"Yust tshoot 'em", as my old Norwegian farmer boss said?
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Start by training ladies into having the attitude that they CAN and SHOULD defend themselves, get them to decide on & set a mental trigger for initiating a physical response? Then go into tactics.
(My mom long ago explained to me that her trigger for armed violence was "anything involving harm to you kids"- Mom is a really nice (now 94 YO) lady with a PhD in psychology, I only ever heard her tell a neighbor he was about to get shot ONCE, he backed off right quick)
Honestly, I'm sort of "meh" on joint locks outside of law enforcement.
When I was a deputy, joint locks were followed by handcuffs. Now that I don't ever carry handcuffs anymore a joint lock means ... I'm still attached to the critter. Now what?
I o-soto-gari the critter, he gets hit with the planet, and I leg it over the horizon while he's getting his breath back.
But that's just me, other people have differing views on the subject ... and that's ok.
In my training joint locks lead to throws, not controls either standing or on the ground. That is the biggest difference (IMO) between the hard style I trained in and the Ki society or Aikikai soft styles with lots of flowing movements.
My sensei is a retired cop and he always trained us to keep our heads up for the buddy of the guy you just put on the ground. That said, Nike-Justsu (aka Run-fu) is the correct final move....
To me in real your going to get hurt or raped scenario a joint lock only when the joint shatters and bends beyond human limits. The follow with as hard a hit to throat as you can hit then beat feet if able while calling 911. Personally if im in that much danger i will employ already prepared systems of defense that allow me to not come to grappling distance altercations. If i get sucked in that far im probably not making it out the other side. Will do my best and have training but the body is weak nowadays.
Aikido always leads to either a throw so one can get away or a face down (Not back to mat) pin where one arm is flopping around, perhaps with a weapon that can not be deployed unless the pin has already been pulled on the grenade or perhaps with nothing, and the other one can, if one wishes, be continued to detaching the arm from the socket. With that said, Aikido is a bit weak on teaching the concept of distance. As in one is on a fencing strip and wishes to avoid being hit either by blocking and riposting or by stepping outside of the strike distance and watching the opponent's blade become ineffective, at least for a few milliseconds. Long training (years) is important to nail down muscle memory because thinking too much will get you killed for routine moves as with driving a car. But thinking is extremely necessary in assessing and interpreting your opponents strengths and weaknesses. On the strip this leads to the T-shirts that read "Youth and vigor vs old age and treachery".
Did a women's self defense seminar with a friend at a local dojo and that instructor was an awesome dude.
Military veteran, trauma informed, and worked a ton on perceptual awareness and using your voice first- breaking through the conditioning to "be nice" and then did a variety of scenarios. Including a dude has you down, yell and use the techniques we just drilled to get away.
I was shocked how reticent many of the ladies were to use their voice initially. I've had no problem with that ever, for good or ill...
One of the masters at the school at which I taught (our school was Korean: we taught a kind of combined hapkido/taekwando) advertised "Women's self-defense seminars". I didn't have the rank to disagree.
When it comes to learning a school of non-tool-based self-defense, I lean more towards teaching the women differently than the men for two reasons. The first is the reason that Ian outlined (the bad dude's desired outcome is almost always different if the target is a woman rather than a man), which means (as he noted) that the attack is going to start differently and hence will require different counters. Second (and leaving the social hullabaloo out of it), men and women are built differently. They generally have different strengths and weaknesses. Even if we leave the difference in attacker out of the equation, the differences in physiology will require a different response 9 times out of 10.
But all of that is small beer - the biggest reason I was against self-defense seminars (be they against men, women, or fresh fruit) is that one day (or even a weekend) is not enough to generate the muscle memory required to use the technique successfully when you're at bad-breath distance from someone who wants to take your spleen home as a souvenir. The decision tree will start with, should I use technique A or B? Then, I THINK I needed to shift my weight like this... By which time the defender will have been overwhelmed and defeated.
Unless you're willing to commit to a minimum of 6 months (preferably a year or more) of schooling in your preferred martial art, I'd strongly suggest a chemical or slug-throwing equalizer. Yes, both of those still require some training to use effectively. However, you can be very effective in the use of either OC or a firearm after only 1-2 days of training.
