack the crown jewels. Maybe don't take on any NEW male students, but the instructor should be able to introduce some of his experienced students and get them to help out... really, where's the harm?
The harm is that the OP is there for his own reasons. His own agenda. And he'll be furthering his own development. Clearly the class will need someone for the teacher to demonstrate technique on, as well as for the female students to train with. But that person serves a very specific function. And the nature of that function is that he needs to be thinking first and foremost about the students. Not about himself as a student. Any good self-defense class, particularly a women's self-defense class that contains students who might already have been victimized, is going to be part physical training and part counseling (in some sense). It is going to require that students be approached in a particular way. And that all gets jeopardized the moment you introduce someone with a different frame of reference, different concerns, different abilities, etc. It's difficult enough for people, especially those with prior experience of abuse or assault, to come in without making it harder. Why are we worrying so much about how unfair it is to a perfectly able-bodied person with droves of training opportunities open to them? As for them eventually being attacked by a man, of course that's true. But as I said, the men in the course should be there for a very specific purpose and should have the proper training specifically in being the object of training. Besides, if you were, for example, teaching someone to overcome a phobia of spiders, you wouldn't start by dropping a spider on them. You'd start by discussing the fear of spiders, then progress to pictures of spiders, etc. Same deal here. Gradual progression. Stuart
ap Oweyn as always with the rational, correct argument! You've got a fan club Everyone else who is on the same side rocks.
Hey thanks! This is something I feel pretty strongly about. I was peripherally involved in a rape case when I was in college. Not a friend exactly. But it was such a small school that when something like that happened, you almost couldn't help but be involved. Though I got more involved than most. Helped with the self-defense classes they developed afterward, participated in "round table" discussions, did some security (read: stand around trying to appear bigger than I was) for the woman at public hearings, etc. Now, I've just finished a master's degree in counseling. Attended a couple of seminars on counseling victims of domestic abuse and stalking. I'll tell you, I didn't think that any issue I'd encountered doing counseling could get to me like that. But man alive, victimization burns me. Anyway, thanks for the kind words. Stuart
I'd like to get your professional opinion, offline, about some aspects of teaching women's self defense and handling the problems that can occur when training bumps up against old trauma.
Well, I'm no expert. Not by any means. But looking at some of the literature on the issue has been on my "to do" list for a while now. So feel free to PM me. I've still got access to some research studies on the subject. Stuart
