Free Women's Self Defense Seminar

[Jessica Doke]

Women's Self Defense Seminar

Hey guys! I'm Jessica Doke, a white belt at 10th Planet MS, and I've been training for a little over a year now. When I first started training at 10th planet Decatur it was just for self defense and enjoyment but then I talked with Nathan Orchard, who has very similar philosophies and opinions as I do, and he really inspired me to pursue teaching jiu jitsu. After 6 months of training I felt so much safer and happier than I ever have and thought everyone deserves to feel this way. I am a pre-law student I want to practice law for the United States Marine Corps then run for District Attorney in the Sex Crimes Unit because helping rape victims is my passion. I wanted a way to combine these passions. I have often seen free programs for rape victims where they give them free gun training. I think that is so awesome but some women feel uncomfortable with guns, you can't take a gun every where with you and you cannot always get to a gun quick enough so I thought hey it would be great if I could do something similar but with combat. Ideally I would love to start a program similar to Gracie's Women Empowerment program because its several weeks long. If you have any ideas, criticism, or questions let me know I would love some feed back. My friend,Matt Skaff, has already suggested Gracie Combatives so I will start studying that soon. As my first step toward this goal I am teaching a Free Women's Self Defense Seminar September the 17th. We do not let white belts teach unsupervised at my gym so Chris Ludington, purple belt, will be supervising me and my seminar outline has been reviewed and approved by Brandon Mccagren, black belt. I have been researching the most common attacks on women since April 2016 and have done well over a hundred hours of research on the subject and modeled my seminar after that. If you have any advice on the seminar or development of the program please let me know. I'd love any feed back also feel free to add me on social media and send me any videos/articles you think would be helpful. I haven't talked with anyone who has done a seminar/ program like this so I need all the help I can get.

[Brandon Mccaghren]

You're gonna do fine, Jessica. Especially with Chris leading the way. He's 100% capable.

[Arman Fathi]

The Gracie Women Empowered stuff is solid, I used it to teach two seminars to women at my school. The best bang for your buck is the hands on the throat against a wall move where you break their finger. This move more than any in my mind illustrated how leverage and patience (i.e. the essence of jiu jitsu) are exemplified in a move that could not only save your life one day but more or less be mastered in one class. A great talking point about how "if the move ain't easy, you're doing it wrong." The wrist releases are gold too, all the variations. The false surrender is clutch, it shows how you can play mind games with an attacker by keeping calm and cool-headed when a guy is in your guard, then "BAM!", heel to the jaw. The idea that the guard can be a position of power rather than a position of vulnerability is critical to understand. Regardless of position. These mental components are always good talking points, in addition to the techniques which I'm sure you'll crush.

[Jessica Doke]

Awesome! Thank you so much. I am using two front choke (hands on the throat) escapes, one to triangle choke and the other to an arm lock as well as some wrist releases. I will look into the whole mind games thing sounds very interesting and useful!

[brianspinaltap]

I would recommend reading this article if you're going to reach women's self defense classes.

https://kitsutoshi.tumblr.com/post/1...it-hurts-women

[maxmarkov]

https://kitsutoshi.tumblr.com/post/1...it-hurts-women

There are a lot of very good points in this article. Knowing martial arts is certainly better than not knowing any self defense whatsoever, the more things you know the better, however, if women are not aware of the other important variables involved, even black belts in several martial arts won't be enough. As much as they should learn self defense, they should also be taught how to avoid, prevent and reduce risks.

The article talks about guarding your drinks and not blindly trusting everyone, which are certainly good examples, but I'd like to add a few more. To be as safe as possible when you're for example walking on the streets, you have to be aware of your surroundings all the time. This means that you don't want to be distracted by conversations, you don't want to stare at your smartphone, you want to pay attention, to see and hear in all directions, in order to identify potential threats and dangers. This smartphone-addiction is a particularly big problem nowadays.

Lets assume you're in an alley, if you actually pay attention, the chances are much higher that you will see the group of men approaching you in the distance. If you feel uncomfortable, change to the other side of the street and keep paying attention to them. If you notice that they want to follow you to the other side of the street, if you can, turn around and go back to the main streets, if necessary run. This leads me to the next important points:

1. If possible, avoid alleys altogether. Alleys aren't just "darker", but they're also smaller and more narrow with more potential dangers involved.

2. Avoid being alone, especially at nights. Choose the streets and routes that are the most crowded. The more, different people are around the less likely it is to be attacked. Ideally you want to be in a group of people you trust and who can defend you and themselves aswell. If for example your job requires to work late into the night, you want to be picked up and brought home by your father or your brother, your boyfriend or your husband, etc.

