Uechi-Ryu.com

Excellent... Here's something I posted on a similar thread last summer. The thread was about scenerio training and the use of "garbage mouth"...

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Here's the problem. (Granted this was over 15 years ago) Teaching a "self-defense" and awareness course that was requested for women only, we did scenerio training towards the end of the 6 weeks (that was the time constraint we were given... two weeknight classes, one weekend class, six weeks long). The scenerio training included "garbage mouth" and being the big brut who can look intimidating to women, I donned the red suit. I even rehearsed my foul mouthed speeches and taunts at home alone... The first time, I could make any one of them freeze right up. We worked through this during the class and got them to go past the words to the defense.

But the problem was that after the class was over, my voice was still my voice. I would start talking and you could visibly see these women tense up and move away from me... even though I wasn't yelling or using foul language anymore! No one taking the class wanted to be anywhere near me after that night. We did the next class and it either stayed that way or got worse with every woman taking the course. I asked one of the women helping to teach if she'd noticed and she had. She thought about it and had a great idea. The last week as I was getting into the suit, she went into a rant that would have embarassed a sailor! Yelling at the class, calling them names, pumping them up, calling me names, she probably even included a few farm animals and things I hadn't ever even thought of! Then we went through the scenerio training... I yelled and cussed and did my foul mouth... and these women didn't even notice the language! I got more nasty, more dirty, more graphic... I insulted them and criticized them... I even tried to get personally vile... They all responded with the right focus... When I was getting out of the suit at the end of class, the woman instructor went back into her tirade of most foulness and I just ended up standing over on the side with my jaw hanging open... She finally quieted down and said that "In the class, you need to hear what you'll hear during an attack, but we aren't the "bad guys", we're here to help. Sensei isn't a "bad guy", but he's played one to help you survive. Now, everyone needs to see he's alright and go give him a hug, he needs it."

I got a hug from everyone in the class and they got over it. Wow.

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The point is that, as Mattson-sensei posted in this thread and Canna-sensei posted in that previous thread, it is a good idea to use an "import" as the "bad guy". Then again, for those that believe in such stuff, that's a lot of "bad energy" for anyone to absorb... believe me.

I remember discussing this. Yes, I’ll agree with you. The perception some of the ladies in the class will now have for the “garbage mouthed Sensei” might change, but only if the woman led a sheltered life and was never exposed to that kind of language.

As society moves into the next millennium, more women are enlightened to the fact that they can have a positive impact on a threat to their well being. If they know how to respond properly. Tony Blauer stated in his Cerebral Self-Defense tape; “Many of Albert DeSalvo’s (the Boston Strangler) victims never fought back. When a potential victim challenged him, either verbally or physically, he usually fled the scene.” In that time period (the 60’s), vulgar language was considered audacious by civilization. Not many people were using the swear words that are predominately heard coming from the mouths of teenagers in our present time. If a woman was to be trained by a man who was using vulgar words, it would have the effect of shocking her greatly.

I believe woman have “heard it all” in our modern world. How about the language you now hear on TV for example. While listening to talk shows you frequently hear different body parts being discussed. Words such as ******, are often common on broadcast TV. What about cable broadcasts? Any word or phrase that you can readily hear on the streets is often repeated in movies and comedy shows.

I think the woman of today’s society can tolerate the "garbage mouthed" instructor who is trying to educate them, with no animosity. I believe that they know the purpose of the foul language is to educate and not to demean. Do they think that anyone is capable of inflicting this kind of language without a change in their personality after the class is over? I do not know. Only the women can answer that.

More and more women are taking karate classes now. They want to be able to adequately defend themselves for an attack. Confronting a sexist “garbage mouthed” male is more likely to happen now or in the future.

Let us give the women the proper training to handle these situations.


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Len Testa