The ABC’s of self-defense for women.
As a Martial Arts instructor I believe that a woman (of any age) should fight back. The damnable idea that a woman shouldn’t resist a forcible rape because she may be more severely beaten or injured for resisting is pure foolishness. Rape is a crime of violence ladies. It is motivated primarily by desire to control, dominate, or humiliate another person more than the desire for sex alone. So fight back and don’t give in!
Martial arts training offer’s a woman both the self-defense skills and more importantly the confidence to take a stance against such confrontations, by building a strong mind and equally strong body. The true intention of any program however (as there are no guarantees) is to stop a conflict before it happens through avoidance and prevention.
The most critical issues facing many women in today’s society are violence and aggression. In the United States a woman is assaulted or raped every six seconds. There is evidence that every day from 1500 to 1800 women are raped in the US alone, with many others not being reported. The Department of Justice gives us these shocking statistics:
Approximately 54% of the women raped were 18 years or younger, 22% were 12 years old, while 13% were 12 to 17 years of age, with two thirds of these assaults committed by persons known to the victim.
*10.6% of women reported being raped by strangers.
*24.9% by acquaintances.
*30% by steady dates
*21% by casual dates
*8.9% by family member
*76% were victims of “date rape”
*Awareness:
Avoidance: Be aware of your surroundings and avoid people and places known to be of risk.
Acknowledgement: Acknowledge the fact that you may be in an unavoidable conflict.
Assertive Presence: Take a strong stance.
*Boundaries:
De-escalate: Talk the attacker down. Be clever and creative.
Strong Stance: Stick up for yourself, be assertive and just say NO!
*Combat
Touch First: If unavoidable, strike first and strike hard! Bust Him up ladies!
Strong Voice: Use your voice in a strong and commanding way. A strong voice can end a conflict before it starts. Remember to YELL!
Commit 100%: Once you’ve started to fight back, don’t stop until the conflict is over.
*As with anything else no one martial art is the answer, there are no guarantees and nothing is foolproof.
