Pro-choice
No, the other kind.
While we’re at it, a look at Women’s Self-Defense.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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April 23rd, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Ugh. Keys and combs as weapons. Jabbing with keys is a really good way to injure your own hand.
To my mind, if you only have 20 minutes to study self defense, the best thing to learn (no matter your gender) is how to avoid vulnerable situations and how not to act like a victim. Stay out of bad neighborhoods and dark, isolated areas. Walk quickly and confidently and bring friends (especially mean looking ones). Project your voice and convey that, win or lose, you will not succumb without a hard fight. Avoid a confrontation is a much better way to avoid injury, and teaching people to staying away from trouble is more valuable than teaching them to fight ineffectively.
Speaking of staying out of trouble, I broke all my own rules Saturday night. Me and a friend walked a group of 10 women through a notoriously crappy neighborhood. The women were dressed for dancing (we were headed to a party), and we attracted all the wrong kind of attention.
Young men peeled off stoops and corners in small groups to approach and harass. Most were politely turned away, some got nasty, one got grabby, but we just kept walking and moved through it, disarming people with jokes and hard stares. It worked, right up until the end.
One young lady, who really was looking might fine, got into it with somebody who thought she was not giving him the proper time of day, and despite my repeated pleas that they both just walk away, neither could resist getting the last word.
As this escalated, somebody started shooting down the block. We ducked into a store, although we didn’t really think we were in any danger until we heard metal pinging near us. 30 young men came running scared down the block, which struck me as foolish, as they were just running down range as opposed to getting out of the field of fire.
What was very funny (and almost tragic), though was the man who had been harassing us. Quite drunk, he stood in the middle of the sidewalk and mocked us for taking cover. Then he threated to shoot us, although he didn’t appear to have a gun.
If he did have a gun, we would have been at a disadvantage. This is NYC, where only the criminals carry guns. I did draw my friend’s knife, though. I figured if the loud guy actually displayed a gun, I could close on him pretty quickly.
Fortunately, the store we ducked into served food, so we ate some chicken as the scene settled down. A few minutes later, you’d never know anything had happened except for a couple sirens and helicopters, both of which are normal noises in that neighborhood.
So I’m too stupid to take my own advice. I took a vulnerable group into a situation where we were definitely going to get harassed. It was stupid, and I’m glad nobody actually got into a fight. It’s much better to avoid the ugly situation than to overcome it.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Actually, conflict avoidance and situational awareness are going to be two of the topics for tomorrow.
I was trying to keep the piece serious, so I tried to avoid any of my usual glib humor, you’ll notice that I did not include the “pointy stick” as an improvised weapon.
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Sweet Jesus, I’ve never had so many hits.
You’re like my all time favorite Uncle!
*she says twirling her hair and hoping for more goodies*
We clearly have a different group of readers…. betcha we’d get rich with a dating service!
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I change a lot of minds with the “My body my choice” argument when it comes to guns. Most women already made their decision, they just don’t know that it applies to self-defense as well.