Women and self-defenseThis entry
is inspired by an extremely disturbing women’s self defense video that I had
the displeasure of viewing the other day.
The stuff being taught to these women wouldn’t even be effective against
an annoying sibling, much less a determined attacker. Obviously everything said on here is my
opinion. You definitely don’t have to
agree with it and if you don’t like what I say, then click that little red “X”
in the upper right hand corner. (I don’t
do Mac’s, if you have one of those then figure it out yourself.)
There are
bad people out there. Very bad people.
It is
possible that during the course of your life, you will be attacked, mugged,
kidnapped, raped, or killed. If it
happens, it will most likely be by one of these bad people who has done this
before, many times. That person will probably
be larger then you. That person will
probably be armed.
I’m not
saying this is going to happen, I’m not even saying it will probably
happen. But you cannot deny that it is a
possibility.
That
being established, I see there being 3 ways of dealing with such a world.
- Walk through life blissfully
unaware. Choose to ignore danger
because it is easier and less scary.
- Realize that there are threats
out there. Put a little effort in
learning how to defend yourself, become more aware of your surroundings
and act in a safe manner.
- Become so paranoid of being
attacked that you can no longer function as a normal human being.
Guess
which one I advocate? (Ya ok, I know I
put my choice between 2 extremes. I’m
not stupid; I’m just trying to get my point across.)
Scenario
time!
You’re a
woman walking down the street. You weigh
between 110 and 150 pounds (Don’t get offended, I’m well aware of all the
different shapes and sizes out there).
You are attacked by a man (he weighs between 180 and 250 pounds), he definitely
has experience in this sort of thing, and he has a knife.
What are
your chances of survival? *busts out his
calculator* The answer is….. Shitty!
Have you
ever wrestled, rough housed, or fought with a person that outweighed you by 50+
pounds? Even if all that extra weight is
fat, you are at a serious disadvantage once contact is made. Up at school I routinely wrestled/play fought
with a friend who outweighed me by 70 pounds. This guy would hardly ever workout,
I was in the gym 5-6 days a week back then.
99% of the time this friend would kick my ass without even breaking a
sweat. It was usually a very pathetic
and humbling experience.
How do
you survive an attack by a person with substantially more mass than you, a much
better strength to mass ratio than you (man vs woman), much more experience
than you, and that person is armed?
The only
way for you to definitely survive that situation is to never get in that
situation. That’s where awareness and
some friggin common sense come into play.
There’s a ton of info about such things out there if you are interested.
If you
have failed at the awareness and find yourself in a violent confrontation, how
do you survive when you are vastly outmatched?
2 Options. You can:
a) Give
up
or
b) Fight
back.
Giving up
seems like a pretty crappy option. We
don’t trust this guy so let’s not let him decide whether we live or die. Let’s choose “b”. Let’s also hope that we see the attack coming
and we’re not hit from behind or other such stuff…
Your
chances suck. Unless you are an
extremely good fighter with years and years of experience, your opponent is
drunk, and you get very very lucky… you are screwed. The odds
are in his favor, the first thing you need to do is try to even them.
Todd’s
list of ways to even the odds (in order of most effective):
Gun>Knife>Stick>Pepper
Spray>Rock>Pen>Fingernails.
Gun: Most
people will not carry one. I don’t blame
them, I don’t carry one myself. Most people
find them scary and they definitely are dangerous in inexperienced hands. Guns are not perfect but their advantages far
outweigh their disadvantages in my opinion.
Knives: Definitely
less scary than guns to most people.
Definitely have more uses than a gun in everyday life. Extremely effective in a scenario such as the
one above. I would be pretty wary to
approach even a 3 year old child who was waving a knife around. Not nearly as dangerous to bystanders as a
gun. Just as guns though, knives do have
disadvantages. No range, need training
to use effectively, more chance of it being taken away and used against you
than a gun (in my opinion).
Stick: If you know how to use it and it’s a good one
then a stick can be a great weapon. However,
a stick requires much more strength from its user then a knife does. A stick is also impractical to carry around
with you in our society.
