Women's self defense.

O.K. I have some questions about teaching this portion of my instruction. Personally, at this time my women's self defense sessions contain very little technique oriented material. When I teach women self defense I cannot go strait into teching how to defend against an attacker, I usually sit down with the women and have a heart to heart talk and discussion forum. I ask questions like "how far are you willing to go"? and paint different senarios that they could fing themselfs in. The wierdest thing is that many of them are not prepared to rip out and attackers eyes to protect themselfes, but if you mentally put their child in their attackers arms the become sadistic she devils. Now, before i keep going, I just want to say this mental preperation I ignite in the women is the core of my womens self defense courses and is what I am best at. I would just like to know what other people do because for once I would like to have a class where I can finally get to some techniques. I would especially like to hear from the women on this forum since I must have better knowledge of those I wish to teach. Have you ever attended a womens self defense class/workshop/seminar? What was the most important aspect you picked up from the event? Should psychological preperation outweight the other components of the seminar? How would you structure a women's self defense class?

 

My thoughts

I commend you sfjohn on highlighting the pyschological aspect of the confrontation. I know of some instructors who only touch the subject. As we know however you have to have a knowledge and experience of the mind set required in a confrontation to be able to firstly handle the situation as it happens and secondly the aftermath.

I used to use a 50/50 approach with a session involving the pysche aspect and then basic technique. Nothing fancy, just instruction of vital point striking and an awareness of weapons that can be used. Alluding to your response regarding weapons training on another thread I would also educate them on using anything that came to hand. I found that just giving them that insight was enough to make them more confident. Confidence of course helping in probably dissauding some random attackers.

I like to make women aware of the initial signs of trouble so that they can avoid the confrontation in the first place. Using common sense and scenarios they can relate to my students have learned not to risk the quick wal through the alley, the stumble across the wasteland at the back of their house to get home etc. These are useful weapons as well against the threat of the attacker.

From a physical technique point of view I tend to find the student takes to it much better once they see the effectiveness of it. I used a trained MA female student and my largest male student in various situations to prove the effectiveness of the technique.

Has this helped?

 

I know there are 2 other threads on Womens Self Defense posted which are

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=525&highlight=womens+self+defense
Womens Self Defense Falsehoods

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1852&highlight=self+defense
SD class for women ... (where I have posted my comments )

 

When I teach Rape Prevention Workshops (2 or 3 times a year), we always conduct them over a two day weekend spanning about ten hours. I use many different tools to teach the participants.
I normally start off with a little bit of light humor and an introduction of myself and my qualifications. I then ask the women to draw a picture of a self-defense expert. After discussing why they (most do) drew a man, I follow it up with a short lecture about rape, violence and statistics. I encourage the girls to ask questions along the way. Depending on how it is going, I sometimes ask them to take a little test of 20 questions on following directions. This gets them prepared for the self defense techniques that will be taught. Mostly very simple escapes that build the feeling of "Yes I can!". I almost always use one of my female students to demonstrate the techniques. Before we get to the actual physical techniques we use a drill to prepare the girls for the shock of an attacker. This can be emotional at times. I find the best thing to do is to tell them what to expect first. A lot of their techniques are based upon not allowing an assailant to get hold of them.
Day two is used to talk about safety precautions. Most of the safety (preventative) tips are acted out in a fun and playful manor. After this we recap the techniques from Saturday. All participants go home with an overview of what was covered throughout the workshop.
In a nut shell - that is what I do.

 

I think you have a lot of great thights bigfoot and I only disagree with you on one level and that is when you said "Day two is used to talk about safety precautions. Most of the safety (preventative) tips are acted out...."
I personally cannot teach womens self defense in a playful or fun manor, why? because it is very serious. I can not escape for one moment that an attacker is going to do everythin in his power to rape, hurt or kill the young girl in front of him. I have never put a comical light on what I teach for womens self defense. I just don't think I can do it. However, I would like to learn some of the techniques you use to make it more comical or enlightening so I can improve on my oun teaching methods. If you can detail some of these lighter situation aspects, it would be much appreciated so as to make me a more effective teacher of womens self defense courses. Hopefully you can send me an abbreviated versio of the dialog you use in your courses. Thanks a bunch. -John

 

sfjohn: Thanks for your comments.

I too believe that the topic area is very serious. I have found that whenever I try to learn something, that it is easier if I am relaxed and smiling. I have even heard that you learn up to 25% faster when you laugh.

