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From: sam@phs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Self Defense
Message-ID: <2214@phs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Mar-84 12:04:29 EST
Article-I.D.: phs.2214
Posted: Tue Mar 27 12:04:29 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 29-Mar-84 05:28:24 EST
Lines: 46



While I agree with Kenn that the "hit and run" approach is the best one for
dealing with a street attack, I don't agree that martial arts training is
of no use unless one has earned a black belt.  First, I think it is
important to distinguish those arts which focus on learning to punch,
kick, or otherwise strike an attacker in order to defeat them; and those
which do not employ strikes.  Even fairly low-ranking belts in my chosen
art, Aikido, have learned how to break a grip and move out of an attacker's
grasp.  In addition, Aikido techniques are effective against an attacker of
greater size and strength than the victim.  The techniques will not work
well if the defender attempts to use muscular strength, for they are based
on using the momentum and energy of the opponent's attack in responding to
the attack.  For this reason, and because they have a lower center of
gravity, women are frequently at an advantage in Aikido.  The other
important thing to keep in mind is that very few women know how to punch
or kick effectively.  For this reason I think that practicing any martial
art or taking self-defense classes is one of the most important steps  any
woman can take towards feeling (and being) safer on the streets.  Women
have been socialized to be nice to EVERYONE, to "keep your voice down",
and to tolerate verbal and, in many cases, physical abuse by men.  We
have to learn how to be nasty when the situation warrants nastiness, how
to use our voices, our fists, our feet, and our minds to defend ourselves,
and, most important, we must realize that we don't have to take the abuse.  We don't have
to sit and listen in silence to sexist jokes, we don't have to turn our
heads and quicken our pace in response to catcalls on the street, and we
don't have to be victims of male violence.  What we have to do is choose
to fight back at all levels, against all attacks on our bodies, our
minds , and our spirit.

For me, the suggestions that I should choose my manner of dress in order
not to inflame the passions of the creeps on the street, that I should
rely on men to defend me, that I should stay out of certain areas and
stay at home after dark exemplify the way in which violence against women
serves to maintain men in their position of power over women.  This
is what Susan Brownmiller is talking about when she claims that all men
benefit from rape.  No matter how much an individual man may despise the
fact, in many ways he owes his station in life to the fact that rape
occurs.  Women must realize that they cannot rely on the male establishment
(police, courts, government) to protect them. They must learn to protect
themselves.  We have to take back the night with our own power.

"However we dress, wherever we go, YES means YES and NO means NO!"

Sherry Marts
decvax!duke!phs!sam