Women are weak and slow.

[yenhoi]

Opinions on whats important when teaching women's self-defense?

[Black Jack]

Knives!

Huh, and you call yourself a FMA man, please.

[SanSoo Student]

Haha and cheap shots..
Aim for the throat and eyes, and always attack the groin after the throat or eyes a strike!

[No_Know]

Explaining movement with force as sports coordination might not have been there's and their physical activities/understandings might have been limited.

Also, what one called TonyM. said. My version though, Not female nor male (to a range), new/no gender: S t u d e n t.

[Shaolin-Do]

"ie. not training them any differently than men."

Thats just it though, they are different than men. Very different, and their training should compensate for the differences. You wouldnt train a dude with 1 arm the same as everyone else right? (Im sure to an extent, but some personal catering would be required)

[Samurai Jack]

Better not say that around any of the women in my class! It's funny because for some random reason or other I was thinking about the people in my class I would not want to tangle with on the street.

First and formost is my Sensei of course, but for some reason, the really big muscular guys in my school aren't all that threatening. Now I'm no weak little kitten myself, but I realized what makes me a more aggressive fighter than most of the other students in my dojo (despite the fact I've been training there a little less than a year) is killer instinct. I'm willing to put the hurt on when things get ugly, and many of the others in my class are not.

So anyway, back to the original subject, the two regular students I would least like to tangle with in real life are both women. One of 'em's about 5'10 and probably 180 pounds of big boned, athletic meaness, and the other's a fifty year old, tall, lean, amazon who looks like she'd make an Australian Footballer cry mercy in a wrestlin' match.

Physically, they're you'd think they wouldn't stand a chance against a man, but I have no doubt that either'd kill me with relish if I tried to mug, abuse, or otherwise molest her. These ladies are MEAN, and they're fighters to the core.

I have nothing but respect for these female warriors, and they are certainly worthy role models for the junior students, male and female alike.

[No_Know]

"Thats just it though, they are different than men. Very different, and their training should compensate for the differences."

I think that we are using different gauges. I go by percentages, not volume. If a student had a sore chest, I Would take that into consideration but as a student Not a Female. Not every male can support their lower bodies when doing push-ups either. I might have to tell a woman to ease off the training when she tries to prove herself or prove (stereotypically) she's "as good as a man".

I might have to ask a Male student to ease off training when He tries to prove Himself to be as good as a Fit Man.

I am perhaps comprehending situations with ability and Will as individual, Not sexual (gender-based). While Females stereotypically might have types of situations males stereotypically wouldn't; and Perhaps Males stereotypically, might have situations Females stereotypically wouldn't; Peoples tend to have situations and deal with them as others with those Same situations or the such.

If there is compensation for differences It is with Me to compensate for My lack of understanding of Humans. Not of either gender. Understanding one gender does not seem to explain the other. And what I understand of either, might be spot-on or miniscule. And I can't know it as Absolute because it happens universally for All my related experiences, because Without Knowing And Having Known, Every person in existance it's not a sound Law. Merely Theory, if not hypothesis.

Years ago I was Absolute in my concept of male and female dog urinating procedures. Males lifted their hind leg. Females spread and push down and slightly forward.

I noticed a male dog that regularly spread and pushed perhaps slightly forward. I also noticed a female dog which occasionally lifted her hind leg.

It could be a universal urine thing where-by one urinates appropriate to happenstance. Humans just learn there is only one way and miss the natural variety by being Taught or Learning From those who came before. When your urine volume is low, lifting the hind leg might adjust the urinary bladder to relieve the pressure of volume at the exit place. The lessening of which allows passage of the lower volumes of the liquid to pass through (it's pressure related), some might think.

Perhaps they learned by early life exposure to the ways of the opposite gender as "how I am to".

" You wouldnt train a dude with 1 arm the same as everyone else right? (Im sure to an extent, but some personal catering would be required)"

Actually I hope that I would more than in general. Several Chinese Kung-Fu forms With wich I have been exposed seem to use both arms and cross the centerline. I would have them do the formand merely not expect to see the parts requiring the other hand.