If you are willing to commit to learning a martial art long-term, I agree with Ian that Judo is a worthwhile pursuit (particularly for females: Judo is very good at equalizing size and strength). Hapkido is also worthwhile, and is similar to some of the harder styles of Aikido mentioned above.
The seminar I participated in drilled use of OC spray with practice canisters. It was both physical ways to get loose and hammering to be unafraid to make a scene. Was it comprehensive? No. Do I think it will make some difference for women unused to having to think about self defense? Absolutely. Better than nothing.
I very much hope and pray that it does help. And I agree: leave aside unarmed self defense. Even leave aside armed self defense. The single biggest thing that has to be ingrained into the defender (particularly the women) is the mindset. That as a human (regardless of plumbing), you are allowed and encouraged to take action to defeat a threat (at least to the extent of being able to evade it).
My comments were aimed primarily at those who teach self-defense seminars where they present multi-step martial arts techniques that generally take a month or two of work in the school to master.
Most women (and many men) can't take a punch. All the classes and slow-motion instruction in the world can't teach that. Teaching alternatives to standing up and punching it out with a man are useful.
I was a small business owner who employed many females. I always warned them about closing up in the evenings, particularly during Christmas having a lot of cash on them about being aware of their surroundings before they went to the parking lot. I was amazed how many allowed a stranger into what I called “their personal space.” I was constantly telling them “prepare your mind for a fight, have something in your hand ready to defend yourself. Yell! They want an easy target not one who is going to injure them.”
Shari & I assist a friend who does a hapkido-based women's self-defense class. It's 3-4 hours, and the actual techniques are (IMHO) secondary. The primary takeaways we try to leave them with are: situational awareness, YES PLEASE use your voice, and the idea that you CAN fight back instead of being dragged off wherever.
No, we're not teaching waif-fu. I mention that because of the startling number of people who think "women's self defense" means "teaching women to fight and defeat men." The majority of our techniques are based on one simple movement. They are about using surprise and leverage to break common holds. The focus is teaching the women that they CAN break those holds and get away from the attacker.
Yep. The best way to win a fight is to not get into a fight. So many people today, men and women, walk around with their face buried in their phones that they don't see an attacker until it's too late. It is much harder to win a physical confrontation if your opponent has the element of surprise.
True, but statistically, the vast majority of defensive gun uses do not require the gun be fired. The mere display of the firearm discourages The attacker, who suddenly remembers an important appointment somewhere else.
Not that I'm saying women (and men) shouldn't train in defensive pistol craft, but the sad fact is only about 1% of civilian carriers ever go beyond whatever basic requirement their state has to get a license to carry. (And with constitutional carry in a majority of states, I'm sure that percentage has gone down).
Lesson one - Self defense should be like an onion. Many layers from harden the exterior of your house to harden yourself to actually draw a weapon and use it properly and not get thrown in jail afterwards.
Lesson two - Somewhere towards layer eleventy three but well above the core where weapons are actually used, and arguably the most important one as summarized by uber-famous Jeff Cooper, sadly no longer with us. When asked what gun he would bring if he had to go to a gunfight that would offer the best protection, he responded "I wouldn't go."
This... I have lived a peaceful life post army life. I don't have friends that incite trouble, I don't go place's that statistically have higher crime rates or that random violence happens there more often. I don't imbibe of substances that impair my judgement and loosen my mouth to unwittingly give offense to strangers with the ability to hurt me. When out and about I disengage from those angry drivers that are just apt to road rage. If I see a potential situation, I tell those with me that we need to be somewhere else and my reasons, if they disagree I bail and move my ass to somewhere the odds are less that a situation will occur. I also start distancing myself from them as friends as I now have proof that they are idiots and will do stuff to endanger those around them from inclination or ignorance.
Insightful post. Big plus of any training is that it instills confidence. Since most predators go for the weakest prey, appearing confident makes you less likely to be selected.
