No Pill For Beauty

urbancombat:

Last time, I discussed de-escalation. Peripheral Vision is a tool which will aid in de-escalation and in defending against a sudden attack. Strictly speaking, “peripheral vision” refers to seeing things on the periphery of one’s field of view. In UCS, we assign it a more specific meaning, as it not only means the foregoing but is also a method to accomplish the same.

To maximize your visual field, focus your eyes on the area of an opponent’s throat. This will greatly expand your field of view, particularly top-to-bottom, enabling you to see even subtle movements of the feet without diverting your gaze downward and off of more immediate threats:

Peripheral vision has the added benefit of keeping your eyes off of the opponent’s eyes, which reduces the possibility of escalating with a look or stare, as well as preventing a “psych out” by an aggressive opponent.

The effect of peripheral vision lies in its ability to help you see things early in their development, also known as “cues.” A cue is the beginning of a motion which telegraphs either the intent or the motion itself.

Through peripheral vision, we are enabled to see the start of a hay-maker, a kick, a step back to launch into a tackle, and myriad other motions. Seeing them develop, coupled with proper training in de-escalation, mid-blocking, SPEAR, pre-emptive attack and other UCS concepts allows you to attack or defend tactically as the situation warrants.

Try it yourself next time in class: Stand just inside the kicking range with a partner. Now look at his eyes and have him move his toes. Indicate when you notice the motion. Now redirect your vision to the throat area and repeat. Simple, effective and almost infallible.

Just like ALL basics, reinforce it in all your drills and training sessions!

Adam

drinkstahnight:

Okay, so you’ve probably all seen this ‘anti rape tips’ post going around Tumblr the past few days. I have too.

I see this post, and I’m scared.

But I’m not scared of rapists. I’m scared of this post. 

Before this year, I thought I was strong. And, sure, I was. Just not strong enough to fight off a man who was determined to have sex with me.

I thought it’d be fine. But when he grabbed me on a dark street, my strength wasn’t enough. I was the strongest of any of my friends, male or female. And when a creepy guy came out of an alleyway late at night (I know this sounds like a cliché, but that’s how it happened) and grabbed me, a few swift kicks to the groin weren’t enough, despite what the movies tell you.

The current advise going around Tumblr tells you that if you fight back, he’ll leave you alone. And maybe this is true, in some cases. But it’s  not enough. I thought I’d be fine, being stronger than most of my female friends, and knowing how to kick a guy in the groin. But when a man grabbed me from behind, on an empty street as I walked home from a bar, it wasn’t enough. I eventually got away, but because a man came to my rescue, not because tricks I’d learned from reblogged posts were enough.

I’m not saying that a woman on her own isn’t enough to fight off a would-be rapist. I’m saying that you need to think about where that advice came from. You need to read this link, and you need to get proper self-defence, and be vigilant. There is no secret formula that will protect you from being raped. No special self-defence tips you can learn in two minutes on the internet that will save your live. Have short hair and wearing clothes that are hard to remove won’t save you.

These tips didn’t save me. And I don’t want them to destroy you.

www.snopes.com/crime/prevent/rape.asp

blackjkd:

Here’s some examples of “doing whatever it takes”. A person that studied JKD would be just as deadly but would try to find the maximum skills to stop any attack.

Behind bear-hug: If someone get’s you here you can give a backwards headbutt or a back-kick to the kneecap.

Front bear-hug: If your here you can give a forward headbutt or a knee to the groin.

Leg take-down: If an attacker gets you down to the ground from the front and starts to mount you give him some punches and elbows to the head.

Attacker on knees: You can knee-strike to the head, deliver straight-kicks, roundhouse-kicks, or throw some hook punches to the head.

Two handed choke: Stomp-kicks to the leg, kicks to the groin, punches to the head or finger-jabs to the eye.

a-blog-called-everything:

NOTE: This post is focused on harassment by cis men against cis women. It is not meant to erase other people’s experiences or suggest that this is the only type of harassment that occurs. It just happens to be the type which I can relate to the most as a cis female. In addition, I feel the relationship between power and gender roles makes gender relevant to this discussion.

I think most women at some point or another have experienced some form of sexual harassment. I once had a guy come up and grope my ass while I was making out with a girl in a gay bar. In this situation, I just gave him the finger then ignored him. In hindsight, I wish I’d reacted differently.

• Women are selected for harassment because they are perceived as good targets.
• A ‘good target’ is a person who will respond in a way that makes the harasser look and feel powerful.
• If the harasser gets the response he is looking for, either submission or over-reaction, the situation will probably continue and usually get worse.
• Men who sexually harass women are attempting to compensate for a feeling of weakness and inadequacy.

-Brent Sanders, How Dangerous Men Think

I think this really gets to the crux of the issue. Submitting, overreacting or ignoring will all make the harasser feel vindicated, and probably more confident. (Harriet J has an excellent post about why women typically react this way.) So what can we do when confronted? Maybe the best way to react to a creepy guy is to take away their control by doing something unexpected.

Strategy 1: Pointing and laughing

I have one female friend who has been in the situation where a man has taken his pants off completely uninvited. She said pointing and laughing made him shrink pretty quickly.

Brent Sanders has another variation on this:

Most guys in this type of situation have one, maximum two ‘good’ lines they can use. What they say is not important; what is important is how you respond... Whatever he says, say and do nothing; just keep staring at him but give him nothing.

I now want you to focus on something just above his head. It’s a big sign: DICKHEAD - and the longer he stands there the brighter it gets! Now I want you to think about your dog and say to yourself ‘This guy is just like my dog’.

Simply imagine or visualize the guy in front of you standing there in a big dog suit and now start to giggle, then let the giggle turn into a polite chuckle, the chuckle into a chortle and finally really let yourself go and have a bloody good laugh… One of your girlfriends… knows exactly what’s going on and races over to join you. She too is laughing aloud, pointing to the guy and saying, ‘It’s him; look, it’s the dog, I knew it was going to be him!’ A third friend now joins you in the hilarity and points knowingly at our somewhat bemused friend.

Of course some guys might try to regain a level of control by throwing a few insults at you, such as ‘What are you laughing at you stupid…’ My advice would be to recognize this response for what it is - a desperate attempt to engage you in a slanging match - so just stand your ground and keep laughing.

There is one thing the next guy who harasses you is totally unprepared for, one thing he is paranoid about, has no defense for: being laughed at.

Strategy 2: Do something weird and unexpected

Of course you could try Jenna Marbles approach:

These are just a few thoughts. What do you think is a good or bad response to this type of harassment?