She’s blonde, beautiful, and carries a GLOCK

“She’s my ideal woman—blonde, beautiful, and carries a GLOCK.” I almost sprayed my just-sipped iced tea over the table. I was at a meeting with a man who wanted self-defense courses in his community, especially for college women. 

I was reminded of that moment when I read the recent New York Times article “A Bid for Guns on Campuses to Deter Rape.”[1]  Lawmakers in ten states—Florida, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming –have introduced bills to allow guns on a campus to stop sexual assault. Sponsor of the Nevada bill, Assemblywoman Michele Fiore said: “If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them.” (Schwartz 2015).  

For the moment, let’s set aside the blonde, beautiful, young, and hot remarks and focus on the argument that arming women is the way to stop sexual assault on campus. Jennifer Carlson (2014) says that confusing self-defense with gun defense limits women’s options, implies that “women must choose armed self-protection or no self-protection at all.”[2]

Imagine how different the conversation might be if instead of a focus on guns, it was on empowerment-based self-defense. What if the NY Times headline was: “A Bid for Empowerment-Based Self-Defense on Campuses to Deter Rape.” Imagine if being blonde, beautiful, young, and hot were not criteria for social protection or social vilification. What if the priority in legislation and news coverage was on empowerment-based self-defense programs built upon the idea that regardless of  age, gender, disability, race, sexual orientation, and social class people have the right to bodily integrity and the right to make decisions about how their own bodies are treated.

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[1] Alan Schwartz. 2015. “A Bid for Guns on Campuses to Deter Rape.” The New York Times. February 18. Retrieved February 19, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/us/in-bid-to-allow-guns-on-campus-weapons-are-linked-to-fighting-sexual-assault.html?ref=todayspaper

[2] Jennifer D. Carlson. 2014. “From Gun Politics to Self-Defense Politics: A Feminist Critique of the Great Gun Debate.” Violence Against Women 20 (3): 369-377.

Talking Into the Wee Hours of the Night

Mark, Jill, and Martha spent a lot of time together

Except for two nights (one with Ika and his family) and one at El Halev, Mark and I stayed in Rehovot with Jill and her husband Jeff, sons Kobe and Eliav along with their bird, cat, and dog. We would usually return from Talpiot Jerusalem where El Halev is located around midnight. Jill would set the table with some combination of soup, cheese, chocolate, veggie burgers or veggie hot dogs. One night we ate lentil soup that Shoshi had prepared for us; another evening, we added corn muffins that Kobe had fixed.

Although we had already talked about the day’s events on the drive home (around 1 hour), sharing food in Jill and Jeff’s comfortable kitchen always inspired more conversation, insights, and reflections on this fascinating yet unusual work we do. Sometimes Kobe and other times Eliav joined our conversation (Jeff was the smart one who got to bed at a decent hour). I so enjoyed one evening when Kobe was making a point about IMPACT, referring to himself as an “IMPACT instructor-in-law.” Oh, yes, without the support, encouragement, and love of our families it would be a challenge to do this work. Except for short walks Jill took with her sons and early morning conversations with Jeff, IMPACT Israel and hosting Mark and me took almost every hour of the day—I think she did sneak some sleep in there somewhere.

Jill and Mark say hello to Kate and Sam

At some point, each night I would declare, “I’m going to go to bed by 2!” By the last two nights, I was declaring, “I’m going to go to bed by 1!” I was usually the first to go to my room. Jill would often stay up to do some more work and Mark would skype with his wife Kate and son Sam (8 hours time difference). Before I left, Jim and I decided that we would rely on email for the week I was gone, so every day I woke up to an email from Jim and by the time he got up, he would have one back from me. Rachel and I also kept in touch via email.

Yael, Yotam, Mark, Smadar, Nina, and Jill talk about teamwork

Up sometime between 7-9 am, I usually had cereal for breakfast; occasionally Mark or Jill would also prepare eggs. The deal was if they felt like it, they cooked and, regardless of what they did, I would put dishes in the dishwasher. I never emptied the dishwasher but mysteriously it was always empty when it was time to put more dishes into it. We usually left Rehovot sometime between 8-10 am. I never got enough sleep the entire week but the incredible work we all did together kept me going.

