What should a woman's Self defence course include? and why

1. What information do you think is helpful to include in a Women’s self-defence course?

2. What explanations / understandings do you think are helpful to in a Women’s self-defence course?

3. What strategies do you think are helpful in a women’s self-defence course?

4. What drills to do you think are helpful in a women’s self-defence course?

 

Hi Tom
have you searched for other threads on this?

You may find this post helpful, a number of MT participants felt it was worthwhile:

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1074873456&postcount=63

The entire thread is a good one - many points of view and very good comments and questions.

Are you planning to do this? Who is the group and why are you interested in the issue?

with respect, A

 

Are you thinking of teaching a specific group such as those women already who have been attacked or assaulted, or are you thinking about just a general beginner course?
If it’s the former the advice linked above is great, if it’s the latter the advice in the above post is still very very good
1) Helpful information would be stats on who is most likely to attack them, and in what situation, the law regarding how you can defend themselves and so on ( I imagine its still more likely for them to be attacked by someone they know than a stranger for example)
2) Help them to understand in what situations they are vulnerable, how to avoid those situations if possible (don’t travel alone at night, if you are out jogging really don’t wear headphones etc), the local help that is available to them if they feel at risk and so on
3) Strategies?, avoidance (bad situations bad people, not being alone with someone you don’t feel right with etc), awareness and so on try to prevent the situation from happening so you don’t need the drills
4) 4) drill wise they need to get used to the reality of an attack, the fence is a great drill to both teach them how to build a non-threatening barrier between them and a potential attacker and get them used to the reality of a vocal attack, it can be shocking for anyone to have someone in their face swearing and verbally attacking them, get them used to this with drills of escalating intensity and likewise get them used to hitting something and if possible being hit, most women aren’t used to physical contact in that way and need to get over that initial shock

Finally because of the nature of the attack, I personally would have them train a lot of grappling, especially how to get up safely when an opponent is standing over them or on top of them, how to deal with someone trying to take them to the ground, and how to use improvised weapons, because the reality is their attacker is going to be bigger and more used to violence than them, so a lot of striking is simply not going to stop them, they are going to look to get hold of them and take them to the floor and keep them there, or pin them against a wall, so teach them what to do in those situations, and the weapon thing well again their attacker is going to be bigger and stronger a weapon is a great equalizer, and whilst the number of cases of men being charged for using a weapon to defend themselves is numerous the number of women charged and convicted is much smaller

 

Give them the Jason Bourne box set for Christmas.

 

Women? Reason is pretty evident

 

Pink focus mitts.

 

The slabar defense technique from the system called slap a hoe sounds appropriate

 

Many thanks for pointing out this thread. A lot of very thought provoking posts.

A question for the mods - Why isn't it copied or even sticky-ed into the women's self defense section?

 

I am thinking about a general class for adults. They would represent a broad sample of backgrounds / experiences.

What do you think should be included in such a session? Why should it be inculded?

Should a short discussion about the importance of confidentiality and agreement on confidentiality on both the part of the instructor and the attendees be included at the start of the session?

Should information be provided on access to counselling for anyone affected by issues discussed in the session ?

Should situational awareness be covered ? Are there any systems for situational awareness that people would recommend? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these systems?

Should a brief discussion on boundarys, behavior, rights and responsibilities of instructor and attendees be included at the start of the session?

What subject areas should this discussion include?

Should fighting technique be included? If no, why not? If yes, what are the key things to bear in mind when selecting techniques to include?

Should the dynamics of violent situations be covered? If no why not? If yes why is this important? Are they any models of violent situations that people would recommend? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these models?

 

The linked thread is now moved and stickied.

 

Tom

what's the origin of the class? Have you been asked to do one? If so, by whom? Is this something you want to do and you are going to offer it? What are your interests in this ?
Some background from you and about this might make it easier to offer suggestions or ideas. with respect, A

 

I would include a section on the Self defence laws of what ever country you are in. That way if a situation occurs they won't be thinking what can I/can't I do?

 

I am currently thinking of offering some free lunchtime sessions where I work. The age range is predominantly late teens early twenties but some older.
Sessions will be 50 minutes. I am thinking more than one session but not more than 5, either once a week or up to three sessions on consecutive days.

I have a fair bit of knowledge about stranger danger (although I am keen to learn more). I have a gaping hole when it comes to danger from assailants that you know. Particularly in terms of sexual assault / date rape. If anyone has any thing they can share about this area I would be particularly grateful.

 

Have you read De Becker's material on this in 'Protecting the Gift'? He has quite a focus on this.

If it is of any help I put a new article up on the basic topics in the article section.
http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1074892840#post1074892840

There is also a current thread on the topic on Iain Abernethy's forum.

 

Thanks for a very helpful post. That is pretty much what I was thinking but in a much more coherent and organised fashion than I was thinking it.

I have an order in for "protecting the gift'.

There is a list of texts on self defense that people would recommend. - thread "Suggested reading? SD psychology and Techniques"

Will be getting hold of the books mentioned. Any good books come out in the last couple of years - The last post in the tread was march 2012.

 

I used to have a list online but I deleted the web page with all the links from the net. Here are the links copied from the code:

http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=p...amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
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All are interesting and useful, but with the exception of Gavin de Becker
these are of extremely limited use for women's situations.
I'll offer my suggestions over the weekend. I'm on call on and may not be
able to collect references until later.
w/respect A

 

http://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/content/women-self-defencehttp://www.iainabernethy.co.uk/content/women-self-defence

from that current Abernethy Forum thread:

"One of the HUGE problems with self-defence instruction is that it is male driven. It tends to be taught by men and most information put out there is also taught by men. Even female self-defence instructors were often taught by men and hence it is easy for a male bias to unintentionally creep in.

Statistically, the most likely person to attack and kill a woman is not a drinker in a pub or a stranger in the bushes, but it is someone they are in a in a relationship with. However we generally see very little in the way of the dynamics of abusive relationships in female self-protection. And this is obviously a major oversight.

The bottom line is that we need far more female self-protection instructors and authors who will look at female self-protection afresh and ensure that it genuinely addresses all aspects from a female perspective.[/B]
All the best, Iain"

While all the material listed by jwt is important, it does not accomplish what Mr. Abernethy identifies (with exception of de Becker). And none is written by women.

Spending 2-5 years preparing to do this is reasonable. It certainly took most of the contributors to this thread a reasonable committment in order to achieve their goals in MA.
Becoming capable of successfully addressing SD4W is far more challenging since force-based physical techniques comprise only one part of the skills needed, as Iain Abernethy apparently understands.

with respect, A