Women started doing many different things..all the talk about rape, had women going for karate, for self defence.......... and this increased their confidence.... i remember I too went for karate classses....not that I could do much kicking........ freaked out when we had to lie on the floor and had other students run on our stomachs.... not for me, I was sure.
SHE
KICKS FOR SAFEY
They wear white drill pants and white shirts in the Japanese styles. No buttons on the shirt, but a belt which ties both sections together. The girls wear no ear rings, no chains, and no bangles. They aren’t allowed.
For an hour they practice --- hands fly in punches aimed at the head, stomach and groins. Legs kicked up, fifty kicks aimed at the head.
THE girls groan. It’s difficult. You can see their muscles tense up as hands and legs which are not used to fighting and punching begin their long training.
Strenuous
NO longer are, at least, a small group of women willing to let other men defend them. In Bombay, a growing number of women are learning the elementary forms of self-defence some are learning elementary forms of self-defence—some are learning karate, others learn judo. These forms of martial arts basically use the body itself as a weapon.
IN KARATE, some parts of the body—the edge of the hand, the side of the foot—are strengthened, and are trained to punch in such a manner as to cause hurt.
IN JUDO, you are taught how to use the body itself to throw others around. So if by chance you are going alone in a train and someone tries to attack you, or if by chance you are coming home and someone is following you, your heart won’t miss a couple of beats. You will know just what to do—enough to turn the fellow off, but not too much as to harm seriously.
“ONE problem with these classes”, a woman complains, “is that it is really strenuous. They are not aimed at teaching just elementary self-defence for women-they are aimed to develop karate experts.
FOR example, they make you do push-ups on your knuckles, then on two fingers, then on one finger “I am lucky if I can do one push-upon my full hand; and we have to do fifty. Maybe men can do it, but me , after two deliveries, find it impossible.”
Psycho block
THE instructors themselves say it is possible to develop a short course of two to three months where only very simple holds and punches, and which are enough for a woman to defend herself are taught.
THE first thing, and surprisingly the most difficult, is to get a woman psychologically accustomed to hitting a man. “You will be amazed”, the instructor says, “I‘ll be standing in front of a woman. She has been practicing punches for ten minutes. I tell her hit me hard in the stomach she ‘ll begin the punch, but before she hits my stomach, she stops. How can I hit you? she say I have to keep telling her that she has to hit me, then finally she ‘ll give me4 little tap. So breaking this psychological hesitance of hitting a man is almost going half the way.”
THERE are relatively simple things that one should know about self-defence. First are the sensitive areas. A kick or punch in the groins is enough to make a man bend over in excruciating pain, giving you enough time-to run away . a sharp jab with two fingers in the eyes will again cause enough pain for you to escape.
Learn to fight
AND most effective, and many of my friends who travel at night do this, is to carry a small packet of chilli powder in the bag. If anyone gets trouble-some just throw it in the eyes-the stronger it is the better. And don’t worry, it won’t blind him.
WOMEN must begin to learn to fight back. From our child-hood days we have been told don’t fight”. “That’s not for girls to do”. Result is that we are so crippled and our minds and bodies have to be trained again to attack and not look for others to take care of us but defend ourselves.
EVERY school should teach girls self-defence-and hopefully, soon, short courses on self-defence designed especially for women will start.
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