Packing a Charge of Primal Power

"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”
Gustav Mahler-

Mahler's quote reflects my own urging for the preservation of fire, it's utility as a self-defense weapon, and WHY we need to turn this flame up a notch.

Here's the deal: If confronted or frightened you want to keep a cool head, yes. (De-escalate. Lower an aggressor's arousal. Extricate yourself.) But if a female has to go physical to escape a larger, stronger, pumped up creature intent on harm ...she best be packing a charge of primal power and heat, armed with the know-how to explode into a target, with the ability to source this power from her loin and her limbs, from her sex and her soul-- and to bring it in a heartbeat. It's a power that must be kindled from the inside out. A knowing to be kept aglow in the heart, ON at all times.

Here's the other reason to turn this flame up a notch:

When any discipline, practice or "movement" (for example Yoga) crosses over from grassroots to mainstream and becomes commercialized, something inevitably gets lost or diminished in that process. So too, as women’s self-defense has become mainstreamed, has become Big Business -- with franchises and licenses, daylong, weekend and online instructor certifications-- and as it's been exposed to the dampening winds of political correctness, some of its ORIGINAL fire has dimmed, fallen by the wayside in favor of “ten easy steps" or reduced to mere exercise (don't even get me started) or subsumed by the ubiquitous language of personal safety — a term I fiercely resist. Not because it isn't an accurate umbrella (who among us doesn’t want to be safer?), but because it distances from the primal heart and martial bloodline of self-defense, dispatching what belongs in the realm of the senses to a higher headier mount; to a more sanitized mindset of cautionary tips, do’s and don’ts, whereby female FEROCITY-- the very spear of its ire and might - is easily deemed irrelevant, a mere PS in the equation of "what works."

Put another way, self defense "lite" subjugates the need to cultivate FORCE, to nurture our will and authority for applied violence, and to redeem women's own dangerous capacities and animal instincts.

And honestly now, what a lustless term. ("personal safety" that is.)

Bottom line as I've written before:

"As long as men are the principle agents of aggression and women are the casualties of their actions, the victims on the pointy end of male aggression, there will NEVER be a balance of power between the sexes. Women will remain relegated to a subordinate status, too powerless or simply too fearful to resist the dominance and brutalities of others, limited by social contract and constraint in the ways in which we can express our own ferocities, yearnings, and fighting spirit.

The gig is up. Its time: Women can no longer outsource their protection to men-- to fathers, husbands, brothers, boyfriends or saviors in khaki or uniform blue. It's time to bring this power home. To refasten it to our womanly roots, to reap its fruits, harvest its furies and acquire the essential skill and will to SELF-DEFEND. It's time to turn up the flame, burn down apocryphal myths and to lionize ourselves. It's time to make the tipping point happen.

Each and together we must become outposts of courage."

Melissa Soalt

COPYRIGHT - MELISSA SOALT, 2012. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO REPRODUCTION OR COPYING WITH EXPLICIT WRITTEN CONSENT. Melissa gave IMPACT Chicago permission to reprint.

Is self-defense training cost effective?

Yes. Sexual assault is very expensive, in terms of post-assault medical service, legal services, and human suffering. Self-defense training, in contrast, is quite inexpensive. A recent Nairobi-based study found that comprehensive self-defense training cost US $1.75 for every assault prevented, compared with an average of US $86 for post-assault hospital services. Given the higher cost of medical services, it is likely that the savings would be even greater in the United States.

Reference

Sarnquist,Clea et al. 2014. “Rape prevention through empowerment of adolescent girls.” Pediatrics peds. 2013-3414. 


From Women’s Self-Defense Frequently Asked Questions. Jocelyn A. Hollander, Ph.D. University of Oregon, September 15, 2014.

