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The womanly art of self-defense
Options are few here for women who want to learn how to protect themselves.
By Courtenay Edelhart
[email protected]
Karen Patitz is a typical overprotective mom, so when the older of her two teenage daughters was preparing to leave for college, she enrolled her girls in a self-defense class.
"So often women are raised to not ask for help, or to try to resolve conflict verbally and talk things through, but there unfortunately are times when you actually need to deal with confrontation physically," said Patitz, 53, who lives on the Northwestside. "Women need to know how to overpower someone larger than themselves and get away."
Women are about two-thirds as likely as men to be victims of violence, but are at higher risk than men to be victimized by intimate partners, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. About 683,000 rapes occur each year, and nearly half of offenders are persons the victims know, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There aren't many options in the Indianapolis area for women interested in learning how to protect themselves. Some city and university police departments teach courses, among them the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, which offers periodic courses at library branches. Neither the Marion County Sheriff's Department nor the Indianapolis Police Department conducts training for the public due to liability concerns.
Martial-arts studios abound, but most of them concentrate on long-term, ongoing training as opposed to one-time workshops for people only interested in learning a few defensive moves. Some fitness clubs also offer aerobics classes that incorporate elements of boxing and kickboxing.
Your best bet is a community center, such as a YMCA or senior center. They usually sponsor workshops a few times a year.
Wherever you go, there are a few things to keep in mind when selecting a class.
Ideally, there should be at least a cursory overview of the law. That instruction should be up to date, too, because laws are constantly changing. For instance, Indiana recently became the third state in the nation to codify that people have the right to use deadly force when threatened without first trying to back away.
If you're taking a one-time workshop as opposed to ongoing classes, "Keep it simple and direct," said Gary Hoyd, owner of Elite Martial Arts and Cage Fighting, a Northeastside school that offers a self-defense class once a month.
"It's like having a machine. A machine with 10 gears is more likely to break down than one with two gears, because there's more to go wrong," Hoyd said. "Instead of spinning around and kicking somebody, just kick them."
Make sure, too, that the class offers "live training" -- that is, students don't pretend to hit and kick. They really do it.
"I can do a slow motion punch and you can try to defend that, but that's a lot different than when I put on my padding and let you have at me," Hoyd said.
Duncan Williams is a seventh-degree black belt who owns North Indy Taekwondo and teaches occasional self-defense classes at YMCA branches.
He advises anyone looking for a class to check on whether at least part of the training covers how to avoid dangerous situations in the first place.
"Most people will teach you a few physical techniques, but ideally you also want to learn how to prevent yourself from becoming a victim," Duncan said. "Stay out of dark areas where there are few people around, vary your routine so it's not predictable, that sort of thing."
Level 10 Martial Arts on the Southside offers a basic self-defense class two or three times a year. Co-owner Debi Theros believes all good classes should have a role-playing element to give students exposure to scenarios they could potentially encounter in real life.
"We have the students deal with all kinds of hypothetical situations, from the aggressive panhandler to a persistent guy who's trying to pick you up to the creepy stranger who doesn't say anything but just stares at you," Theros said. "We try to make it as realistic as possible. Foul language, all that. It's really uncomfortable, but that's what they're going to have to deal with out there, so we want to see how they react to that."
After a class is over, practice maneuvers often so you don't forget what you've learned, North Indy Taekwondo's Williams advises, and take a refresher course from time to time to polish your skills.
Melanie Hampson, 26, of Greenwood, took a self-defense class earlier this month and wishes she had started earlier.
"I've been in a couple of situations where I didn't feel entirely safe, and being able to defend myself would have been really helpful back then," she said.
Hampson recalled one uncomfortable encounter a few years ago when she was a college student. A strange man tried to back her into the corner of a stairwell in her dormitory late at night. "He just let go, for some reason, so I ran down the stairs to my friends," she said.
In addition to the self-defense class, Hampson has been studying taekwondo for a little more than a year. That's boosted her confidence. "I think, if something like that happened again, I could get away," she said.
College student Hillary Patitz is Karen Patitz's 19-year-old daughter. She says having been trained in self-defense makes her feel more secure.
"I like to travel a lot, and a lot of times I'm traveling alone," she said. "I can't say I think the environment feels any safer, but I do feel better about my ability to protect myself. I'm better prepared to defend myself in any given situation."
Fighting back
Ideally, a good self-defense program should reflect these philosophical points:
• People do not ask for, cause, invite or deserve to be assaulted. Women and men sometimes exercise poor judgment about safety behavior, but that does not make them responsible for the attack. Attackers are responsible for their attacks and their use of violence to overpower, control and abuse another human being.
• Whatever a person's decision in a given self-defense situation, whatever the action she or he does or does not take, he or she is not at fault. A person's decision to survive the best way they can must be respected. Self- defense classes should not be used as judgment against a victim/survivor.
• Good self-defense programs do not tell an individual what she should or should not do. A program should offer options, techniques and a way of analyzing situations. A program may point out what works best in most situations, but each situation is unique, and the final decision rests with the person actually confronted with the situation.
• Empowerment is the goal of a good self-defense program. The individual's right to make decisions about his or her participation must be respected. Pressure should not be brought to bear in any way to get a person to participate in an activity unwillingly.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060528/LIVING/605280321/1007/LIVING
Options are few here for women who want to learn how to protect themselves.