3. Even if you are an incredible martial artist: DON'T PLAY THE HERO! One of the most important lessons in any martial art is that fighting should be your last resort. Getting into a fight has higher risks than avoiding it. If you identify a potential threat, you rather want to run and get into safer areas than play the hero and risk to be overwhelmed, especially when you're outnumbered. Even the greatest MMA world champion of all time is still mortal (unless his name is Renato Laranja). If somebody else is in danger and you want to help, you want to gather as many people as possible (there is strength in numbers), before you do anything on your own, and even then it's dangerous, but that's a different topic.

4. If the laws in your country or state permit it, you want to have a Taser with you. A Taser in combination with high martial arts skills? Very powerful. But we have the same rules here too, you want to avoid confrontations, you don't want to look for them. If Tasers are illegal in your country or state, you want to at least have one of those loud, portable alarms with you.

5. If you take the subway, tramway, bus, whatever, you also want to sit or stay in those parts with the most people. There have been several cases of women being attacked and sexually assaulted inside subways, so you have to really be careful everywhere all the time.

A few more things. Everything I just wrote should be OBVIOUS to any individual capable of thinking. BUT, for whatever reason, so many people, even many who know, are still too careless. Here's a prime example: women getting drunk. There are so many young women who think it's "cool" or "funny" to be drunk, hey, everybody else does it too, right? Wrong. Women are already more likely to be attacked and assaulted and yet they are willing to become even easier prey? Extremely stupid. Even having your boyfriend with you won't necessarily help you in that situation lady, especially when he's drunk himself. Let me repeat, getting drunk isn't just a lack of self-discipline, it's further increasing the already high dangers of being assaulted.

Summary: don't be distracted, be aware of your surroundings everywhere, all the time and try to be around in crowded areas if possible. If possible, have people you can fully trust with you. Avoid confrontations and fight only if necessary. Once you have an opportunity, run towards the safest, most crowded areas and look for help.

[Jessica Doke]

I would recommend reading this article if you're going to reach women's self defense classes.

https://kitsutoshi.tumblr.com/post/1...it-hurts-women

Thank you! This is an excellent article! I set up my seminar by doing extensive research about rape and sexual assault and then develop the curriculum around that because applying knowledge is the most important aspect to anything it doesn't matter what you know unless you can properly apply it and that's really what I'm trying to teach. I also really like what it has to say about the "delusion" because I often have this issue in my own training because guys who are a lot stronger/bigger than me would let me tap them and pretend that I had over come these obstacles (yes they matter, ALOT!) with technique when in reality I haven't and gives me the "delusion" that I can handle a guy 30lbs heavier than me when I can't so being a good training partner as a man is very important to women's self defense and I always try to tell my male training partners how much I love and appreciate them for all they do to help me feel safe. I disagree with the article because getting what you need from training is the STUDENT's responsibility. If you go to a gym and say hey I wanna learn to defend myself than you can expect everyone to drop their own goals to help you. Jiu jitsu can be used for self defense, sport, MMA, weight loss, and enjoyment. If my instuctor teaches an arm bar from falling off of mount well that's not very smart in self defense but it could help you win a jiu jitsu match. That doesn't make my instructor egotistical or bad it just means I need to be smart enough to know that's not smart or take responsibility of my own learning and ask him if it's a good move in self defense. I think the whole emotional support aspect that is mentioned in the article actually contributes to this "delusion" issue. It's a balence of support and realism. I will avoid a dangerous situation at all cost even if I had a black belt. My friend, Matt Skaff, (who teaches at 10th planet Decatur) does an excellent job of this. He always says a black belt doesn't mean shit if the other guy has a gun. This is so true jiu jitsu is a powerful tool but it does not make you invinsable by any means. Another point I thought was good was about "pink washing" I think the important thing to realize is 1 in 5 women are raped in their life time and countless others experience sexual violence and harassment and when a man has forced himself on/in you then it's only natural to not being comfortable with strange men touching all over your body. I have never been rape but I've experienced some mild sexual assault and I struggled a lot when I first started and I still tap from feeling uncomfortable even from something as simple as a guy having his mouth against my neck during a rear naked choke. Men really only have to retrain themselves to move differently in jiu jitsu but women have to retrain the way they move, think, and feel because unfortunately we live in a society where women are relentlessly victimized and it's kind of unrealistic to expect women to just walk in to a jiu jitsu gym and feel comfortable. They reason I want to develop this program is really to deal with these two key issues. The program is all female so that helps women feel comfortable and combat those feelings but like any program (take school for example) you graduate on to something more difficult so my idea is that you get women in the door by teaching them techniques where they feel comfortable then when they feel more confident and capable let them "graduate" to the classes with men in them. I feel like this for the most part would rectify this issue. Nice article though! Definitely addresses some common misconception that I'm trying to combat. Thank you so much!

