View Single Post
Old 06-14-2003, 04:55 AM   #14
Mary Eastland
 
Mary Eastland's Avatar
Dojo: Berkshire Hills Aikido
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,476
Offline
RE : Wendo

Morning:

If you are really interested in the subject of WSD there is a great book called "Her Wits About Her". It provides many examples about how women have defended themselves sucessfully using many different strategies.

Women have been defending themselves since the beginning of time. We would not be here if we had not developed ways to defend ourselves. Just because the way we defend ourselves may be diferent than men's ways doesn't mean that they don't work.

A small Japenese woman in my beginners Aikido class shyly raised her hand after I talked about the concept of ki. She wanted to affirm that ki is important. She said when she was a schoolgirl in Japan she had to take the train to school. Several times men would reach up under her skirt and grope her. She told her mother about what was happening. Her mother told her it was her fault because her dress was so short.



One of the other girls told her about getting a hat pin and how to use if a man groped her on the train. She got her hat pin and made the decision to use it if she needed to. She said after she made that decision she was never groped again. She attributed this to the fact that she made the decision.

I am glad I train at a dojo where the head instuctor is open to the fact that women can get strong.

Sincerely,

Mary Eastland

Berkshire Hills Aikido

Everywoman's Self Defense
  Reply With Quote