I agree with what is being said here, one-off seminars are of limited value. You need to train muscle memory, decision making and the art of overcoming the surprise if something does happen. And you need to train on a weekly basis with a good instructor. For me krav maga works well as it builds on natural reflexes and combines techniques form several fighting styles, including boxing and judo.
If you have the time, try different schools to what fits best. What works for one person can be different from what works for another.
Since everyone has an opinion, I’ll go ahead and throw mine into the ring: seek out EWO with Craig Douglas. I’ve done 4 of them, and the females in every class have all done great. If you don’t know the acronym EWO, or Craig, look ‘em up. Great stuff for “women’s defense.”
This is coming from someone who has done a fair amount of cool martial arts over the last 40 years, including earning a dan ranking in cool thing one, before moving on to cool things 2, 3, 4 etc. Again, JMO.
The picture on violent assaults against women is changing, in part because the perps are changing.
It used to be that most violent attackers were male, and females who committed violent attacks were rare outliers. That is starting to change. Younger women are committing more violent assaults. It's not as common for a solitary woman to commit a violent crime; women tend to attack in groups.
When women attack other people, it's rarely a sexual assault. It looks more like male-on-male violence.
The best way for anyone, male or female, to avoid being attacked is to maintain situational awareness. If that fails, fighting back is your only real option if you want to stay on this side of the grass.
I know almost nothing about training people for self defense, but I took a kickboxing class in my early thirties, and I learned to appreciate the value of a good shin kick to the thigh. Not sure how well it works if the lower leg is not conditioned to delivering the blow.
"Yust tshoot 'em", as my old Norwegian farmer boss said?
----------
Start by training ladies into having the attitude that they CAN and SHOULD defend themselves, get them to decide on & set a mental trigger for initiating a physical response? Then go into tactics.
(My mom long ago explained to me that her trigger for armed violence was "anything involving harm to you kids"- Mom is a really nice (now 94 YO) lady with a PhD in psychology, I only ever heard her tell a neighbor he was about to get shot ONCE, he backed off right quick)
Also look at Aikido, especially a hard-style (Yoshinkan) dojo. Judo is good for escapes and throws but is weaker on joint locks.
I'm a 2nd dan black belt so I'm a bit biased.....
Honestly, I'm sort of "meh" on joint locks outside of law enforcement.
When I was a deputy, joint locks were followed by handcuffs. Now that I don't ever carry handcuffs anymore a joint lock means ... I'm still attached to the critter. Now what?
I o-soto-gari the critter, he gets hit with the planet, and I leg it over the horizon while he's getting his breath back.
But that's just me, other people have differing views on the subject ... and that's ok.
In my training joint locks lead to throws, not controls either standing or on the ground. That is the biggest difference (IMO) between the hard style I trained in and the Ki society or Aikikai soft styles with lots of flowing movements.
My sensei is a retired cop and he always trained us to keep our heads up for the buddy of the guy you just put on the ground. That said, Nike-Justsu (aka Run-fu) is the correct final move....
To me in real your going to get hurt or raped scenario a joint lock only when the joint shatters and bends beyond human limits. The follow with as hard a hit to throat as you can hit then beat feet if able while calling 911. Personally if im in that much danger i will employ already prepared systems of defense that allow me to not come to grappling distance altercations. If i get sucked in that far im probably not making it out the other side. Will do my best and have training but the body is weak nowadays.
Aikido always leads to either a throw so one can get away or a face down (Not back to mat) pin where one arm is flopping around, perhaps with a weapon that can not be deployed unless the pin has already been pulled on the grenade or perhaps with nothing, and the other one can, if one wishes, be continued to detaching the arm from the socket. With that said, Aikido is a bit weak on teaching the concept of distance. As in one is on a fencing strip and wishes to avoid being hit either by blocking and riposting or by stepping outside of the strike distance and watching the opponent's blade become ineffective, at least for a few milliseconds. Long training (years) is important to nail down muscle memory because thinking too much will get you killed for routine moves as with driving a car. But thinking is extremely necessary in assessing and interpreting your opponents strengths and weaknesses. On the strip this leads to the T-shirts that read "Youth and vigor vs old age and treachery".
