Recent Statistics:
Today in America:
- · 50% of women can expect to be assaulted in their lifetime.
- · 80% of high school girls are fondled or groped and 72% of high school boys believe forced sex is acceptable if they have spent money on the date.
- · 96% of all rapes are completed if the victim does nothing.
- · 98% of rapes are completed if the victim pleads with the rapist.
- · Only 25-48% are completed if the victim offers any type of resistance, and only 10% are completed if the victim is trained in some type of self-defense.
Statistically a woman should resist a sexual assault. Realistically, unless you train to resist, until the moment is at hand, you cannot be confident in your response. Please note that statistics can be manipulated in many fashions. The agency I obtained the above statistics from, did not indicate the number of women that were injured or killed as a result of resisting a sexual assault. Each individual must decide for themselves whether they:
1) Can resist (are willing to attempt to damage or kill their assailant;
2) Can resist effectively (training);
3) Are willing to accept the consequences of their actions, legally, morally, physically, and psychologically.
Part of training for the martial arts is an implied Acceptance of the possibility that you will need to physically respond to some type of attack in your lifetime. There are numerous reasons to come to the Martial Arts, such as increased flexibility - mentally and physically, increased self-esteem, improved self-image, conditioning, self-confidence, anger management, fear, but underlying all these reasons, is the concept of "Martial" or "Warlike" Arts. Likely some of the other reasons for coming in the door will be satisfied as you train, but most important is the fact you have decided that you will not be a victim in an assault.
We train like we would respond on the street, if you take an aerobic focused class with some martial application (e.g. TaeBo, AeroKickboxing, Kickbox Aerobics, etc.), you may be deceived into believing that what you learned would stop or deter an attacker. This may or may not be true. You have probably increased your skill set to include some semi-martial types of movement, training muscle memory to react to some degree. But often the training has no contact or minimal application value. If you do Olympic style sparring, you may be limiting your responses on the street. If you spar for tournaments, at some level you are pulling or controlling the amount of contact with your opponent, not to mention limiting the targets available in a real assault. If you are in a school which has "no contact", as many do now days, you will not "know" your true ability in a violent confrontation. Remember, we are trying to maximize the likelihood that we will survive an assault, given that no one "wins" a fight.
Needless to say, I am a proponent of using the appropriate amount of force for the given situation. Unless you have trained physically, mentally, and spiritually / emotionally, you may not know what the appropriate range of responses are. Common sense should come into play, that is, if a jury were hearing the case, would the reasonable and prudent man believe that blinding an attacker is the appropriate response against a grab attack. Consider the following:
Was it a friend?
Was it during the day?
Were they armed? (holding you to stab you)
Gender differences?
Size differences?
Location?
Skills to defend yourself?
Mental Competence?
These are just a few of the factors that enter into the level of response you may utilize against an attack. No, obviously we should not stick our fingers in someone's eyes if they grab our wrist when we are reaching for an item at the store, but what if they reach in our car and grab our throat and we cannot breath? What if you wake in the middle of the night and someone broke into your house and they are holding you down on the bed, fumbling with your clothes with the other hand? In a court of law, the latter could easily be considered self-defense, with a reasonable amount of force for the "Circumstances of the attack." Courts look at the Totality of the Circumstances, and self-defense can be justified and is legal, so long it is what a reasonable and prudent man would use. Will you be able to recognize that in the heat of the moment if you have taken one semester of Karate in college, or a 4-week seminar in a health club or gym? I certainly hope so, but would not bet my life on it.
When teaching a Kenpo technique such as Sword and Hammer (Handsword strike to the throat followed immediately by a hammerfist to the groin), realize it is potentially lethal from the 1st strike. The more you train in the Arts, the larger the number of potential responses available to you. You learn to use your headfirst, the best weapon we will ever have, analyzing the situation from the moment of perceived threat. Your responses could be anything from asking them to let go, releasing and running, to maiming and possibly killing the assailant. Although I personally believe everyone should be trained in Martial Arts, if not Kenpo, not just for the ability to defend yourself, but also for your ability to judge the appropriate response against an attack and successfully execute it.
Proportional force is hard to learn if not practiced. The repertoire of available responses must be maintained, and our Awareness and Acceptance of a possible or potential threat must be practiced rigorously. While not everyone is comfortable in the Art, everyone should address and overcome the potential threat and train not be another "Statistic" ... another victim.