Woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself.
—Susan B. Anthony

We started slow, we 20 women come to train. To raise our voices, 1 hour. To stop letting them get too close, 2 hours. I did the first role-play.

Role-play vertigo:
my digestive system
reminds me it’s there.

One woman brought her babysitter, a Marine with sculpted eyebrows. Was there no self-defense in the armed forces?

We closed our eyes.
They came to stand
next to us, breathing.

Two years of Krav Maga for me; two other women were current students. It didn’t matter. All of us grew equally aggressive, especially the one having a flashback at the end.

But will we remember?

Krav Maga

Leave A Comment

  1. Leigh Russell April 27, 2009 at 1:30 pm - Reply

    This sounds very feisty!

    Leigh Russell’s last blog post..VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH

  2. BernardL April 27, 2009 at 6:49 pm - Reply

    You’re right, Beth, it’s never the same in reality. Practice builds instinct though.

  3. Beth Partin April 27, 2009 at 8:46 pm - Reply

    It was kinda feisty, Leigh. It made me miss some of the classes.

    I think, Bernard, that this class is designed to teach women they can defend themselves without training for months or years. I think it was designed to make them feel it’s OK to be aggressive. And it achieved that.

    Beth Partin’s last blog post..Denver Restaurants on Capitol Hill: Bones

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