I want the participants to be aware of their environment so that they can prevent as much as possible. I don't want them to go around worried about being attacked. I'm not saying that women should disregard the dangers that are out there, but that they should not become anal about them. They should be aware of potential threats, but not be afraid of every little gust of wind.

I'll try and write to you about a dialog. I teach it in Danish of course. So I will have to translate.

 

Don't bother with techniques, they will be forgotten within 10 minutes of walking out the door.

Awareness & Aggressive responses would be the way to go, Pad up and let them beat you, no real techniques just pure aggression. but I really don't like these sort of courses, if someone really wants to learn how to defend themselves physically, they need to commit to a longer training time.

 

kyokushin girl, it is funny that you should mention the long hair aspect. One of my reasons for groing my hair out currently, is because i want to actually put to full use the defense sets we have reguarding being grabbed by the hair or being pulled by it. I have actually found that long hair has become very useful in my grappling sessions because people want to grab it to try to control me. This of course is an advantage to me because they just gave me one of their limbs to attack, it's like christmas. I also think that it will give me more "street credibility" with women since I am getting the long beautiful hair they usually have.

Before i go however there was a commentmade earlier that I would like to rebuttal and this is the fact that yes on the outside a women may be physically less stronger than a man, physiologically this is true, but psychologicaly this is false. An I will prove this by daring any super high ranking master that has won numerous strong man competitions to but a threaten a womans child, and i will sit back and laugh as you et your ass handed to you on a plate. Women are truly stronger then men and have a much stronger will to survive and when unleashed niether heaven or hell can stop their fury. And that's all i gotta say about that.

-John

 

Psychological preparation is maybe the way to go. I think a few wrestling tricks would be useful though. E.g. Some girls were talking about fighting, and they both agreed that if youre hair is grabbed or if a big man grabs you from behind then you are in trouble. I think that just very simple, workable escape manouveres are what is required.

 

Some women who come to class might be under confident, and don't believe they're capable of beating a attacker off.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This isn't necessarily a women-only problem, although one that is more common amongst women than men. I know plenty of guys who feel the same way. Me too that's why I started learning Chin Na (Chinese system a bit like Ju Jitsu).

And some workable escapes are what everybody needs to learn as potential counters to situations, such as Hair grabs, wrist grabs, holds, being held down on the floor etc. Sometimes you don't have the option of just hitting someone with your elbow, because of circumstance, position, disadvantage etc.

As KE says Wrestling is a great skill to have, as it gets you used to struggling with an attacker who has the advantage of position and bodyweight and there's nothing better for a Striker than to be put flat on their back and feel what it's like to be robbed of your first line of attack (Punches Kicks etc).

Not saying that you can't strike from the Floor, just that it's more difficult and you can't generate the same amounts of power from Below.

Just because you can throw a mean Punch or kick like a Donkey, doesn't mean that you won't find yourself in a situation where you can't use those techniques and need to gouge, grab, squeeze, scratch and tear.

Fight Like a Big Girls Blouse, that's the Sokklab way!

 

I have to admit to having some concerns over an approach that says to participants 'picture your attacker with your child in his/her arms)', and does the kind of high speed or high contact techniques and sparring, and high lethality selections of techniques, without also teaching techniques which are defensive, strikes and takedowns which are minimally lethal/permanent, and sparring at half speed and against partnars who are less determined.

It makes sense to do padded full contact to break through behavioural and reflex barriers to effective offense. I believe that throws and takedowns should be practiced against padded opponents so that power and speed in the techniques, and particularly in the softening strikes accompanying them, can be practiced practically.

I like some of the drills in Systema, which straight out of the box deal with awareness and issues like multiple opponents, and which emphasize sparring initially as well.

But a practitioner should learn to sidestep and control attacks with minimal effort and without needing to counterattack, although they should maintain the habit of creating openings for safe counterattacks.

A practitioner should feel comfortable with the practice of subduing or outlasting an opponent who is less strong, or at least slower and less trained, and perhaps on drugs, alcohol, very upset, and who is more of a nuisance than a threat. If and when it happens it might be the practitioners best friend following a break up, so if the only thing the person has drilled is how to break the opponents balance followed by their neck, they may do badly in that situation.

They also won't be likely to use techniques which are economical in terms of effort when in a more complicated situation like with multiple attackers, although you would normally be scared enough to want your lethal or painful attacks ready as well as controlling the balance of the incoming opponent and their position reative to the other attackers.

One other mistake which kgirl pointed out is the tendency to ignore the possibility that the attacker might be a woman, whether in terms of different fighting styles (hair pulling and scratching, sucker punching, or whatever, although these can come from anyone) or just that if someone is in your person space but you don't maintain awareness of the danger because their female, that creates a weakness.