Martha and Shoshi

Take-away: This brief step into the work of IMPACT Israel reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut’s concept of karass that he introduced in Cat’s Cradle. From various internet sources, a karass is
• a group of people who work together to do God’s work
• a spontaneously forming group, joined by unpredictable links, that actually gets stuff done
• a group of people linked in a cosmically significant manner, even when superficial linkages are not evident
• a team of people that does God's Will without ever discovering what they are doing
• the notion that there are people all around the world with whom you have an instant connection

Although religious imagery is not how I think of my IMPACT work and I do not think IMPACT instructors are unaware of their connection with each other, for me the notion of karass captures the idea of the instant connection I experience with IMPACT instructors and the feeling that we are engaged in significant work that is bigger than all of us.

Mark and Yisrael

Examining the Basics

Participants in Examining the Basics

Our last training session was Thursday afternoon. We started by splitting into two groups—lead/co-instructors and suited instructors. Each group addressed issues with teaching boundary setting. Lead and co-instructors discussed issues with boundary setting, effective coaching, and effective teamwork. Specifically, we looked at ways to encourage women to stand and walk confidently, hold their ground, and project assertiveness not aggressiveness.

After about 45 minutes, the groups came back together to address and demonstrate openings to three “reversals.” We emphasized that what all reversal techniques have in common is creating an opening to get into sidekick position.

Yair and Chana

• Turnover
In this case, we introduced a new and simpler response to being pinned when on one’s stomach. This new technique was collaboratively developed at the June 2011 IMPACT Chicago instructor retreat. We were inspired to test the previous way we taught the technique and come up with a better way because (1) suited instructors noted that they had to do some specific things for the previous way we were teaching to work and (2) post-surveys of class participants indicated that more women felt less confident in this technique than in any other. We decided to examine and revise the technique. The new technique has been consistently effective.


Yael, Smadar, and Mark

• Hip toss (formerly known as a heave-off)
We demonstrated how when pinned when on one’s back, the toss can still happen even while the arms are being pinned. Shown here how the woman gets into sidekick position.




Nina, Smadar, and Yotam with Yardena videotaping

• Corkscrew (or hands and knees)
We addressed the importance of getting into sidekick position as soon as a woman is on her forearms and knees.

We, then, divided into small working groups so teams could practice the reversal openings and continue working on teamwork issues.



Lead/Co-Instructors at Basics Session

Suited Instructors at Basics Session

Teamwork

Uri, Galli, Chana, and Yair work together to increase safety

IMPACT is based on teamwork—every member of the team (lead instructor, suited instructor, assistants) contributes to the experience—not only by fulfilling the responsibilities of their position but by working together during every phase of the course.
• In the circles, the lead instructor facilities while class assistants and suited instructors listen and build upon the framework the lead instructor creates.
• When demonstrating responses to attacks, the lead instructor describes options for the defender, the suited instructor describes possible motivations and options for an attacker, and the class assistants cheer.
• Lead instructors teach technique and strategy, the suited instructor is ready to assist if needed, and class assistants are on the mat following the moves of the lead instructor.
• Typically, suited instructors lead drills, class assistants model the drill with the suited instructor, and the lead instructor is on the sidelines ready to step in to assist if needed.
• During scenarios, class assistants are on the line, greeting the women when they come off the mat and videotaping each scenario while suited instructors and lead instructors work together to maximize what each woman learns in each scenario.


Nina, Yael, and Yotam work together while Yardena videotapes

The Tuesday evening session was focused on discussing issues of teamwork and identifying ways IMPACT Israel lead/co-instructors and suited instructors can enhance their already strong teamwork, from encouraging women to use their voices, kick powerfully, get in close, and set boundaries.

Take-away: When teamwork is going smoothly, people often do not see it. We need to make teamwork and how it operates more visible to lead and suited instructors as well as class assistants.

Yossi and Jill compare notes after a session with Martha and Mark

What about...?

Martha, Nina, and Jill

One of the many really good ideas Jill had in developing our schedule was to allow time for individuals to make appointments to discuss specific issues with us. Sometimes we met one-on-one, most times Jill was also present, and often the three of us (Jill, Mark, and me) met with an individual. We met with instructors, instructors-in-training, class assistants, and staff.



Yossi and Martha

We met with 10 different individuals for 1-2 hour appointments. We addressed mugger craft, lead instructor craft, research on the psychological effects of IMPACT, instructor training, class assisting, and big picture issues. The questions and issues raised were thought-provoking and meaningful. As Mark said to Jill, “Giving us this opportunity has made us better teachers.”



