Womens Self Defense Class
8 meetings on Saturdays
4-6 hours per meeting
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting 1
Your Life and Your Personal Space - why you have the right to defend it
Shouting 101 - it's OK to make noise
Shouting 102 - using strong language on bad people
10 Tips to be Safe - (stuff like walking with your eyes up, keeping your keys in your hand when going to your car or your house, why you might want pepper spray, don’t leave your purse where it can be seen in the car while you’re driving, put your money way before you leave the bank, etc.) The basic message being that you don’t have to be the toughest person on the street, you just have to be a more difficult target than the next person. Most crimes against women are crimes of opportunity. So reduce the opportunities for the bad guy to take advantage of you.
6 Basic Strikes
We would have a "Bob" (the punching bag shaped like a man) with some sort of groin attachment. The students would learn 6 basic gross motor techniques. Palm heel, rear elbow, groin slap to the rear, knee to the groin (bad guy standing) knee to the head (bad guy on the ground) eye rake/flick. (Notice I am not saying gouge out the eyes – just a rake/flick to get the startle response. Students would also learn two major distractions – groin grab and face spit. They would practice all 6 gross motor strikes and the 2 distractions on “Bob.” This would all happen in a very low pressure, low stress session.
Students would receive a selection of articles to read and the following homework:
Take a warm shower, when you're nice and relaxed, crank the shower all the way over to cold - when you feel your body start to seize up - YELL!!! This is practice against the rarely successful deer in headlights defense. It gives women the experience of physiological shock and gives them a way to start breathing instead of freezing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting 2:
Bulletman training Level 1
If you’re not familiar with a Bulletman – it is a padded body suit with a large padded helmet. The helmet is locked onto a set of shoulder pads so the wearer cannot move the head. This allows for pull power shots to the head. There is also an over-sized groin protection that allows for pull power knee strikes to the groin.
For further information visit:
http://www.fastdefense.com
Students are taught the 6 techniques and two distractions again and how to shout and deliver them at the same time.
Bulletmen would attack but without verbal wolfing. Physical stuff only. No feedback given. Just give them the experience of someone attacking them and let them see how they do. No corrections given.
Eye contact exercise 101 - just standing and looking in the eyes
Eye contact exercise 102 - looking someone in the eyes and saying things like: leave me alone, quit bothering me, I don't want to talk to you, don't touch me. In a voice that means get the f*** back.
Eye contact 103 - similar to #2 except now someone will say something unpleasant first and you will respond using the things you rehearsed in 102
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting 3
Verbal wolfing scenarios no physical attack.
These would be mini role plays of common situations
1- aggressive guy in a bar
2- aggressive guy at a private party
3- aggressive stranger on the street during the day
4- aggressive stranger on the street at night
5- waiting alone at a bus stop
6- waiting alone at a train/bus station or airport
7- too friendly of a talker a the grocery store/bank
8- additional scenarios would be used as needed (for example - for a group of high-school age women you could address hallway and locker room scenarios)
Each role play would be followed up by debrief & suggestions on what could be done differently. Then the same character will role play again trying to incorporate the suggestions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting 4
Bulletman training #2
This time it's physical and it's verbal.
Going through the same format as the verbal only session -- with debriefs between sessions and the same person doing the same scenario again trying to incorporate suggestions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting #5
Night of the living dead training
Verbal wolfing from a bad guy not wearing pads - then the women move in slow motions to counter the physical attacks. They are allowed to target anywhere with any technique - this lets them see how what they did on the bulletman would look like on a guy without a suit. The mean face and loud shouts would be very disabling for many women. Of course, this would require a very highly skilled man to be the bad guy to be able to keep the scenarios real and for him to stay safe if the women over-react.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting #6
Being aware of and using your environment.
We'd talk about listening to that little voice inside that tells you when a situation is going to get bad, or go from bad to worse.
We'd talk about learning to use what's on hand -- including:
Cars - to use as an obstacle. Also the idea of not getting out of your car just because somebody told you to or because you were in a minor accident.
Walls - I learned this neat little defense move from a friend that worked in a prison. If they back you up against a wall you grab onto their ears and fall on your but. You break your tail-bone, but you slam their head about a foot into the wall.
Purses, keys, pens, plastic grocery bags, things you might have on hand and how you might use them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting #7
Bringing it all together
Taking what we learned in lesson #6 and playing out scenarios with men in bulletmen suits doing wolfing. Random attacks by bulletmen and you defend using whatever you can in your environment. Same format of role-play, debrief for improvement, and re-role-play the attacks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting #8.
VR simulation
Students put on goggles and movement suits and then would be run through different surprise situations. Several in a row.
It would be a culmination of all the other lessons.
Everyone would be scored. If anybody's score is below a certain cut-off point they would be invited to re-take the course at no cost.
Everybody else gets to go through graduation.
If I were really doing this I'd have twice a year "refresher" 1 day seminars for graduates only -- where we would re-do lesson #7. Random attacks by bulletmen and you defend using whatever you can in your environment