By Courtenay Edelhart
[email protected]
Karen Patitz is a typical overprotective mom, so when the older of her two teenage daughters was preparing to leave for college, she enrolled her girls in a self-defense class.
"So often women are raised to not ask for help, or to try to resolve conflict verbally and talk things through, but there unfortunately are times when you actually need to deal with confrontation physically," said Patitz, 53, who lives on the Northwestside. "Women need to know how to overpower someone larger than themselves and get away."
Women are about two-thirds as likely as men to be victims of violence, but are at higher risk than men to be victimized by intimate partners, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. About 683,000 rapes occur each year, and nearly half of offenders are persons the victims know, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There aren't many options in the Indianapolis area for women interested in learning how to protect themselves. Some city and university police departments teach courses, among them the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, which offers periodic courses at library branches. Neither the Marion County Sheriff's Department nor the Indianapolis Police Department conducts training for the public due to liability concerns.
Martial-arts studios abound, but most of them concentrate on long-term, ongoing training as opposed to one-time workshops for people only interested in learning a few defensive moves. Some fitness clubs also offer aerobics classes that incorporate elements of boxing and kickboxing.
Your best bet is a community center, such as a YMCA or senior center. They usually sponsor workshops a few times a year.
Wherever you go, there are a few things to keep in mind when selecting a class.
Ideally, there should be at least a cursory overview of the law. That instruction should be up to date, too, because laws are constantly changing. For instance, Indiana recently became the third state in the nation to codify that people have the right to use deadly force when threatened without first trying to back away.
If you're taking a one-time workshop as opposed to ongoing classes, "Keep it simple and direct," said Gary Hoyd, owner of Elite Martial Arts and Cage Fighting, a Northeastside school that offers a self-defense class once a month.
"It's like having a machine. A machine with 10 gears is more likely to break down than one with two gears, because there's more to go wrong," Hoyd said. "Instead of spinning around and kicking somebody, just kick them."
Make sure, too, that the class offers "live training" -- that is, students don't pretend to hit and kick. They really do it.
"I can do a slow motion punch and you can try to defend that, but that's a lot different than when I put on my padding and let you have at me," Hoyd said.
Duncan Williams is a seventh-degree black belt who owns North Indy Taekwondo and teaches occasional self-defense classes at YMCA branches.
He advises anyone looking for a class to check on whether at least part of the training covers how to avoid dangerous situations in the first place.
"Most people will teach you a few physical techniques, but ideally you also want to learn how to prevent yourself from becoming a victim," Duncan said. "Stay out of dark areas where there are few people around, vary your routine so it's not predictable, that sort of thing."
Level 10 Martial Arts on the Southside offers a basic self-defense class two or three times a year. Co-owner Debi Theros believes all good classes should have a role-playing element to give students exposure to scenarios they could potentially encounter in real life.
"We have the students deal with all kinds of hypothetical situations, from the aggressive panhandler to a persistent guy who's trying to pick you up to the creepy stranger who doesn't say anything but just stares at you," Theros said. "We try to make it as realistic as possible. Foul language, all that. It's really uncomfortable, but that's what they're going to have to deal with out there, so we want to see how they react to that."
After a class is over, practice maneuvers often so you don't forget what you've learned, North Indy Taekwondo's Williams advises, and take a refresher course from time to time to polish your skills.
Melanie Hampson, 26, of Greenwood, took a self-defense class earlier this month and wishes she had started earlier.
"I've been in a couple of situations where I didn't feel entirely safe, and being able to defend myself would have been really helpful back then," she said.
Hampson recalled one uncomfortable encounter a few years ago when she was a college student. A strange man tried to back her into the corner of a stairwell in her dormitory late at night. "He just let go, for some reason, so I ran down the stairs to my friends," she said.
In addition to the self-defense class, Hampson has been studying taekwondo for a little more than a year. That's boosted her confidence. "I think, if something like that happened again, I could get away," she said.
College student Hillary Patitz is Karen Patitz's 19-year-old daughter. She says having been trained in self-defense makes her feel more secure.
"I like to travel a lot, and a lot of times I'm traveling alone," she said. "I can't say I think the environment feels any safer, but I do feel better about my ability to protect myself. I'm better prepared to defend myself in any given situation."
Fighting back
Ideally, a good self-defense program should reflect these philosophical points:
• People do not ask for, cause, invite or deserve to be assaulted. Women and men sometimes exercise poor judgment about safety behavior, but that does not make them responsible for the attack. Attackers are responsible for their attacks and their use of violence to overpower, control and abuse another human being.
• Whatever a person's decision in a given self-defense situation, whatever the action she or he does or does not take, he or she is not at fault. A person's decision to survive the best way they can must be respected. Self- defense classes should not be used as judgment against a victim/survivor.
• Good self-defense programs do not tell an individual what she should or should not do. A program should offer options, techniques and a way of analyzing situations. A program may point out what works best in most situations, but each situation is unique, and the final decision rests with the person actually confronted with the situation.
• Empowerment is the goal of a good self-defense program. The individual's right to make decisions about his or her participation must be respected. Pressure should not be brought to bear in any way to get a person to participate in an activity unwillingly.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060528/LIVING/605280321/1007/LIVING