Martha, Chana, Mark, and Jill

Take-away: One of the responsibilities I have taken on in IMPACT Chicago is documenting and tracking decisions we make, from changing class plans to changing techniques. There have also been individuals in IMPACT Israel who have taken on that responsibility. These individual meetings confirmed the importance of documenting and tracking discussions, issues, and concerns in ways that the entire chapter can benefit and grow.


Photos below
1.Mark, Martha, Jill, and Galli
2. Uri, Martha, and Mark
3. Tamar and Martha
4. Martha, Jill, Celine, Yair, and Mark

Defense Against an Armed Rapist

One of the most common “what if” questions people ask self-defense instructors is “what if the attacker has a weapon?” Part of the reason Jill asked us to return to Israel was for us to share the IMPACT Chicago approach to defense against an armed rapist with the IMPACT Israel instructor team. Two of the evening trainings in Israel were devoted to sharing our approach.

Two assumption underlying our program are that we are teaching defense against someone using a weapon to coerce “cooperation”/eliminate resistance in a rape or sexual assault and that the women we are training have only a short-time in which to learn defense against an armed rapist. That is, we are not teaching someone to defend against assassination nor are we teaching women who have months or years to devote to learning self-defense tools.

In general, our approach is that self-defense against an armed rapist is
• Straightforward and simple
• applicable to a variety of approaches (front, rear, side, standing or on the ground)
• effective against a variety of weapons

The first evening we taught instructors our approach and practiced. The second evening class assistants joined us and lead instructors and suited instructors worked in small groups with one or two class assistants and each other to teach and practice the approach.

Take-away: My experience in working with IMPACT Israel instructors on defense against an armed rapist underscored my belief that a simple, straightforward approach that can be broadly applied is the way to go.

Jill and Mark discuss a teaching point

Ask Martha

I met with lead instructors and instructors-in-training for several hours(Mark met with suited instructors at the same time). The session was a free-flowing opportunity for instructors to raise questions and identify issues, such as:

• How does what we do fit into a bigger picture? What do you want the outcome of this course to be for women and girls who participate?

• What is the goal for our relationship with the women when they are on the mat?

• How do we manage the level of adrenaline in the room—bring it up when needed, bring it down, and create an atmosphere where women can work within their own window of tolerance?

• What are strategies for encouraging women to address and accept their own experience while also minimizing feelings of victimization?

• How can we maximize respect for the important work of class assistants while making their work appropriate and manageable?

• What are strategies for learning women’s names quickly?

• Organizationally, how can we enhance transparency and effective communication among team members?

• If a woman is experiencing PTSD, how can we best support her?

Take-away: One of the many things I took away from this thought-provoking and inspiring session was the recognition that most people outside IMPACT do not recognize what one instructor referred to as “the magic in between.” Most people who have not taken the course focus on the scenarios as the linchpin of the IMPACT program and do not recognize that women’s empowering experience of the scenarios is possible because of the framework within which the scenarios occur. The resistance we often encounter within the anti-violence movement stems from a focus on the scenarios without an understanding of the magic in between. This discussion recommitted me to making the framework within which the scenarios occur more visible.

What If?

Martha and Mark with IMPACT Israel Instructor Team

This first training night and subsequent days were a great opportunity to meet the IMPACT Israel staff and to reconnect with Jill and Yudit, people we worked with in prior trainings in 2005 and 2006--Celine, Chana, Jake, Rachel, Shoshi, Yael, and Yisrael--plus Uri who came to train with us in the states.

Jill Baker Shames (far left in the second row), the director of IMPACT Israel, asked Mark and me to lead an event for our first evening that could be an opportunity for graduates, assistants, and instructors.

For IMPACT Chicago anniversary celebrations (10, 15, and 20) we’ve done a “What if” program—creating scenarios that answer common what if questions.
• What if I haven’t practiced self-defense in a while?
• What if I can’t tell who is dangerous?
• What if it is dark?
• What if I’m in bed with covers on?
• What if I’m in a car?
• What if I’m in an elevator?
• What if I’m carrying things?
• What if there is more than one attacker?

Jill thought that was a great idea and she called upon the creativity of Yudit Sidikman, one of the original 5 IMPACT Israel suited instructors and the Executive Director of El Halev (the umbrella organization within which IMPACT Israel operates) who created, where needed, the “scenes.”