I Took Action Instead of Gawking

While I was waiting at the train platform this morning, I noticed a man further down who was shouting and cursing loudly. At first, I dismissed him. But then, he began spouting racial slurs and directly addressing other people. At that point, everyone was staring, and one man even engaged with him. It could have quickly escalated into violence, since he was verbally threatening people, and getting close to them or the edge of the platform. I pushed the customer assistance button so someone could help or at least be aware of the situation. The point of this story is that Thousand Waves' self-defense teaching (and being a karateka in general) has enabled me to identify potentially unsafe situations and spring into action instead of remaining a gawking bystander.

Jane Kollmer

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Tuition covers about 65% of the costs of the Core Program and IMPACT for Girls. Donors cover the rest. It is not too late to donate. Please send a check to IMPACT Chicago contact Tara to donate through Paypal. Unless otherwise noted below, the donation was to the IMPACT Chicago General Fund.

Thank you to all who supported the IMPACT Chicago 2014 Fund Drive!

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A Token Female, Violence, and Self-Defense

I recently reviewed the evaluations for the Defense Against An Armed Rapist course (DAAR) held in November—overall they were very positive, but one comment stood out for me personally: “I felt very much as if Martha were there for a token female presence.” Ouch!

One of the reasons IMPACT keeps getting better is that we review course evaluations for observations and recommendations of women and girls who participate in our programs. The above was a unique observation not only in the last DAAR course but in all the others offered over the last 25 years. Although I could dismiss it as a singular comment, I don't want to do so because it suggests that a key principle of IMPACT--female leadership--was not obvious to at least one participant. I want to take that seriously and reflect upon what I can do differently for the future while also assessing what it suggests about the challenges women face in teaching self-defense with men as co-teachers and role-playing aggressors with weapons.

I looked to the singular evaluation for some clues about what I can do differently. Her explanation for her comment was that I had significantly less weapons experience than the two suited instructors. Her perception of my lesser experience doesn't reflect reality, but even if it did, inexperience with weapons does not equal an inability to teach self-defense against an armed attacker. There is no requirement that instructors have any experience with using weapons since our focus is on self-defense.

Even though experience with weapons is not a requirement for teaching self-defense against an armed attacker,  I have made sure I train with weapons to deepen my own understanding of the risks and opportunities a defender has when attacked by someone with a weapon. As a martial artist, using knives and sticks is an integral part of my practice. I've taken extra steps (and expense) to learn how to use a gun. I have taken two firearms courses and have practiced shooting with revolvers, rifles, and shotguns on both outdoor and indoor ranges. In this past DAAR course, I made reference to the fact I wasn't a very good shot (as did one of the suited instructors), but neglected to say that the lesson for a self-defender is learning how difficult it is to shoot well and that without adrenaline-based practice, facility with a gun can disappear quickly when faced with using a gun a real-life situation.

So, the message to me is that in future courses, I need to focus on my experience with the weapons we teach to defend against and highlight how this experience informs how I teach. In addition, I need to take leadership for introducing one of the weapons and demystifying its risks and opportunities for a defender..

Although the comment was about me personally, I believe at a deeper level it was also about perceptions of women and men in terms of violence and self-defense. Being seen as a "token presence" means that there was no value placed on the significant role I played in the course:  (1) course design, including the content of each scenario and techniques participants' learned; (2) the intricate scaffolding for a cohesive and timely experience of circles, demonstrations, deconstruction, drills, and scenarios; and (3) my demonstrations and teaching of everything they learned, my individualized coaching through each scenario, facilitating every circle, and creating space for each participant as well as the other members of the team.

Sometimes the public and media focus on the suited instructors and ignore the contributions of the lead instructors. Previously when that has happened, I've thought it was unexamined sexism—where what men do is more valued than what woman do-- but such a comment from a woman who has experienced the class makes me think that it is more than simple sexism and that the higher value placed on the suited instructors may also reflect a complex relationship between gender, violence, and self-defense: that the "skills" of an aggressor (whether real or simulated) are more valued than the skills of a defender and that unarmed self-defense is less valued than armed aggression.This suggests another reason why our mission of female-led self-defense instructor teams is so important.

