Reality-Based Women's Self-Defense Program - What to Look For
Serious thought should be put into what you should be looking for when looking for a good, solid, and reliable women's self-defense program. As a general rule, you should first ask for, and verify, the instructor's credentials. This is true regardless of whether you're...
* an Adult who wants to be able to handle herself, or...
* A Parent looking for a self-defense program for your child
This point cannot be emphasized enough, because, like practically nothing else in your life...
... your life could depend on your making the right choice.
The world is full of people with barely enough knowledge, skill, and common sense to get by. You know it because you probably see, interact with, and maybe even work with some of them every day!
This is not to say that a black belt, martial arts teacher cannot protect him or herself with the skills they've learned. But, which person would you trust your life to if given the choice...
... a person who has practiced their skills for use in a game for the purpose of earning a belt or trophy, or...
... an expert who has real-life experience in surviving actual attacks from real-world, brutal attackers - someone who had to make sure that their skills would work under the most difficult conditions?
You really don't have to answer because we both know the answer, don't we?
Other Considerations for Girls and Women's Self-Defense
When considering a self-defense program for women, refer to the following partial list that outlines some of the major differences between self-defense for men and women.
* Social Beliefs - from childhood, most girls have been taught that fighting was not "lady-like."
Oh my god! What would people think!
* Situational Attack-Defense - two of the most obvious differences for women that men generally don't have to worry about are rape and sexual assault.
The fact that men are usually dealing with the more obvious situations (muggings and competitive ("oh-yeah! let's go!"-type fighting come to mind). While women, and more and more young girls, are required to deal with subtle tactics like date-rape or being ambushed by a group.
This is complicated with the addition of the strength and size difference between men and women that I talk about. This difference creates and significantly different situation for women, which of course calls for very different defense tactics.
* Incorrect Information - I believe that the majority of teachers and instructors mean well. They aren't out to con you. It's just that...
... these people lack the fundamental, real-world experience to go on - they don't know any better - and end up in a blind-leading-the-blind kind of situation.
... they make assumptions that seem logical and rational within their own frame of reference.
The problem is that we're talking about self-protection here...
... women's self-defense...
... girls self-defense. Not...
... alphabet soup. Where, if you screw up, you can just empty the pot and start again.
Remember that, making a mistake in a women's self-defense scenario, especially against a bigger, stronger, determined attacker, could be very costly.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Before you get anothe life-savingr women's self-defense book, you owe it to yourself to check out the life-saving womens-self-defense resources at Jeff's site. You can also subscribe to his self-defense newsletter.
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by: JeffreyM.Miller
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