Letters

Dear WSW,

I have a few comments to make concerning Deborah McCormick's article titled "Preventing Rape by Self? Defense". I am glad to see selfdefense is an important issue. But what is adequate self-defense training?

It is irresponsible to teach six-week classes to women and let them go home believing they can protect themselves!1 A six-week or week-end workship will not undo the years of instilled passivity. Such limited training is a good way to get killed! It's also a monetary rip-off to women who believe they have acquired some real training.

I once grabbed the neck of a woman who had taken such a class. "Now, quick," I said, "what would you do?"

vol:11, no. 2

She was at a loss for five mintues-that's long enough to be beaten!

True self-defense takes years of dedication. A martial artist is conditioned in 'mental discipline so as not to panic in a crisis. Tolerance is also built against pain-you can't stop fighting just because you get a broken arm or `bloody nose. Physical fitness is of importance, too.

Yet with all this, a wise martial artist realizes the limits of hand and foot combat. Bruce Lee never tried to block a bullet. I caution against overglorifying, and over-simplifying selfdefense.

Another aspect of the conditioning of self-defense is to get used to fighting with those who would attack you. I'm very much opposed to all-

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women classes. For best conditioning, you must practice fighting men. To avoid fighting with men is simply refusing to deal with the "internalized societal expectations that reinforce and continue our dependence and feeling of helplessness," to borrow some words from McCormick.

I know that male instructors and fighting partners are often sexist. It is important to be in a women's consciousness group or have the experience of such a group in your past to help deal with sexist attitudes. There is also much internal nonviolent conditioning to overcome. This is the dragon in herself which each woman must slay.

Unless a woman is truly committed to self-defense and physical fitness, she is better off with low-heeled shoes, lighted parking lots and dead bolt locks. An ounce of prevention is better than a false sense of ability.

As a martial artist I know what it takes not only to defend oneself physically, but to defend one's right to be a martial artist. Many men have chosen me as a target because they were threatened by my skill. Just the same I feel all women should become martial artists, but they must be committed.

-Pat Hilliard First Dan Black Belt Tae Kwon Do

McCormick's Reply:

The very valuable information I have received regarding women's selfdefense has been from short classes and workshops, not martial arts training. Martial arts training is tremendously valuable for many reasons, and I highly encourage women to participate in it. But a woman rarely receives the practical information and techniques which are appropriate for sexual assault situations and has them presented in a supportive, feminist atmosphere. One of the few exceptions is the all-woman club FIST (Feminists In Self-Defense Training) in Columbus. The National Women's Martial Arts Federation is putting more emphasis on self-defense during annual and regional trainings because martial arts women, including Black Belts, do not know how or what to teach women in self-defense classes. Presenting this kind of information was one of the purposes of a National SelfDefense Teaching Practicum held in Columbus this past March.

I also want you to realize that some of the very best fighters I know of are from all-women clubs. Choosing to work in an all-woman setting is a healthy, positive decision which indicates a recognition of the value of women's knowledge, experience, and ability.

The attitude that one must be physically fit to defend herself is oppressive. For example, doctors consistently tell fat women they are unhealthy and not physically fit, that they must lose weight, shape up, etc.

Yet fat women, like anyone else, can defend themselves just fine. I don't know what physical fitness means to you. Can disabled people be physically fit? I know our differences affect how we defend ourselves, but you seem to be saying that these differences prevent us from defending ourselves.

Practical self-defense does not require years of martial arts training. Saying it does only perpetuates our feeling of helplessness and, therefore, perpetuates rape.

Dear What She Wants

I have read with interest the animal rights article and letter in the March and April/May issues of What She Wants, but I am puzzled by the relationship between chickens and women's concerns, I also wonder how many of What She Wants' readers are aware of the unjust imprisonment, torture, and political killings of hundreds of thousands of women, men, and children around the world. These acts are being committed by governments against their own citizens. Let me cite some examples from a recent Amnesty International campaign for imprisoned women:

Lu Hsiu-Lien was arrested on December 10, 1979 (Human Rights Day) in Taiwan, after a human rights rally that ended in rioting. Lu, 37, was an editor of Formosa Magazine and an outspoken feminist author and organizer for more than 10 years. She was tried with 8 others by a military court for "sedition" and was convicted on the basis of "confessions" extracted illegally during two months -of intense interrogation which includ ed beatings and sleep deprivation. She has not served 3 years of her 12-year sentence, and her health has deteriorated seriously as a result of grim prison conditions.

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Modesta Carolina Wiff Sepulveda was abducted on June 25, 1975, 'in Santiago, Chile, by men in plain clothes. A person abducted with her was later seen in a government-run torture center, but Carolina Wiff has (continued on page 13)

Dear What She Wants,

I would like to receive your paper,

and also to let you know that I had to go all the way to Salina, Kansas to find out that you exist!

I moved back in with my parents in December and have since been searching the Cleveland area for things to do, especially women-oriented activities. It wasn't until I visited a friend in Kansas who had attended Oberlin that I found out that the Women's Building exists, that Coventry Books is the closest thing Cleveland has to a women's book store, and about What She Wants.

Just wanted you to know that if your paper was better known, more accessible, I think it would be helpful. Thank you.

-Rebecca Fothfasz

June, 1983/What She Wants/Page 1

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