|
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One thing to consider: in offensive martial arts, the actions and balances are much the same for the average male and female body type. A good example of this is the fact that almost no allowance need be made in Tae Kwon Do besides what the student's natural instincts will tell them.
This is not the case for close-up defensive arts, such as Ikedo, or practical self-defense courses. Specific allowances have to be made if you are to perform a throw, hold, or any other move utilizing your opponents weight against them.
Also, the defensive situation for a female being attacked is slightly different than for a male, since a female will more often be in date rape-type situations (by which I mean non-pharmaceutically aided assaults), and situations where a larger attacker will simply try to overpower her.
Males will more often have to deal with angry and/or drunken attackers and robbery.
Therefore, if you are teaching a quick one-semester practical, then it behooves you to split out the teaching. Males will benefit more from a generic martial arts course, which I do not doubt the college offers.
Yes, the "women only" tag stings a bit (at least let interested men take the course, since some of them will want to go through that with their girlfriend), but guessing from a teacher's perspective, it does make some sense to me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Part of the problem I have with any women's safety course in college comes down to this:
(1) It's very hard to teach the common sense and street smarts necessary to *truly recognize* bad situations. It takes experience. If we insist on protecting our girls from those "evil boys" at a young age, how are the girls going to know how to safely play when they get to the age where they REALLY want to play? (and they are VERY interested in play by the time they get to college)
(2) It's not just the woman who needs to know what to do. Guys need to know what to do if they arrive on the scene trying to help. (And we *do* like to help: *real* men help other people, no matter what the feminist rhetoric is.) Guys need to know how to help a rape victim (it's not easy to know what to do). Some guys need to be reminded that it's ok to tell their friend that banging that drunk chick is NOT okay.
(3) If we're going to teach self-defense, let's get serious. Hand-to-hand martial arts can make the difference when you're in a close situation, but really, a handy switchblade and a knowledge of how to use it can really help. Good knowledge of a pistol as well, if that's your thing.
What I'm trying to say here is that the courses start off trying to do the impossible (teach common sense), don't teach what they CAN teach (help with counseling friends), and refuse to consider "violent alternatives."
I can't help but think that, in light of this, the phrase used in the article: "confidence builder."
Helping teach happy, well-adjusted, confident victims.
That's not what I'd want for my sister. Not what I'd want for my friends. If you're going to teach self-defense, you CANNOT afford to give false confidence, because the enemy will kill you.
Is this a disgrace to men? Yes, we are not being allowed to do our part. But it's a murderous insult to women.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This whole notion of teaching women to be killers is seven days is ridiculous to me. There was a case near my home. A woman was accosted in the parking lot of a local discount store on a cold rainy night. The attacker didn't want to rape her, just take her handbag. She had held a black belt on Tae Kwon Do (sp?) for a couple years and chose to defend herself. They found her body lying in the parking lot a few minutes later, dead from multiple stab wounds. Her attacker was tentatively identified and had fled to Guatemala. I'm not saying it's completely stupid for women to know how to defend themselves, but I do think it leads them to a false sense of security. Real martial arts training takes much longer than a semester and in order to remain proficient, one needs to dedicate continuing practice and fitness drills. The women feel better, but they're not actually any safer, unless, of course, you consider what they teach about recognizing a vulnerable situation or how NOT to panic when accosted. Those things are useful and durable, but the self defense part is more useless than anything else unless it's followed-up on.
I would vote AGAINST carrying a knife, as an experienced, unarmed attacker can quickly do a lot of damage with a knife taken from a victim. That's the problem with weapons in hand to hand combat: unless you are well trained, they can be easily be turned against you. With all due respect, vir, it think it to be irresponsible to suggest that one carry a knife against such a situation. A gun would be better, but only after some training on how to avoid having it taken.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
by Anonymous User on Tuesday September 04, @11:03AM EST (#4)
|
|
|
|
|
Actually, I think that there is a rationale for having a self-defence course for men, as opposed to them just doing a general martial arts course.
Martial arts require a long-term commitment by the student to develop the attributes that will make the techniques effective: appropriate type of fitness, footwork, timing, balance, etc. Years are spent developing these. Many of the techniques (of any given martial art) are effective only to the degree the student has developed these attributes, and actively maintains them.
.
Self-defence courses are specifically designed (or should be) to only teach realistic techniques that can be performed effectively by average people, who donft have extensive training or a special level of fitness.
As the major victims of violent attack, even men who otherwise have no interest in studying the martial arts would benefit greatly by taking a well-designed self-defence course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Whoops. I forgot to make clear the fact that I mean REAL training. Half-trained and armed *is* worse than no training and disarmed (in terms of keeping your life).
The most a 7-day course can do for you is show you a bit about how not to panic (as you mentioned), and also show you the futility of most automatic forms of self-defense (this is key. Most people like to think that they could defend themselves. Showing them that they *cannot* using their current training will give them a healthy dose of reality).
And, yes, a big part of any training is learning to recognize the situation.
|
|
|
|
|
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