[Jessica Doke]

There are a lot of very good points in this article. Knowing martial arts is certainly better than not knowing any self defense whatsoever, the more things you know the better, however, if women are not aware of the other important variables involved, even black belts in several martial arts won't be enough. As much as they should learn self defense, they should also be taught how to avoid, prevent and reduce risks.

The article talks about guarding your drinks and not blindly trusting everyone, which are certainly good examples, but I'd like to add a few more. To be as safe as possible when you're for example walking on the streets, you have to be aware of your surroundings all the time. This means that you don't want to be distracted by conversations, you don't want to stare at your smartphone, you want to pay attention, to see and hear in all directions, in order to identify potential threats and dangers. This smartphone-addiction is a particularly big problem nowadays.

Lets assume you're in an alley, if you actually pay attention, the chances are much higher that you will see the group of men approaching you in the distance. If you feel uncomfortable, change to the other side of the street and keep paying attention to them. If you notice that they want to follow you to the other side of the street, if you can, turn around and go back to the main streets, if necessary run. This leads me to the next important points:

1. If possible, avoid alleys altogether. Alleys aren't just "darker", but they're also smaller and more narrow with more potential dangers involved.

2. Avoid being alone, especially at nights. Choose the streets and routes that are the most crowded. The more, different people are around the less likely it is to be attacked. Ideally you want to be in a group of people you trust and who can defend you and themselves aswell. If for example your job requires to work late into the night, you want to be picked up and brought home by your father or your brother, your boyfriend or your husband, etc.

3. Even if you are an incredible martial artist: DON'T PLAY THE HERO! One of the most important lessons in any martial art is that fighting should be your last resort. Getting into a fight has higher risks than avoiding it. If you identify a potential threat, you rather want to run and get into safer areas than play the hero and risk to be overwhelmed, especially when you're outnumbered. Even the greatest MMA world champion of all time is still mortal (unless his name is Renato Laranja). If somebody else is in danger and you want to help, you want to gather as many people as possible (there is strength in numbers), before you do anything on your own, and even then it's dangerous, but that's a different topic.

4. If the laws in your country or state permit it, you want to have a Taser with you. A Taser in combination with high martial arts skills? Very powerful. But we have the same rules here too, you want to avoid confrontations, you don't want to look for them. If Tasers are illegal in your country or state, you want to at least have one of those loud, portable alarms with you.

5. If you take the subway, tramway, bus, whatever, you also want to sit or stay in those parts with the most people. There have been several cases of women being attacked and sexually assaulted inside subways, so you have to really be careful everywhere all the time.

A few more things. Everything I just wrote should be OBVIOUS to any individual capable of thinking. BUT, for whatever reason, so many people, even many who know, are still too careless. Here's a prime example: women getting drunk. There are so many young women who think it's "cool" or "funny" to be drunk, hey, everybody else does it too, right? Wrong. Women are already more likely to be attacked and assaulted and yet they are willing to become even easier prey? Extremely stupid. Even having your boyfriend with you won't necessarily help you in that situation lady, especially when he's drunk himself. Let me repeat, getting drunk isn't just a lack of self-discipline, it's further increasing the already high dangers of being assaulted.

Summary: don't be distracted, be aware of your surroundings everywhere, all the time and try to be around in crowded areas if possible. If possible, have people you can fully trust with you. Avoid confrontations and fight only if necessary. Once you have an opportunity, run towards the safest, most crowded areas and look for help.

Yes! I have divided my seminar in three points 1Avoid 2 escape 3 defend. This stresses the fact that fighting is a last resort and the whole first section is just identified get threats and how to avoid them. Getting drunk in public is just irresponsible no matter who you are. I have literally carried a girl to her friends because this guy was pouring alcohol down her throat and then attempted to take her up stairs of the frat house. It's scary man and so easy to avoid. I thought I was going to have to fight the guy to get him to let go of this semi conscious girl (I would have beat his ass he was a little bitch) but people are so sick it's not worth it and even if you don't get assaulted you'll probably do something stupid you will regret anyway.

[Scott Philips]

That's a really good idea. Going to get our girls on this!

[Jessica Doke]

That's a really good idea. Going to get our girls on this!

Thanks Scott! If you want, send me your email on FB and I'll send you my outline!