Self-Defense Zone: Crime Prevention & Self-Defense Forums

Boogie Man · Moderator Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 43

I found an interesting article. I think it will be a good point for discussion.

THE EVOLUTION OF MARTIAL SCIENCE IN WOMEN’S SELF-DEFENSE

The concept of teaching women to defend themselves with full contact fighting against a male instructor wearing protective padding was founded by Matt Thomas. Matt Thomas is a martial artist who has studied over 27 different styles of martial arts and has black belts in eight of these styles. In the summer of 1971, Matt was a student studying Karate. One of his classmates was a female student and black belt who had won martial art tournaments for sparing and Kata. Kata is a specific set of continuous beautiful martial art movements that help develop balance and coordination.

Matt describes how one night the female black-belt student entered the dojo in the middle of the black-belt circle. She was visibly upset. She said she had been raped and that despite her fighting skills, she had been unable to defend herself against the attacker. She was walking to her car one evening when she was attacked. She was ineffective when she punched the assailant. He grabbed her, threw her on the ground, severely beat her, and then raped her. She felt as though she had disgraced the school and her fighting art.

This stunned Matt and all of the other students because here was a black belt whom they had all seen perform beautifully in the dojo, yet who was totally powerless at the moment of when she needed her power. Everyone was silent, waiting to see what the master (master instructor) would say, how he would explain why one of his best students was so unprepared for a real-life battle. But the master did not explain, but instead, he agreed with her in that her "failure" had shamed everyone and that she needed to train harder. She ran away crying and Matt went after her to try to offer some kind of support, but as he turned around the master's eyes told him that if he left, he should not return.

Matt, who had watched this woman train with such grace and skill, suddenly questioned the effectiveness of the martial arts when used against a real-life attacker. Matt felt that the martial arts and the school had failed this black belt student by letting her believe she could adequately defend herself when, in fact, she could not. She was taught an art, but she was not taught how to defend herself against the kinds of attacks women are subjected to.

Matt did not return to the dojo and while finishing his last year at Stanford University he researched over 3000 assaults against women. He discovered commonalties in the ways rapists attack women. He discovered that males attack females differently than they attack other males. Men will fight other men, but a male attacking a woman will normally throw her to the ground with the intent to degrade her through sexual acts. A man learns to fight from the standing position, and is accustomed to fighting on the ground unless he has experience and training in ground fighting. When a rapist forces a woman onto the ground, he is not planning to fight her. His intentions are that of conquest and humiliation.

Ironically, a woman is actually stronger when fighting from the ground, because she is able to use the strongest parts of her body, her legs and hips. A woman who fights a man from the standing position cannot realistically compete with his greater upper body strength. An average woman’s upper body strength is 30% of an average man’s. Men are commonly taught to fight from a standing position, even though many fights will end up on the ground, they are not going to be comfortable on the ground unless they are a wrestler or grappler. If a woman is trained to fight on the ground, she can gain a significant advantage if attacked.

After his research, Matt offered a self-defense class after a violent assault occurred at Harvard University where he was attending medical school in 1972. He approached the administration about the research he had performed and they authorized him to teach the course where he immediately implemented the information he learned from studying assaults against women and applied modern instructional strategies in the format of the course, which Matt has described as being martial science.

In his first course Matt taught the techniques based on how women are really attacked as well as developing empowerment through role model mastery. He taught the women the counter techniques to the positions that rapists commonly place women in and the strategies necessary to stop an assailant. At the end of the course he covered himself in primitive protective padding and tested each women by attacking them in order to test their ability to defend themselves. They all failed!

The reasons these women failed were that they felt inhibited about hurting him. They felt uncomfortable about hitting because they were brought up with the mindset that "girls" are nice and did not hit or hurt people. Even though they were taught the proper techniques, most of them just froze in fear and were unable to overcome the "freeze response." He extended the class and re-attacked the women and they overcame their inhibitions and began responding effectively.

At the graduation, Matt was knocked unconscious. This demonstrated two points, the techniques worked and he needed better body armor. Through the years of teaching this revolutionary program he was injured over forty times and knocked out twenty-two times. Matt developed a protective suit that is now referred to as the "padded assailant." The modern equipment allows the male instructors to get up and walk away after each fight, uninjured. Injury is extremely rare considering the full contact devastating strikes instructors receive while teaching their students how to really fight. Not only is the equipment the best, the training instructors receive in how to properly wear it reduces the chances of injury.

http://www.modelmugging.org/evolu.htm

ash_wednesday · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:14 pm Post subject:

I can understand what might happened. She may had been taught the martial art but was tought how to fight. Praticing your moves and doing drills and hit a still object that doesn't hit back is one thing, Hiting a live opponent is another. I have heard this complant from a few martial artist. That they find it hard to hit a living target. They just don't follow through with their hits. She needs to do some full contact sparring to get use to hitting a live person.
_________________
"I am completly out of ammo....That's never happened to me before."

Guest · Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:33 pm Post subject:

Matt Thomas is a legend, and probably the first American to introduce scenario-based simulation into self-defence training for adrenaline conditioning.