Yudit and her staff built a bed from mats and added sheets, a blanket, and a pillow; a car from mats with a front and back seat as well as a steering wheel; and an elevator. Yudit set up a camera to record the scenarios within the elevator and projected the scenarios on the wall for all the participants to see.

Yudit builds a "car"

To address not having practiced self-defense for a while, participants did a scenario before we did technique review—what we call a “cold mugging.” For a focus on evaluating danger by behavior and not appearance, the “muggers” lined up along each side of a “sidewalk” and women took a walk, not knowing where the danger was going to come from. To address the issue of darkness, the lights went out. Women could choose to carry a “baby,” wear a backpack, carry a purse or some combination to address what if I’m carrying things.

Uri, Ika, Yisrael, Jake, and Mark talk about the "elevator"

What an exciting “kick-off” to our week in Israel. Muggers flying off beds, bouncing around elevators, landing on car doors, and scrambling in the dark while powerful women used their voices, claimed their space, and effectively stopped attacks no matter the obstacles they encountered.

Take away: Creating what if opportunities for IMPACT graduates is a positive way to reinforce skills and also to see how a limitation for a defender (e.g. a dark or confined space) is also a limitation for an attacker.

Carrying Coals to Newcastle? Teaching Self-Defense in Israel

On Thursday January 5, I will be traveling to Israel for the third time to work with the IMPACT Israel chapter. Mark Nessel, IMPACT Instructor, and I first went to Israel in 2005 and then again in 2006 to train the first IMPACT instructors in Israel. Since that time the organization has grown and thrived. Most recently Haareetz.com featured IMPACT Israel's work with Arab women in East Jerusalem.

Below is a version of a blog I wrote for the El Halev website (www.elhalev.org ) under IMPACT Personal Stories in 2006.

In 2004, Jill Shames and Yudit Sidikman approached me about bringing IMPACT to Israel. After a year of planning, IMPACT Chicago suited instructor and trainer Mark Nessel and I arrived in Israel in the summer of 2005 and trained 4 lead instructors, 5 suited instructors, and 1 class assistant. We returned in 2006 to finalize the training of the 9 instructors and to start the training of another group of suited instructors and class assistants, some of whom are now lead instructors.

When I mention to people in the U.S. that I have been to Israel to teach women’s self-defense and train women’s self-defense instructors in IMPACT, one of the most common responses has been to question the need for a U.S. women’s self-defense instructor to go to Israel. Typical comments: sexual assault isn’t a problem in Israel, Israelis know more about self-defense than anybody, or Israeli women serve in the military so why would they need a self-defense course.

Even though I had not been to Israel before, I had known Jill and Yudit for years through the U.S. National Women’s Martial Arts Federation (NWMAF). I was confident that these two savvy NWMAF certified self-defense instructors would not be spending time and money to bring IMPACT instructors to Israel to teach self-defense and do instructor training unless they saw it as a unique addition to the other effective self-defense systems they were already offering at El Halev, a nonprofit Israeli organization established in 2003 with a focus on empowering women and girls through martial arts and self-defense (www.elhalev.org).

Though I believed that IMPACT would be a valuable addition to El Halev’s programming, I was concerned about how parts of this very American course were going to “translate.” Some of my concerns were echoed prior to our first self-defense class by some of the instructors-in-training who added other concerns that I hadn’t thought about--the circles where women share their experiences and feelings, women yelling together and offering their support to others, women fighting full force when someone in an obviously padded suit and helmet grabs them, and frankly—the drama and surrealism of it all!

I’m not sure exactly when my concerns were erased, but the instructors-in-training and the women in the first IMPACT course in Israel modeled what effective translation is all about. In its most common usage, the word translation means to take an idea formed in one language and express it in another, but in its broadest sense translation means to move, shift, or change—whether in language, perspective, location, or medium. That is what happened to this very American course in Israel. Instructors and students translated the essence of IMPACT—believing they are worth defending, judging behavior and not appearance or social status, being in the moment, 100% engagement, and following the ethic of least harm (i.e. doing only what you need to do to stop an attack and no more). What a thrill to have been part of the process of launching IMPACT Israel!
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Carrying coals to Newcastle is an idiom meaning: "to take something to a place or a person that has a lot of that thing already." (from The Free Dictionary).