Did a women's self defense seminar with a friend at a local dojo and that instructor was an awesome dude.
Military veteran, trauma informed, and worked a ton on perceptual awareness and using your voice first- breaking through the conditioning to "be nice" and then did a variety of scenarios. Including a dude has you down, yell and use the techniques we just drilled to get away.
I was shocked how reticent many of the ladies were to use their voice initially. I've had no problem with that ever, for good or ill...
One of the masters at the school at which I taught (our school was Korean: we taught a kind of combined hapkido/taekwando) advertised "Women's self-defense seminars". I didn't have the rank to disagree.
When it comes to learning a school of non-tool-based self-defense, I lean more towards teaching the women differently than the men for two reasons. The first is the reason that Ian outlined (the bad dude's desired outcome is almost always different if the target is a woman rather than a man), which means (as he noted) that the attack is going to start differently and hence will require different counters. Second (and leaving the social hullabaloo out of it), men and women are built differently. They generally have different strengths and weaknesses. Even if we leave the difference in attacker out of the equation, the differences in physiology will require a different response 9 times out of 10.
But all of that is small beer - the biggest reason I was against self-defense seminars (be they against men, women, or fresh fruit) is that one day (or even a weekend) is not enough to generate the muscle memory required to use the technique successfully when you're at bad-breath distance from someone who wants to take your spleen home as a souvenir. The decision tree will start with, should I use technique A or B? Then, I THINK I needed to shift my weight like this... By which time the defender will have been overwhelmed and defeated.
Unless you're willing to commit to a minimum of 6 months (preferably a year or more) of schooling in your preferred martial art, I'd strongly suggest a chemical or slug-throwing equalizer. Yes, both of those still require some training to use effectively. However, you can be very effective in the use of either OC or a firearm after only 1-2 days of training.
If you are willing to commit to learning a martial art long-term, I agree with Ian that Judo is a worthwhile pursuit (particularly for females: Judo is very good at equalizing size and strength). Hapkido is also worthwhile, and is similar to some of the harder styles of Aikido mentioned above.
The seminar I participated in drilled use of OC spray with practice canisters. It was both physical ways to get loose and hammering to be unafraid to make a scene. Was it comprehensive? No. Do I think it will make some difference for women unused to having to think about self defense? Absolutely. Better than nothing.
I very much hope and pray that it does help. And I agree: leave aside unarmed self defense. Even leave aside armed self defense. The single biggest thing that has to be ingrained into the defender (particularly the women) is the mindset. That as a human (regardless of plumbing), you are allowed and encouraged to take action to defeat a threat (at least to the extent of being able to evade it).
My comments were aimed primarily at those who teach self-defense seminars where they present multi-step martial arts techniques that generally take a month or two of work in the school to master.
Most women (and many men) can't take a punch. All the classes and slow-motion instruction in the world can't teach that. Teaching alternatives to standing up and punching it out with a man are useful.
"emphasizes throws (hitting him with the planet)"
Love that phrase - stealing it.
Another commentary on Judo: "Judo is the art of folding clothes with people still in them."
I was a small business owner who employed many females. I always warned them about closing up in the evenings, particularly during Christmas having a lot of cash on them about being aware of their surroundings before they went to the parking lot. I was amazed how many allowed a stranger into what I called “their personal space.” I was constantly telling them “prepare your mind for a fight, have something in your hand ready to defend yourself. Yell! They want an easy target not one who is going to injure them.”
You don't have to look like a no. You just have to look less like a yes.
I think I'm quoting Ian on that one.
Shari & I assist a friend who does a hapkido-based women's self-defense class. It's 3-4 hours, and the actual techniques are (IMHO) secondary. The primary takeaways we try to leave them with are: situational awareness, YES PLEASE use your voice, and the idea that you CAN fight back instead of being dragged off wherever.
No, we're not teaching waif-fu. I mention that because of the startling number of people who think "women's self defense" means "teaching women to fight and defeat men." The majority of our techniques are based on one simple movement. They are about using surprise and leverage to break common holds. The focus is teaching the women that they CAN break those holds and get away from the attacker.
