Teaching SD to teenage girls..

Discussion in 'Women's Self Defence' started by WalkingThePath, Feb 8, 2008.

  1. Moi

    Moi Warriors live forever x

    They are done to attract members into the club, works too. Gets them over their fear of contact.
     
  2. Emil

    Emil Valued Member

    My thoughts agree with punch here. I was going to post if you need to come on here and ask what you should teach them, then no way sould you be teaching them.

    Em
     
  3. Hapuka

    Hapuka Te Aho

    Allot of teenage girls that I talk to only want to learn pretty much one or two techniques. Most of them say "I'm not interested" or "I have my boyfriend to protect me." I say to them "What if you boyfriend isn't around when you get attacked?" Most of them don't like the idea of that so they brush me off.

    Sorry to say this but some teenage girls are destined to be raped and beaten up.
    You can't help everyone.

    Then you have the types that only do one or two classes and end up saying "Its too tough, what are the chances of me being beaten up anyway?"
    I don't need to say much more about this.

    I guess either allot of teenage girls don't care or they are blinded from the truth about what happens in life.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2008
  4. donb

    donb restless spirit

    I have 2 daughters, still very young (7 and 9), but i have started training them in how to get away from grabs, holds, being pinned, since, my perspective is, an attack to a girl will not be a strike/punch/kick but a grab/hold. Not to fight but to find a way to get away as far as possible from the situation - more BJJ, hapkido counters, escrima, and grabbing anything they can use against an attacker. My girls are tiny so ,pound for pound, they can't beat somebody striking, although i also have taught them punching and kicks, but more on close-quarter combat, using elbows and knees, as well. And i do it in short sessions, since the focus and retention isn't really there yet.
    And i encourage scratching and screaming. In fact, one of my daughters has a high-pitch scream, automatically.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2008
  5. corwin137

    corwin137 Valued Member

    Prevention focus. Having a sane friend around. Being careful around "car issues"- locking doors, having keys ready, checking in back seat and such. Knowing what stripe of folk are more likely to be sketchy. How to avoid being a target, victim, attracting attention of the wrong stripe. That sort of thing.

    Situational awareness.

    Avoiding the "Three Stupids".

    Ideas to engage help.

    Foul tactics.

    Principles first, techniques later.

    Improvised tools, tools of opportunity.

    Things I'd avoid:
    Focus on a particular "style". Techniques. Kickboxing focused ideas. Fighting from any position, instead of focusing on fouling and escapes.
     
  6. Yohan

    Yohan In the Spirit of Yohan Supporter

    Here's an interesting bit - I wish I could dredge up more info on it:

    A friend of mine is involved with an FMA group that was part of a self-defense study in the sex offenders wing of a prison. They asked the inmates how they assaulted their victims - about 90% of the offenders (we are talking about rapists and serial rapists here) would start by punching their victims in the head. Not grabbing, not wrestling, but punching in the head.
     
  7. SnorriSturluson

    SnorriSturluson Valued Member

    I'm very doubtful that self-reporting by rapists of how they committed their crimes is reliable, especially if the survey is conducted in a prison.

    Peer pressure, self image, and fantasy life always distort self-reporting, and might be particularly strong in this case. Besides that, very few people in prison admit to strangers that they are guilty at all, especially for shameful crimes like rape.

    Also, the small number of people who rape strangers would be greatly overrepresented in prison, compared to the much larger number of men who rape their dates, friends, or relatives-these rarely get caught or convicted.
     
  8. King Kobra

    King Kobra Valued Member

    The method of an assault by a rapist in prison is similar to that of a pimp on the streets: First, you try to talk your victim into sex. If that doesnt work, punch them in the head. (or use the ol' pig-in-a-blanket technique).

    So what is the best defense? Shank the *******. ;)
     
  9. SnorriSturluson

    SnorriSturluson Valued Member

    I thought we were discussing how they committed sex crimes, presumably mostly against women, that got them sent to prison in the first place. Are we talking about male on male prison rape? If so, it's not surprising that the methods would be different.
     
  10. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    You should PM MAPS own JWTitchen.

    He runs self defence courses which include a presentational element to highlight the dangers specific to age and gender groups.

    He then describes the most common acts of violence against those groups from Home Office Statistics.

    Finally he works on drilling simple, direct techniques against those particular assaults. He does this against attackers in body armour so the "victims" can apply significant power, and attempts to induce adrenal stress in those victims so they experience performing the techniques in a more stressed environment.

    I've helped out at one of his seminars (for 18 year old school leaving males) and was very impressed.

    Recomended.

    Mitch
     
  11. SnorriSturluson

    SnorriSturluson Valued Member


    This sounds like the women's self-defense curriculum that used to be called "Model Mugging" here in the States (it has a different name now, I forget what.) I had a friend who taught this and it sounded great-I was kind of bummed that they would only teach it to women. Since then, I've done MA styles that used full force with heavy protective gear-there are both pros and cons to doing regular training this way, but it is definitely an excellent way to teach a short SD class.
     