Pepper
Spray: Pepper spray will work sometimes
on some people. However, it’s been shown
that some people are flat out immune to the effect of pepper spray. It has also been shown that many people are
still capable of carrying out an attack even if the spray has an effect. Pepper
spray is also very dependant on outside conditions, such as wind. In a desperate situation, any weapon is
better then no weapon but pepper spray should be seen as a distraction only and
an unreliable one at that.
Rock: Hell, if you can pick up a rock that’s
great. Better than nothing. Don’t throw it though. You’d be better off hitting someone upside
the head with it.
Pen: We’ve all probably seen the Bourne
Identity. A pen can be useful, more
useful if you know how to use it. Stick
it in someone eye or neck and they’ll probably back off enough for you to start
running. You can also carry pens
everywhere with you. Government
buildings, airplanes, concerts, it doesn’t matter.
Fingernails: Well, don’t give up. You may get lucky. You only need to distract the person enough
to get away, you don’t have to kill them.
Women are
at a severe physical disadvantage in our society.
- On average, they are physically
weaker than men and yet if they are attacked, it will most likely be by a
man.
- They are discouraged from
carrying weapons. Hell, both men
and women are discouraged from carrying weapons but I’d argue that it is
frowned upon more when women carry.
- Our society pressures women
into wearing clothes and shoes that are absolutely horrible for fighting
or running.
A large
armed man against a small, unarmed woman in high heels?
Ever watch the Discovery Channel when the lion is chasing an injured
gazelle? Have you ever seen the gazelle
win?
Women in
our society need to be prepared. They
need to be able to escape if needed.
They need to be able to defend themselves if needed. It’s my opinion that most women are incapable
of either of these options, mostly because of the pressures society puts on
them.
When I
rule the world I will make the following changes:
- High heels will be banned,
because they’re friggin stupid as hell.
- Women will be encourage (not
forced) to carry knives. Small
fixed blades on their person. Accessorize
the hell outta them.
- Women will be encouraged to
learn how to defend themselves, with and without knives.
I predict
that attacks on women will go down once they are more aware and have the
ability to turn lethal at the drop of a hat.
Watch the crime rate drop once a few assholes are gutted.
I try to
keep myself in good physical shape (I definitely could be doing better in that
regard).
I carry a
knife on me, usually 2. Sometimes pepper
spray as well. I also practice drawing
them a variety of different ways from a variety of different positions.
I
actively train to use them for defense.
I also train hands/feet/elbows and whatnot.
I always
try to be aware of my surroundings and especially the people around me.
I almost
always wear good running shoes when I leave my house.
I think
that if someone decided they wanted to hurt me on the street my chances of coming out on top would
be slim, and I’m an armed, 6 foot, 205 pound
man. I'd argue that I have a much better chance at survival then most women do and I think my chances suck! A weekend class that teachs you to *jab, cross, knee to groin, eye gouge* a guy in a padded suit is woefully inadequite. You would have to get EXTREMELY lucky to pull that off on a resisting opponent.
Don't these "padded suit attackers" always seem like they're bored? Walking up slowly to the women while saying "aggressive" things, then letting the women beat the crap out of them. How is this realistic or helpful? Granted, it's better than a punching bag, but not a whole lot! I want to see that "padded suit attacker" rush those women, actually fight back once contact is made. Hell, I want to see the women perform their "combo" after the padded guy gives them a shot across the jaw or shoves them up against a wall. It's just not realistic! If you are given the blessing of seeing your attacker coming from a few feet away, and he's walking slowly towards you??? Turn and run while screaming your bloody head off. If you can't run? Then you'd best pull your knife and cut that son of a bitch as soon as he gets close to you.
That's not the worst part of it though. The worst is the interviews with the women at the end. Almost all of them say something along the lines of, "I feel so much better now, knowing that I can protect myself. I don't have to be afraid anymore!" If you don't want to worry about the self-defense thing that's fine, most people don't. However, don't instill in yourself a false sense of security because it will cause more harm than good. You'd be much better off finding a weekend class that teaches you proper environmental awareness and tells you what NOT to do, like jogging at night by yourself...
Agree or
disagree with me, I probably won’t be offended. I love you all =)
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