This is exactly what the course I went to with my friend was.
Yep. The best way to win a fight is to not get into a fight. So many people today, men and women, walk around with their face buried in their phones that they don't see an attacker until it's too late. It is much harder to win a physical confrontation if your opponent has the element of surprise.
I would suggest pistol training. A 95 pound woman with a 9mm can take down a 350 pound man by shooting center mass. But that's just my two cents.
That's ideal, but not everyone lives in a free state.
That also takes practice and training, lest it be taken from you and used against you.
Had that conversation in my younger days. Another medic carried on the job, got asked what he would do if a malefactor took his sidearm.
He shrugged. "Beat him with my (police flashlight). The gun will be empty "
That's what you need gun training for.
True, but statistically, the vast majority of defensive gun uses do not require the gun be fired. The mere display of the firearm discourages The attacker, who suddenly remembers an important appointment somewhere else.
Not that I'm saying women (and men) shouldn't train in defensive pistol craft, but the sad fact is only about 1% of civilian carriers ever go beyond whatever basic requirement their state has to get a license to carry. (And with constitutional carry in a majority of states, I'm sure that percentage has gone down).
Men and women should be trained exactly the same.
Lesson one - Self defense should be like an onion. Many layers from harden the exterior of your house to harden yourself to actually draw a weapon and use it properly and not get thrown in jail afterwards.
Lesson two - Somewhere towards layer eleventy three but well above the core where weapons are actually used, and arguably the most important one as summarized by uber-famous Jeff Cooper, sadly no longer with us. When asked what gun he would bring if he had to go to a gunfight that would offer the best protection, he responded "I wouldn't go."
This... I have lived a peaceful life post army life. I don't have friends that incite trouble, I don't go place's that statistically have higher crime rates or that random violence happens there more often. I don't imbibe of substances that impair my judgement and loosen my mouth to unwittingly give offense to strangers with the ability to hurt me. When out and about I disengage from those angry drivers that are just apt to road rage. If I see a potential situation, I tell those with me that we need to be somewhere else and my reasons, if they disagree I bail and move my ass to somewhere the odds are less that a situation will occur. I also start distancing myself from them as friends as I now have proof that they are idiots and will do stuff to endanger those around them from inclination or ignorance.
Insightful post. Big plus of any training is that it instills confidence. Since most predators go for the weakest prey, appearing confident makes you less likely to be selected.
I agree with what is being said here, one-off seminars are of limited value. You need to train muscle memory, decision making and the art of overcoming the surprise if something does happen. And you need to train on a weekly basis with a good instructor. For me krav maga works well as it builds on natural reflexes and combines techniques form several fighting styles, including boxing and judo.
If you have the time, try different schools to what fits best. What works for one person can be different from what works for another.
Since everyone has an opinion, I’ll go ahead and throw mine into the ring: seek out EWO with Craig Douglas. I’ve done 4 of them, and the females in every class have all done great. If you don’t know the acronym EWO, or Craig, look ‘em up. Great stuff for “women’s defense.”
This is coming from someone who has done a fair amount of cool martial arts over the last 40 years, including earning a dan ranking in cool thing one, before moving on to cool things 2, 3, 4 etc. Again, JMO.
Any class with Craig Douglas is worth the money.
The picture on violent assaults against women is changing, in part because the perps are changing.
It used to be that most violent attackers were male, and females who committed violent attacks were rare outliers. That is starting to change. Younger women are committing more violent assaults. It's not as common for a solitary woman to commit a violent crime; women tend to attack in groups.
When women attack other people, it's rarely a sexual assault. It looks more like male-on-male violence.
The best way for anyone, male or female, to avoid being attacked is to maintain situational awareness. If that fails, fighting back is your only real option if you want to stay on this side of the grass.
I know almost nothing about training people for self defense, but I took a kickboxing class in my early thirties, and I learned to appreciate the value of a good shin kick to the thigh. Not sure how well it works if the lower leg is not conditioned to delivering the blow.
{Now I going to have to DuckDuckGo “Joint Locks…”}
a long time ago.