I Might later Make at least two forms that filled in the gap of the missing arm moves. One using that form's techniques compensating for the missing left limb. One using that form's thechniques compensating for the missing right limb.

Yet there are different lengths of missing limb. And I would start by them doing the form by wrote (It was written to vary with ability of body and of understanding). All the while pointing out the places the partial limb was useful (if not exact original limb intention~). And where, the range of how the whole limb would be used. A person with enough partial limb would not get a limb absence compesated form.

And Even with a partial limb or No (one), missing limb--arm. That person could go on to be an instructor because though not having that limb they have the comprehension to get someone to learn the forms and their intent and usefulnesses and where not to use it, well.

A person missing an arm would under my tutelage do push-ups too (with feet together eventually):-).

Whatever category of whatever you put me in for whatever, Shaolin-Do.

Perhaps some-such, some might say. Whatever whatever. Very good.

[Jook Lum]

Train them realistically! Do not give them a false sense of security,teach them honestly and make the training fun.

If they are timid you have to make them more aggressive.

[Samurai Jack]

Train them realistically! Do not give them a false sense of security,teach them honestly and make the training fun.

If they are timid you have to make them more aggressive.

The same goes for men too.

[T'ai Ji Monkey]

Yes, women to need specialised training.

Not because of strength or size differences, but because their clothing differs from mens and because they got a different sense of what is appropriate and what is not.

Always love at the SD-classes that put the ladies in keiko-gi's and train them, after class the same ladies dress in skirts, high-heels, etc.

The techs look good in the class, ever tried to do a spinning kick in high heels and a skirt that is tight around the knees?

Women are also less likely to let a stranger come in close than a man, OTOH, the can use some soft tissues to distract a male attacker.

Women need different training as their environment(clothes, handbags, etc) and mental state and mindset is different from men.

Kung Fu and SD are seperate things, yes, KF can be adjusted for SD purpose.
Training KF alone won't make you a capable/trained SD person.

Just my opinion naturally.

[Former castleva]

"Years ago I was Absolute in my concept of male and female dog urinating procedures. Males lifted their hind leg. Females spread and push down and slightly forward.

I noticed a male dog that regularly spread and pushed perhaps slightly forward. I also noticed a female dog which occasionally lifted her hind leg."

Females sometimes lift their leg too (I´ve heard that roughly every fourth one may do,but I don´t know of any research).

As for "Absolute in...concept".Males will keep urinating LIKE females if they are castrated very early in life (in a few months since birth).Indicating hormonal/genetic link.

"Opinions on whats important when teaching women's self-defense?"

I don´t know.

[Jook Lum]

I meant men too,with men it is a given. With women some teachers tend to think they have to make the training easier for a women and water it down to be less aggressive thinking it will
make the women feel more comfortable.

So the women feels good when she leaves the class, but does nothing for the reality of an attack.

[Jook Lum]

Now i will be under attack from any feminist on this board!

So be it ,bring it on.

[Watchman]

Originally posted by yenhoi
Opinions on whats important when teaching women's self-defense?

Two quick statistics from the DoJ:
>Around 80% of all reported sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim already has a relationship with.
>6 in 10 sexual assaults are committed in the victim's own home, or the home of an aquaintance.

Since the majority of women's self-defense programs teach "stranger-assault" prevention, they pretty much miss the entire realilty of the issue. Also, most women's self-defense programs completely skate the issue of domestic violence and relationship abuse.

Therefore, in answer to your question, what's most important is teaching relationship management. Any martial arts training is done as a physical reinforcement to the psychological mind-setting.

[yenhoi]

Watchman: agreed. Ryu has excellent threads and posts on this subject, for anyone who is interested.

My thoughts are that you dont teach men and women different -as far as "self-defense" goes all physical-martial training should be designed with the smaller-weaker person in mind. If a smaller-weaker woman cant pull it off vs a bigger-stronger person, then I dont see how training it to men does any good for them. And on that note, I dont see the value of any "self-defense" training that does not focus on weapons, specifically bladed ones.