Even in today's modern times there are some martial arts instructors out there who feel that women have little or no place in the martial arts. They make disparaging comments as to a woman's inability to absorb a beating or spar full contact with a 200 pound man. Apparently sometime in their career these instructors forgot where their martial arts came from. The truth of the matter is that the martial arts have their origin in Asia, where many, if not most of the martial artists are smaller than your average American woman. Would any instructor think it proper for a 120 pound Asian martial artist to spar full contact with a 200 pound American martial artist? The answers obvious. But for some reason they feel a 120 pound woman is weak if she can't hold her own against a much larger male.
Other instructor's feel that women should stick to the softer arts like tai chi, or train in schools that specialize in women only classes. Training in classes where there are only women probably causes far more harm than good for the average female student. It's a fact of life that if a woman is attacked, the attacker will most likely be a male. For this very reason women need martial arts training more than men. If attacked most men can hold their own and escape with little or no injuries.
Unfortunately a different type of criminal preys on women. When attacked most women face severe injury, rape, or murder.
Dirty Fighting
Although the dedicated practice of the martial arts can award it's devotees with many fine attributes, there is nothing mystical or magical about the arts. Even though courage and tenacity has a lot to do with the outcome of a fight, the main reason a smaller man or women can defeat a larger attacker is because the martial artist has mastered the art of dirty fighting. What I mean by dirty fighting is the use of techniques that were once thought of in this country as being un-sportsman like.
Not too long ago there was a time when if you were involved in a fist fight it was more to blow off steam than anything else. If you went down, your opponent would most likely let you get up and resume the fight. Nobody kicked, poked eyes, or used a weapon. It was more of a contest of one's fighting ability, than an attempt to kill or maim someone. Of course there has always been the criminal element who's sole purpose was inflict as much damage on their victims as possible.
If a average size woman punches a well muscled or large man in anyplace other than a vital area he will most likely shake it off and resume his attack within seconds. If this same woman was to kick the man she would be able to strike him with much more force but still may not be able to stop his attack. This is where the use of vital point strikes are the most useful. Vital point strikes allow a smaller male or female to cause debilitating injuries to a much larger and stronger attacker.
What Are Vital Points
What are vital points? If you ask a martial artist who has a vast knowledge of the human anatomy this question he may give you a hundred examples of common and obscure vital points. This type of anatomical knowledge takes years or decades to acquire. A more simple explanation of vital points would be areas on the human body that can be easily damaged by striking with a minimum amount of force.
For basic self defense needs women need only concern themselves with three main vital points, the eyes, the groin, and the throat. Other areas such as the solar plexus, knee, shin, temple, etc., should be considered secondary areas to be struck.
The Groin
It doesn't matter if your a 120 pound weakling or a 300 pound professional football player. If you take a shot to the groin your going to go down, or at least stop whatever your doing very quickly. And it doesn't matter if the kick comes from a adult male or your 8 year old nephew.
Most of the time when men fight they go out of their way to protect their groin area. This is not always the rule when a man is attacking a woman. Many times a rapist expects no resistance at all from his victim. In fact much of his sexual gratification may come from terrorizing the woman and imposing his physical dominance over her. This makes him less suspicious of a groin attack coming from a terrified victim.
Because the groin is protected on either side by the legs, strikes have to be delivered either straight in or straight up between the legs. If standing, a front snap kick is the quickest, most effective way to strike the groin. If forced down to your knees, a punch or grab can be executed. If the attacker straddles you, at some point he is going to expose his groin area so that he can complete the sex act. At this point the groin is very vulnerable to a kick or grab.
A properly placed blow to the groin can cause pain, shock, loss of breath, nausea, vomiting, unconsciousness, and possible death.
The Throat
The throat is another area that can be easily damaged with a blow delivering minimal force. Thru the throat flow the two most important life sustaining elements, blood and oxygen. Without these two elements the body will die within minutes. The sensitive air passage, veins, and nerves combine to make the throat a very painful, and disabling area when struck.
The most effective area to strike on the throat is the frontal portion. This can be struck with a knifehand strike, a foreknuckle punch, or grabbed with a ripping motion. Most men do not worry that much about protecting their throat. It can be struck by a victim who is facing her attacker, on the side of her attacker, or when on the ground with the attacker bending over her.
The Eyes
The eyes are perhaps the best target a women can attack when defending herself. They can be easily poked, clawed, or raked with keys or other items. If you can touch someone's face you are close enough to attack the eyes.
There is no stronger sense of helplessness than to suddenly lose your sight. Along with the excruciating pain of a eye attack comes temporary or permanent blindness. This two fold debilitation often allows a victim to break free and escape while her blinded attacker is incapable of pursuing her.
In Conclusion
Although the vital point strikes discussed in this article sound brutal and cruel, they may be necessary if a woman wants to effectively defend herself. Because American Kenpo is known for it's use of eye pokes, groin kicks, and other vital point strikes I discussed the subject with Jo Harris a American Kenpo instructor from Mira Loma, California. It was her strong feeling that any man who would attack a woman is extremely dangerous and deserves what ever he gets. After all men may fight for sport and to settle disagreements, but when it comes time for a woman to fight she's most likely fighting for her life.
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