Chapter 4 - Introduction to Structuring the Learning
“Why do women and girls need to learn self defense?” was addressed in The Need section of W.O.W.’s Fundamentals of Self Defense Curriculum. Both the Performance Standards and the Instructional Standards sections focus on “How to teach self defense.” In Structuring the Learning, the spotlight is on the “what” - What are the essential self defense moves that women and girls should know?
For almost two decades, I have been studying various martial arts. Throughout my studies, I always question the origins of what I am learning. For my first video, I conducted numerous interviews with local psychologists and researched common attacks against women. It was during this time that I came to the understanding that a typical approach used in teaching women how to defend themselves is to teach defensive and counter-attacking moves from a male point of view, i.e. Moves that predominately occur when males fight males. This section defines the practical and effective moves that women can use against the most common types of attacks that are made against them.
It would be an exhausting task to thank the various martial artists and defensive tactics instructors that I have studied under, in addition to thanking my students from whom I learned while I taught. Nonetheless, I am grateful to them all.
Ms. Blythe A. Whinery, Owner/Instructor of Sixth Sense Self Defense, was the editor for this section. I thank her for her time and probing questions which helped clarify this section for you.
Tags: assault prevention, date rape, rape prevention, safety education, self defense for women, self defense instruction, sexual assault prevention, women’s self defense, women’s self-defense instructors