  12. I'mKira

    I'mKira Banned Banned

    I'm seconding the reccomendation for BJJ here. It should be positionally focused, with only the most basic submissions taught. Very little top side control/mount stuff, but they should feel what a good top position feels like. Focus on escaping, sweeping, and defensive standup grappling (pummeling, sprawling, footwork, weight drive). You'll want some standup defense too: I reccomend the crazy monkey boxing method, again defensively taught. The focus will be on defending the big swings and you'll want them and the male assistants to put the gloves on and really swing at each other.
     
  13. WalkingThePath

    WalkingThePath www.gplus.to/jayboyle

    Okay,
    Thanks for all the tips and info guys and gals, just wanted to clarify a few points -

    1: This is nothing to do with my dojang - I am a school-teacher by trade, and have successfully ran this course in my school for the last two years, amazingly, it is the ONLY after-school activity that has kept 100% attendance and 0% dropout -- these girls know they live in a dangerous society, and wanna learn to defend themselves.

    2: It is a nine week course, no two weeks.

    3: I have a syllabus, and lesson plans, and as I said above, have done this course twice before. But that's my issue - I now have kids who have never done it, in with kids who have done it twice before - The reason I'm posting on MAP is to try and find areas SPECIFIC TO WOMEN that I have no experience of, and therefore wouldn't recognise as a dangerous situation. The reason I haven't come up with the drunk, pushy boyfriend scenario is because I have never faced a drunk, pushy boyfriend, so that doesn't register on my radar. That's not to say I don't cover rape as part of the course, or don't discuss date rape, it was just a SPECIFIC example that I can now use to give the general training a bit more reality or context...

    4: I wholeheartedly agree that a two week course is too short. Hell, even a nine week course is too short. I encourage every single girl on the course to go out and train in something, anything, if they are serious about protecting themselves.

    5: I try to run the course as a self-protection course - rather than teaching them to roll off the bonnet of a car doing forty miles an hour, I teach them to look both ways before crossing the street. (Or alternatively, NOT BEING THERE is the best form of self-defence) and in all honesty, you wouldn't believe how naive and downright stupid some of these kids can be!!


    I hope that clarifies things for people - what I'm looking for is contexts and scenarios I can use to make the training more 'real' for the girls doing it... I find myself talking about "When you are facing off against a six foot two guy who is really mad" and thinking "This is a situation you are probably not gonna face" - I need real-life examples that are relevant to teenage girls, not nearly thirty guys!!

    Thanks for all the comments, and keep 'em coming...
     
  14. WalkingThePath

    WalkingThePath www.gplus.to/jayboyle

    PS:
    Also, one other thing I'm running out of experience on - situational weapons.

    I know the obvious - the stilletto heel, the umbrella, the keys, the perfume, the hairspray (my personal fave is the mobile phone - they all look at me weird and then I tell them it is used to phone the police! Get's 'em every time!! :D )
    I was just reading punch's reply, and he mentions a rolled up glossy magazine - I was always under the impression that this was notoriously difficult to apply and use - Has anyone ever actually used it, or at least trained it?? Or indeed, any other 'weapon' that could come to hand?
    Any and all advice is welcome.
    Thanks guys and girls,
     
  15. Moi

    Moi Warriors live forever x

    All I can say is you must be one of those teachers that all the teenage girls idolise in the school to get those rates of attendance :rolleyes:

    Have you tried getting a local BJJ school involved. Good publicity for them, basic grappling skills for your students. Some may even take it up.

    Good luck anyway :)
     
  16. WalkingThePath

    WalkingThePath www.gplus.to/jayboyle

    :D Yeah - the Head did comment on the massive uptake for the second course, he asked if the previous year's students had told everyone I did it topless!! Our head hasn't got the best grasp of tact - Not a question you wanna pose to a male teacher in an all-girls school!! :rolleyes:

    Not a bad idea - will have to research and see what's local.....
     
  17. Jang Bong

    Jang Bong Speak softly....big stick

    Everyone thinks of the 'hard' weapons, but:

    Clothing (hers or HIS) - it's an old joke, but "Woman run quicker with skirt up than man with trousers down". Actually I'm thinking more jacket over the head distraction to set up run-away, etc.

    Belt - hard, metalic, decorative ones for striking, or soft ones for trapping / choking.

    Also general surroundings - looking round the library here I can see wheeled chairs that could be push-kicked, stands that could be tipped behind me as I run away, and a variety of throwable things.

    Last MAPmeet we also had fun with Mike Flannigan using a biro pen to cause pain. ;)

    Regarding the rolled up magazine - any 'short stick' training should be transferable to this tool. Strikes to joints, pokes to soft tissue areas, and a bit extra 'reach' for strikes to groin, etc.

    Hope this helps :) [Nice choice of avatar BTW]
     
  18. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

  19. WalkingThePath

    WalkingThePath www.gplus.to/jayboyle

    D'OH!!!!
    How did I not remember fighters and fitness?? I use their gym all the time for my own training!! Right, where's my phone??
    Thanks frodo!!
     
  20. Sackett

    Sackett Valued Member

    For a discussion, feelings around hurting other people might be a good topic. It came up in class recently from a teenage girl who said she didn't want to hurt anyone. At first everyone dismissed it, but, really, if we are most likely to get attacked by someone we know, we have to prepared to cause significant pain to someone we know. That goes against a lot of social conditioning and can't be practised.
     

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