He is also one of the first s-d traininers to advocate the strategy of feigned fear, the non-violent stance, and from there, launching open-handed strikes, kicks, elbows, and knees.

These two concepts are the pillars of most realistic womens' s-d nowadays.

However, what he initially taught about dropping to the ground and kicking has since been discredited by countless other trainers, who emphasize staying on your feet to generate body mechanics, and to facilitate escape. (e.g. Sanford Strong, Tony Blauer, Jim Wagner, Kelly McCann, JKD teachers, etc.)

Another problem with his methodology is the unsustainability of using Bulletmen as "human punching bags". Despite the Bulletman armour, which is the most protective design there is, long-term analysis has found that the "career span" of a typical Bulletman is only a few years. Beyond this, soft-tissue injury and repetitive stress to joints and organs require most of them to retire. (Note also that the bulletman style of armour does not protect the limbs well.) "Force-on-force" dynamic simulation methodologies have been found to be more sustainable for instructors, and some believe that it provides a more realistic training experience for students as well.

Matt Thomas will always be an icon of innovation, but the field has evolved far beyond that, since. From what I hear, Carol Connor's "Total Defence" is good, and there are many other good ones out there too.

Painkiller · Newbie Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 3

Guest · Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 1:49 pm Post subject:

erockybalboa1 · Guest

In these videos, our self defense expert will teach you many techniques for defending yourself from attackers. Our expert will demonstrate how to get away from many different types of holds, including hair grabs, headlocks, shirt grabs, wrist grabs, and grabs from behind. Not only will you learn how to escape these grabs, but you will also learn techniques for controlling your attacker once you have escaped.

Unfortunately, some times in order to defend yourself you must actually strike your attacker. In these videos, our expert will teach you the correct form for striking an attacker. You will learn proper punching technique, the elbow strike, and also how to turn ordinary objects into weapons if the need arises. In addition to learning how to properly strike an attacker, you will also learn how to defend and evade a punch.
You can see a bunch of free videos at:
http://beauty.expertvillage.com/interviews/self-defense.htm

arath · Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:04 pm Post subject:

hmmm, in our dojo, male and female students are taught an entirely different curriculum - I know this is radical to the western mindset, but the male and female bodies are made differently, and different strategies are required for victory in each case.

As for dealing with male upperbody strength, I am not a karateka, but a ninja, yet every karateka knows that there are several ways of multiplying striking power massively. When I was young, I lived in an extremely violent neighbourhood, yet nevertheless managed to take on bigger, tougher opponents, who were sometimes armed with sticks, knives and broken bottles. The woman in question had not failed her art, her art had failed her. And a master whose art fails a dedicated student should be punished. At least it is so among us.

The female warrior must be taught in the dojo to look at herself in just that way - as a warrior, a tigress, a creature that no man in his right mind would mess with for fear of having his throat ripped out. I have faced off against a female leopard, and she didn't fear me, why should a woman feel differently? Is it because the leopard has claws? - There are dozens of weapons that may be concealed upon ones person and used to as deadly effect as a leopards claws. All this amounts to one thing - no woman need ever be raped. In the area surrounding our dojo in the east, violent crime is minimal - I remember once standing at the edge of a bamboo thicket and watching a girl walk along a path up a small hill - and this girl was so afraid. I felt her fear, yet there was no reason for it. Because I, one of the ryu, stood there, she was safer than in her own house.

Blowjob Lessons · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:05 am Post subject:

lmao!
_________________
blowjoblessons@gmail.com

GIRLS ONLY! Guaranteed results! FREE FACIAL or PEARL NECKLACE with every lesson!

arath · Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:13 am Post subject:

at what? or who?
_________________
Humans possess a mind as sharp as steel and as dangerous as death itself.

http://darkninjaclan.com/

Blowjob Lessons · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:32 pm Post subject:

Dude, you sound like a freakin' cartoon character.
_________________
blowjoblessons@gmail.com

GIRLS ONLY! Guaranteed results! FREE FACIAL or PEARL NECKLACE with every lesson!

arath · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:37 pm Post subject:

okay, now will you answer my post on the other thread?
_________________
Humans possess a mind as sharp as steel and as dangerous as death itself.

http://darkninjaclan.com/

arath · Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:39 pm Post subject:

oh, and being a protective presence for a girl walking through a jungle is not a bad thing, cartoony or not.
_________________
Humans possess a mind as sharp as steel and as dangerous as death itself.

http://darkninjaclan.com/

Blowjob Lessons · Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject:

No, you're right about that. Just the way you describe it, very melodramatic, like you're a comic book character. Now, what post on what thread?
_________________
blowjoblessons@gmail.com

GIRLS ONLY! Guaranteed results! FREE FACIAL or PEARL NECKLACE with every lesson!

dakid · Registered User Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 9

Arath you really do sound like a cartoon character, damn, you could write those books. "Because I, one of the ryu, stood there, she was safer than in her own house.". That one cracked me up, what about you bj lessons?

Blowjob Lessons · Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:15 am Post subject:

That was the one that stood out to me too, big-time. Laughing

_________________
blowjoblessons@gmail.com

GIRLS ONLY! Guaranteed results! FREE FACIAL or PEARL NECKLACE with every lesson!