Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
In a recent article I wrote about self-defense for women but with the understanding that I had little to no experience especially as it pertains to the differences of the gender under tutelage. I was riding along in the local BART train to work this morning when I observed a woman, yes an attractive woman to me, who stood about six feet tall and probably weighed in at almost 200 pounds and she was athletic, in shape, and moved well.
What it made me think of was, “What would be the differences between her and a male who were taking a self-defense training course?”
- I first considered the academics of the study and find there is no difference.
- I then considered the study of knowledge and understanding toward avoidance and deescalation if confronted with conflict and possibly violence and find there is no difference.
- Of course the next step is to consider the physical aspects of self-defense so I thought of the fundamental principles applications along with methodologies and force types and levels and find any differences mostly insignificant.
Notes: Yes, there are differences such as the most obvious regarding upper body strengths of the genders but if we come back and focus on applying force, power, multiple methodologies and force levels and types in self-defense then there are no apparent, to me, differences. It is no different to me that the size, structure and body types of the male gender. It is apparent that adjustments are made such as one methodology might be more effective and efficient for a small slight male vs. a lager and more muscular male. Yet, that would be the only difference but that has nothing to do with gender.
Women still carry a total weight and mass, they all have different sizes, weights and body masses from small petite to larger more athletic. Like the differences to the males gender the same overall differences apply to the female gender as long as they are taught the fundamental principles along with the multiple methodologies as well as the type and levels of force. Then all of the practitioners have to learn about how the totality of self-defense is applied to any given situation. I don’t even need to teach them one principle, etc., to another because during training they will discover for themselves what is effective, for them, and what is not especially learning to apply them to their one major threat - larger males with stronger muscles, etc.
Now, the one step taken in self-defense regarding the gender difference is one that is psychological in nature. This is the only area that I can perceive, at my current level of knowledge and experience, that warrants close scrutiny and a totally different training model making gender now critical to the practitioner who is female.
Why, because, at least in my days, females are socially conditioned differently, drastically different, and with one caveat for today that social conditioning seems to have changed - for some. When it comes to attitudes and how one perceives and reacts to things involving conflict and especially violence then the psychological aspects of learning, training, practice and most important applications becomes critical to my mind. This is where other more appropriate programs that come to mind such as one I recently received an email is being provided to the female gender where I work just for that purpose, to provide the female gender a more “appropriate program” that is not found in many self-defense programs especially those tied to martial disciplines and karate.
UNDERSTAND, I know there are always exceptions to the rule regarding both genders. In general and fundamentally if I were teaching self-defense in the dojo today the gender factor, except from a psychological social conditioning perspective, would not be different and both genders would train and practice together on the dojo floor. First, men need to know and understand that their perceptions of women and their capability to apply force and power physically is just as effective and efficient when they apply the physiokinetics properly toward using mass, movement, etc., to apply multiple methodologies they have found effective for them as individuals as what men apply in violent applications.
UNDERSTAND, there are many “What-if’s” that can be used to argue against what I am implying here in this article but we all know that there are what-if “Monkey’s dancing” at every seminar and program due to the various reasons one’s does that dance (Yes, I tend to do a what if thing but more academically in articles like in my blogs but on the dojo floor, not so much - focus grasshopper, on fundamental principles and force levels and types, etc., for self-defense.
Now, you karate folks are going to start in on kata bunkai and how when applied differ because of the obvious differences in genders but if you really allow an open mind you may be able to see how this can be true BECAUSE in the end the full spectrum of self-defense applies to all genders regardless.
EXAMPLES:
1. Physiokinetics are the same for both genders, i.e., structure is structure; alignment is alignment; breathing is breathing; posture is posture; centerline is centerline; axis is axis; sequential locking and sequential relaxation is sequential locking and sequential relaxation; centeredness is centeredness; centripetal force is centripetal force and so on down the line.
2. Multiple methodologies are the same for both genders, i.e., impacts are impacts; drives (pushes) are drives (pushes); pulls are pulls; twists are twists; takedowns/throws and compressions are takedowns/throws and compressions, etc.
3. Types of forces are the same for both genders, i.e., spiraling is spiraling; scissoring is scissoring; carving is carving and shearing is shearing.
4. Levels of force are the same for both genders as dictated by the situation, force disparities, legal and legal system laws and requirements, perceptions of those who respond from the legal system and so on, i.e., see Rory Miller’s and Marc MacYoung’s books regarding the use of force at levels appropriate to the forces applied against you, etc.
5. How one applies self-defense is the same for both genders, i.e., the facts of any given situation, the individual perceptions in those situations, the impressions, interactions and observations, etc., based on experiences, knowledge and understandings all in self-defense do not depend on gender.
6. How adrenal stress-conditions/chemical dumps effect humans are the same for both genders.
7. Sensory stimuli and input to our brains are the same for both genders, i.e., we hear, we see, we touch, we smell and we taste pretty much the same except how we perceive, orient and decide a course of action where the psychological conditioning of genders in a social sense may effect distinctions made and so on.
So, in the fundamental sense gender distinctions really don’t matter in self-defense. As students continue to study and become aware of and understand how conflict and violence work the fense involved from a full spectrum of self-defense has no gender specificity until you begin to get to the particulars differing psychologically and socially toward each gender, etc.
What I perceive happening is our pension to gravitate toward beliefs and how those are created, set and rendered in life that we become caught up in a restrictive thought process binding us to beliefs that genders are unique and different yet in self-defense at such a fundamental level - not so much.
As I discovered, initially and this may change, in the program I mentioned being offered where I work one woman who took the course familiar with the works and training of both Mr. Miller and Mr. MacYoung, two of many such professionals, the program in question followed their methods pretty close.
A Thought: Marc MacYoung uses a test to see if something falls into self-defense, the wheelbarrow test. Maybe if it cannot be placed in a wheelbarrow we can assume it is not gender specific or effected by but simply a psychological thing. Gotta think a bit more about that one.
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“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)
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