International Women's Day - Equals

MaeveD

Not really off topic, listen to those statistics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkp4t5NYzVM

pearsquasher

FYI I currently have equal number of women and men at my club (not including yours truly).

Also, I have noticed over the years that women tend to be better kickers and throwers when complete beginners. All due to a generally lower centre of gravity and less pre-conceived ideas of what kicks/throws are.


Interesting!

Sid_Justice

what's your point maeve exactly re: sd&ma

MaeveD

Sid_Justice wrote: »

what's your point maeve exactly re: sd&ma

about what.... exactly?

arybvtcw0eolkf

I don't get this tbh.

Gorey_R

If you don't get it, you're probably sexist! I get it, of course. Good post love.

MaeveD

I'm just interested in the self defence related stuff they quote on the video:

60 million sexually girls assaulted on their way to school
2 women killed every day in the UK
1 in 4 etc

makes me sad every time I hear whats happening to girls right here in Dublin.... not any different to anywhere else it seems

MaeveD

Gorey_R wrote: »

If you don't get it, you're probably sexist! I get it, of course. Good post love.

ha ha

Barry.Oglesby

I think I know what you're saying Maeve but surely this is less a self defence topic and more a sociological one? Attacks from partners, domestic murders etc. are not self defence issues really, neither, in a lot of ways, is sexual assault, at least not in the way this forum would view it. To clarify that before I get jumped on- teaching someone to defend an attack has a small value, contributing to broader education would have a greater value, but few are willing to do that.

Anyway women's day irritated me. Too many middle class women spouting about work opportunities and little mention of genital mutilation, forced marriage, sexual oppression etc. etc. which seems more immediate to me.

Tim_Murphy

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I think I know what you're saying Maeve but surely this is less a self defence topic and more a sociological one? Attacks from partners, domestic murders etc. are not self defence issues really, neither, in a lot of ways, is sexual assault, at least not in the way this forum would view it. To clarify that before I get jumped on- teaching someone to defend an attack has a small value, contributing to broader education would have a greater value, but few are willing to do that.

Anyway women's day irritated me. Too many middle class women spouting about work opportunities and little mention of genital mutilation, forced marriage, sexual oppression etc. etc. which seems more immediate to me.

+1

MaeveD

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I think I know what you're saying Maeve but surely this is less a self defence topic and more a sociological one? Attacks from partners, domestic murders etc. are not self defence issues really, neither, in a lot of ways, is sexual assault, at least not in the way this forum would view it. To clarify that before I get jumped on- teaching someone to defend an attack has a small value, contributing to broader education would have a greater value, but few are willing to do that.

Anyway women's day irritated me. Too many middle class women spouting about work opportunities and little mention of genital mutilation, forced marriage, sexual oppression etc. etc. which seems more immediate to me.

I'm not the jumping type, I actually pretty much agree with you.... but I think they are self defence issues too. We spend a lot of time teaching in girls schools so can be counted in that few, ours is very much an educational course and not the usual kicking and punching pads to music.

I'm interested to know what way this forum views self defence? Sexual assault and rape are both physical assaults

just-joe

Some of those stats seem a bit ropey. I'd like to know where they come from.

MaeveD

just-joe wrote: »

Some of those stats seem a bit ropey. I'd like to know where they come from.

Unfortunately I say they are pretty accurate... as for Ireland, the RCSI did a study here a few years ago and the results were shocking, you can see the results on their site. Off the top of my head.... they found that incidents of sexual assault had risen by 83% in one calendar year.

27% of children in Ireland will be victims of sexual violence before they are 18 years old (see oneinfour.ie)
You can also find more info and Irish stats on the Rape Crisis Centre website.

In my experience a lot of girls and women don't report an attack to anyone.

cowzerp

MaeveD wrote: »

27% of children in Ireland will be victims of sexual violence before they are 18 years old (see oneinfour.ie).

To be honest thats BS, these stats must be done in the rape center, thats 1 in 4 children will be sexually assaulted, abused whatever-im a sceptic.

PS, add on, im also pretty sure way more men are physically assaulted than women too.

Barry.Oglesby

MaeveD wrote: »

I'm interested to know what way this forum views self defence? Sexual assault and rape are both physical assaults

I can't dig up the figures with a quick google but as I recall as extremely high percentage of sexual assault/rape victims know their attackers. I may be wrong but I think it was in the region of 70%. I know that doesn't make it a less physical assault, but I think it's an indicator of how complicated the topic is. I think people tend to view assault or rape as a man in a balaclava ambushing someone, when it's far more likely a boyfriend/date/acquaintance/partner. So this is my point essentially; teaching "scratch their eyes" self defence might be useful in a small percentage of cases, and is usually defended as a course of action by the old "if it helps just one girl..." But maybe the energy would be better directed into developing more centres for abused spouses, education on substance and alcohol abuse, soft self defence skills and so on. I'm not trying to dismiss hard skills out of hand as I think we all know that even in a Utopian society, there would probably still be rapists, but I just think it's less of a self defence issue and more of a societal one.

So to relate it back to the original video- how many women on International Women's day thought of abused spouses, rape victims etc., and how many thought "the guy in cubicle 12 isn't as good at his job as me but earns more"? I just felt the general emphasis was wrong.

MaeveD

How about you make an informed reply rather than a BS one like that Paul?

Sid_Justice

MaeveD wrote: »

We spend a lot of time teaching in girls schools so can be counted in that few, ours is very much an educational course and not the usual kicking and punching pads to music.

Just wondering how you (pl) came to be qualified to teach something like a an educational self-defence course to children.

MaeveD

Barry, I don't like the term 'know' their attacker as its very misleading. For example included in those numbers: someone who says hi to you at a bus stop one morning, and when you meet them at 3am you let your guard down because you 'know' their face.
If anything I've taught verbally or physically helps one person avoid or fight off an attacker, I'm happy.... I've no intention of going into another field, there are plenty of qualified professionals out there providing the services you mention. As far as I know there is no one else in Ireland providing a course like the one we teach.
I also agree with you that eye scratching, instep squashing, eye poking, shin kicking, face punching and Buffy style self defence courses for women are pretty useless.... thats not what we're about!

Sid Justice, we did our original certification in the US in Phoenix, Arizona and in New York about 8 years ago and have returned there regularly to re-certifty and hope to re-certify here this summer. For anyone who's interested have a look at the founder Brad Parkers site www.defendu.com, lots of information on Defend University, what we're about and how this course came to be... also lots of info about Steve Kardian from Defend University New York.

As for a lot of the information we provide, we are lucky enough to have friends who are professionals in relevant areas here and abroad who constantly advise and help us to make our course better.

Also at the moment we are setting up a non profit group that provide females in Ireland in any age group with all of the necessary tools to develop their awareness of their own physical security, and to empower individuals to deal with threats to their own safety.

Our primary focus is to provide information and advice on rape prevention and sexual assualt using mediums such as internet, lectures, presentations, leaflets and handouts.

MaeveD

pearsquasher wrote: »

FYI I currently have equal number of women and men at my club
Interesting!

Thats impressive pearsquasher, and there was me getting excited because we've recently doubled our regular female BJJers.... ehh from 2 to 4!

How'd you manage it, are you terribly handsome or something? :P