Informal Poll...

[Flash]

I admit it...I'm bored.

I'm wondering how many instructors out there (either people who read and post here or people known by people who read and post here) teach separate women's self-defense classes at their schools.

I won't argue the pros and cons of having separate women's classes but there is the undeniable fact that:

a) Many women might be intimidated INITIALLY by the prospect of working out with a bunch of sweaty and potentially sociopathic men (unless these women grew up with brothers)

and

b) There are many ways in which women will be attacked which no man will probably ever encounter unless he ends up getting sent up to a state or federal prison and ends up bunking with a love-sick cellmate.

Edited to clean up rather shoddy grammar.

[Hagrid]

We used to teach karate and women's self defense separately. Now that our school no longer teaches karate, and focuses only on self defense, the classes are all together. Each person gets individual instruction for his or her circumstances (size, weight, disposition, circumstances, etc.).

HAGRID

[chalambok]

I just have a couple of problems with a women's only counter-offensive class. The first is, women working out only with women kind of defeats the thesis, don't you think? If I, all 5'6" and 160 pounds, only worked out with people built like me, how would I fare against someone 6' or better, who might outweigh me by 50-60 pounds? I can honestly say I have NEVER been in any kind of fight where I was the bigger person. Also thank God my teachers were very progressive. Master Chai, knowing I am a professional musician, sometimes had me work out after staying up all night, or after getting drunk. "Steve," he would say, "your greatest odds of being attacked are when you are at your weakest." There is a great deal of logic in this statement. Predators always pick on the weakest member of the herd, street punks do too. My next problem is verbal initiators and verbal intimidation. Another female calling you a bitch or whatever might not frighten you whereas some large, smelly, menacing guy denigrating you and all your female ancestry might just. If you wish to fight in the ring against other women, then practice against other women. But if you want to survive in the real world, then you better train against the scariest guy in your class. The Model Mugging class I used to advise would scream and holler and try to mentally intimidate the students well before any physical work started, and it sometimes took several months before the 'quieter' ladies became self-confident enough to maintain some kind of equilibrium and go about their business. When planning a real-world confrontation, it is definitely best to train realistically, just like the SAS or GSG9 or Navy SeALs.