Martha Thompson, IMPACT Chicago Instructor and Director Emeritus

Shouldn’t we be putting all our resources into prevention strategies focused on perpetrators?

From Women’s Self-Defense Frequently Asked Questions. Jocelyn A. Hollander, Ph.D. University of Oregon, September 15, 2014.

• No. Violence against women is a complex social problem. Ultimately, large scale social changes will be needed before violence against women can be stopped. However, this kind of social change is slow—and so far, our efforts have not been very successful. If we focus only on perpetrator-focused, “primary” prevention strategies, we are condemning millions of women to suffering rape and sexual assault. While we wait for these efforts to work, empowerment-based self-defense training can provide an immediate, and effective, antidote for sexual violence.

• There has been little research on the effectiveness of prevention strategies focused on potential perpetrators. Most strategies that have been rigorously evaluated have been found to be ineffective at preventing violence.

• Preventing sexual violence will require a comprehensive range of efforts. Some efforts should be long-­term (e.g., cultural climate assessment and change), others should be medium-­term (e.g., bystander intervention training), and some should be short-­term (e.g., self-­defense training). We do not have to choose only one approach; a complex social problem requires that we address it on multiple fronts and in multiple ways.

References
Gidycz, Christine A et al. n.d. “Concurrent administration of sexual assault prevention and risk reduction programming: Outcomes for women.” Violence Against Women. In press.

Gidycz, Christine A, and Christina M. Dardis. 2014. “Feminist Self-­‐Defense and Resistance Training for College Students A Critical Review and Recommendations for the Future.”Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 1524838014521026.

Orchowski, Lindsay M, Christine A Gidycz, and M J Murphy. 2010. “Preventing campus-­‐based sexual violence.” Pp. 415–447 in The Prevention of Sexual VIolence: A Practitioner’s Sourcebook, edited by K L Kaufman. Holyoke, MA: NEARI Press.

Breitenbecher, K. H., and M. Scarce. 1999. “A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Sexual Assault Education Program.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 14(5):459–478.

Hollander, Jocelyn A. 2014. “Does Self-­‐Defense Training Prevent Sexual Violence Against Women?” Violence Against Women 20(3):252–269.

Sarnquist, Clea et al. 2014. “Rape Prevention Through Empowerment of Adolescent Girls.”Pediatrics peds.2013– 3414.

Sinclair, Jake et al. 2013. “A Self-­‐Defense Program Reduces the Incidence of Sexual Assault in Kenyan Adolescent Girls.” Journal of Adolescent Health 53(3):374–380.

New IMPACT Chicago Office Location: 4057 N. Damen Chicago

In the 90s, the first central office for IMPACT Chicago was in the Berger Park Cultural Center on Sheridan Road. When the mission of the Cultural Center became more focused on art and music, we moved to make room for other organizations more appropriate for the space. With the help of IMPACT graduate Shelley Bannister , we were able to sublet an office in Lincoln Square from naprapath Karen Bruneel . We sublet from Karen for almost 10 years and then from Mary Ellen Boyte for a couple of years. When Mary Ellen’s landlord no longer wanted us to sublet her space, we were fortunate to be welcomed by Lin Shook Schalek, the owner of Lin Shook Studio at 4057 N. Damen in Chicago.

Here are some of the things we like about our new office space:

• The office is in the same location as a classroom space we will be using in  2015.
• We can store our mats on site. 
• There is lots of free and metered parking in the area. 
• We are near the Irving Park and Damen bus stops. 
• We are within walking distance of the Irving Park-Brown Line stop. 
• We are in a lively neighborhood with restaurants, cafes, small shops, and a CVS.

Mary Ellen will continue to collect our mail as long as we need her to do so. Thank you, Mary Ellen! Thank you also to Tara Brinkman, IMPACT Chicago Registration and Workshop Coordinator, for coordinating our office move!

Contact IMPACT Chicago
info@impactchicago.org
www.impactchicago.org
New address:
IMPACT Chicago
4057 N. Damen Ave
Chicago IL 60618
New phone: 312-971-7119