It does take a certain amount of time to become prepared, and I guess I think you aren't unless as well as dispensing death you can dispense a gentle admonishment.

 

This is an area that interests me also!! I am hoping to start a female self defence course myself in the very near future. I would say that i have a advantage as i am female myself. After talking to many female students at the university i am studying at i have found that many females would prefer to train with a female instructor. Perhaps this would explain why there are very few women who regularly practice martial arts in the uk when compared to men. I have attended many defence seminars over the years with various top instructors. In one of the seminars the instructor (sorry i can't remember which one) was talking about trigger words. His theory was that you would talk to your attacker and on a certain word you would strike them as hard as possible to stun them. I'm not sure if this would be a strategy i would personally use but maybe one of you could show it someone and it may just stop them from being raped , beaten or killed.
if anyone ahs any top tips for intructing the classes please let me know!!

best regards
bexter

 

first, keep it light-hearted.

women know what the dangers are, having an overly serious tone will instill fear not confidence and cause them to worry more as opposed to feeling more capable.

technique-based work is tricky, people tend to try and remember the techniques and that is a dangerous mistake...the attacker won't give them the same slack as their training partners and however 'aggressive' the drills, they will not replicate the same levels of stress, fear and panic which arise during a real attack.

i'd suggest focussing on the principles of movement and disablement. Teach how to really damage the body in a very short time, using whatever comes to hand, bunches of keys, umbrella, hand bags, pens, mobile phones, bags of shopping, rolled up magazines, credit cards etc etc.

On the psych front, women often still have an ingrained belief that men are the authority in society. This needs to be recognised and removed. A woman needs to be aware that she has an ABSOLUTE right to defend herself against violent attack. Their should be no stigma in her mind that defending herself is somehow 'wrong'. Some clear advice about personal space and boundaries and approprite responses when these boundaries are crossed.

Also, some psychology about sexual attraction and the factors that make a woman a target for attackers should also be introduced. If a women is giving off flirtatious signals she is opening herself to potential problems. I know this is wrong, but it is also a fact. A woman should be able to dress and act as she pleases without fear of attack, but sadly the world contains some nasty and/or disturbed individuals. When a drunken idiot is aroused, he becomes a dangerous, drunken idiot. Especially if he thinks the night is going one way and the lady knows the night is going another.

Above all avoidance through awareness and appropriate action is better than having to rely upon self-defence technique...but should it go down to the wire, the self-defence techniques need to be there.

Lateral thinking is the key. Screaming at the top of your voice into an assailants ear can stun them momentarily. That buys you an opportunity. An opportunity to disable or an opportunity to run. I would always suggest that you avoid running away until you have left the attacker unable to follow you if possible. Otherwise you run the risk of being caught unless you are a confident runner.

Its messy really, there are no golden rules and no sure-fire methods.

 

interesting thread !

 

I usually call this type of stuff self protection, rather than self defence and focus on the pyscological stuff, prevention, awareness etc. I do some basic techniques for about 15% of the course at the end, really just to show the delegates how hard it can be to get a really simple wrist release working when they are calm...let alone stressed.

Lots of horror stories and scary stuff first, to get them to realise the possible reality of the situaton - believe it or not I've come across loads of women who beleive all they need to do is kick a bloke in the nuts - and then lots of humour, dialog. Q&A etc.

 

I'm unconvinced by the 'keep it light' approach, at least form the point of view of getting women to actually do stuff. For theory, talk, etc, it's ok, I think. But I've seen some many girls giggle their way throguh a self defence class because they're uncomfortable with the actions they are requested to carry out. If you start then off with humour, they'll have a tendancy to just laugh it off when someting goes wrong, and not actually make a genuine attempt to defend themselves.

But again, what can you teach in a self-defence class that is a one-off, rather than a regular thing? Certainly, women should be encouraged to get to a regular session.

 

You bring up a good point....

Are you talking "girls" or "women" ... because I've been involved in several women's SD classes and although 'humor' is used to break the ice so-to-speak, the women are quite serious when it comes down to learning to defend themselves.

So let's see .... do we need to teach "girls" self defense differently than "women" ??

 

I m referring to women over 16years of age.
I agree with you that although you cannot use a military style of discipline,too much laughing will loose the point of the class

 

I think maybe we have too. Height and weight are greater in women and so is co-ordination and timing. Better discipline as well. I think you should treat them slightly differently.