U.S. WOMEN FIGHT BACK

Women in tfie U.S. are fighting back. In response to the rising incidence of rape, U.S. women are : holding "Take Back the Night" demonstrations, marches of women held at
night to "take back" the right to walk at night safely; learning self-defense techniques; and instituting curfews of their own for men fa women's group, not the police, were responsible for the poster at righ).

SELF-DEFENSE

The following interview is translated from Lua - a feminist review from Portugal (see Resources for details).

Lua magazine (L) : What exactly is aikido ?

Conceipao (C) : It's a technique for defense and attack; basically a defense technique.

L : What parts of the body does one use ?

C : The whole body

Filomena (F) : The aim is to throw the enemy off balance.

C : Yes, to unbalance him so as to make him fall and neutralize him. He no longer moves. It's all based on a controlledbreathing technique. Basically you must control your breathing and be aware of your body; with the complete control of your body which you achieve through breathing control you can overcome your enemy. But the technique is not attack, like when you go into the street and someone attacks you, what do you do ? You push him away, you defend yourself. In aikido it is not like that. If someone attacks you, you immediately draw back; and what happens ? Your opponent has to go after you and when he follows you, you immediately try to unbalance him; it is his offensive..

L : So I use his force against him...

C : It's not really his force. One uses very little force in aikido.

L : So it's ideal to use in combat by a weaker person against a stronger... ?

C : You don't need any force at all. You just try to use the unbalance of your opponent.

L : Why did you start thinking about doing aikido ? Is Setubal such a dangerous city ?

C : Yes, at night it is.

F : First of all, because it is something new. And then because we were fed up with men bothering us on the streets and we couldn't respond... if they do anything to us, what can we do ? A woman also has strength like a man, only men use it and develop it while we don't.

C : When we went to aikido lessons it was partly for kicks, but I also remember it happened because in our discussions about freedoms and rights of women, there was one right which we considered fundamental : the right to walk in the streets. Yes, walk... just like that... calmly walking ! During the day we can still walk, despite the whistling and the dirty words, but at night, after a certain hour, it is extremely dangerous, and Setubal is a notoriously "machista" city, the guys here go about as if... and we believe that women must be aware of this... this is not a matter of theorizing, of talking, this is real. We must possess a defense technique. It could be judo, or this or that. But here they had aikido. We went to a session, we found it fun and joined.

L : How long does a "training" in aikido take ?

C : Years and years.

L : And do you earn belts, like in judo ?

C : Yes, and the teacher even has a different suit.

L : Why did you give up ?

C ; Because of practical problems (classes, work, etc.) wcouldn't keep up with all the lessons. But is was not at all because we didn't like it. I thought the lessons were extremely useful, it was wonderful. After each session you just felt great.

F : Yes, each session starts with a lot of concentration and so, apart from the gymnastic side of it, there's all the other things, like interiorization and relaxing which are extremely good. Each lesson starts with a long pause, so we can concentrate on ourselves.

C : I think it's always useful for a woman to know how to defend herself, whether it be judo, or karate or aikido.

The article below was taken from the September 1981 issue of New Women's Times (804 Meigs Street, Rochester, New York 14620 USA) which focused on women fighting back against assault.

1. Self-Defense is a process consisting of :

a) increasing awareness about patterns and politics of assault,

b) taking responsible precautions to avoid attack,

c) preparing for the possibility of assault not only by learning self-defense tactics and techniques, but also by developing the self confidence and judgement necessary
to determine appropriate responses to different attack situations.

2. The vast majority of attacks are planned in advance. An intended victim is frequently watched by an assailant before he approaches.

3. Frequently,.assaults are preceded by a casual conversation ranging from two minutes to two hours. This "screening procedure" is used by an assailant to evaluate a women's attitude and behaviour to determine whether she is good "victim material"

4. Despite the friendly overtones of such exchanges, women who have found themselves in these situations have usually felt uneasy. Those who were likely to ignore,
repress or rationalize these feelings, were more likely to be attacked.

5. Most assailants are looking for victims who will be passive and cooperative. Research findings suggest that rape prevention is more possible through vigorous and aggressive resistance. Passive resistance (verbal stalling, slapping, pleading) correlates highly extreme violence.

6. Violence occurs in over 80 % of all rape attempts. It is the nature of the crime in that the primary aim of the sex offender is the expression of power, dominance, and
control. Non-resistance doesn't necessarily insure that violence won't occur.

7. Studies show that in weaponless assaults, the sooner a woman resists, the greater the likelihood of escape. Women who bide their time may lose a strategic advantage
in that while she hesitates, her assailant has time to check things out to reassure himself that help for her is not nearby.

8. In assaults involving weapons, biding one's time until an opportunity to escape presents itself, ie the assailant in momentarily distracted, is usually a good idea. The risks involved in resisting an armed assailant are obviously much greater than those in weaponless assaults.

9. Women who appear to be alert and suspicious and not overwhelmed by fear and panic are more likely to prevent or escape assault.

10. All women experience fear when confronted with an assailant. However, the sooner we can move past panic and paralysis and focus on our escape, rather than the
possibility of injury or death, the more effective our defense will be.

11. Women are capable of developing accurate and fast techniques and using the element of surprise in an attack to compensate for a potential and relative lack of strength. Self defense is not a sparring match.

12. Self defense is a serious, practical skill that nearly everyone - regardless of age, ethnicity, education or life style — is capable of learning.

13. Self defense is the process of reclaiming physical integrity that results in turning our fears into anger at intrusions upon our self respect.

Fighting Women News Box 1459 Grand Central Stn New York NY 10163 USA. $7.50 for the U.S.

A quarterly magazine of matial arts, self-defense, and combative sports. Write for non-USA price.