1/27/2009 09:05:00 PM

#21


As part of Rutger's ridiculously smart decision (from both a marketing standpoint and a student perspective), RU recreation started offering "Dollar Menu"classes in which for a buck, you can try a bunch of one-time classes ranging from needlepoint to basket weaving.

I picked "Crisis Intervention for Women," aka self-defense. There is irony in the name "crisis intervention" especially since as a shrink in training it means something completely different. But this "crisis intervention" essentially means beating the crap out of your attacker, and I think it has its merits in specific situations.

Anyway, it was fun to learn some basic moves and get to practice them (gently) on another student. The instructors (a cop and a martial artist) taught us a variety of moves that I hope never to have to use, including:

Eye gouge
Nostril hook
Throat punch
Swim-through
Over-the-shoulder throw

And some others. Anyway, I basically learned that sometimes you want to do actions that are counter-intuitive in order to inflict the most damage on an attacker. And that you should always scream your shrieky head off when confronted regardless of what the attacker threatens you with, including guns and knives.

The instructors seemed very knowledgeable and obviously comfortable with their masculinity. At one point one of them lay on top of the other as if he was sexually assaulting him. Unfazed, the one on the back wrapped his legs around his partner and pulled him closer. The point was to emphasize that actually pulling an attacker closer to you takes him by surprise and actually puts you in control of the position, but I think all the girls in the room was... distracted at that point. Heh.

The teachers said if the class gets picked up as a full-course at RU they would be able to allow us to wail on them while they wear protective suits, and train us to feel comfortable with screaming our heads off. Sounds good to me!

Most Memorable Advice: "You don't want to just kick, you want to grab it... and then yank as hard as you can." Priceless.

4 comments:

A said...

your blog title sounds like it means pooping... funny "course"...

ultimateringer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ultimateringer said...

hey thanks for the helpful tips! the end is hilarious! and are you sure screaming your heads off won't cause the opposite - like them knocking the daylights out of us?!

Grace said...

they said it's a game of odds, but when you think about the opposite, keeping silent will definitely NOT get you rescued... so i'd rather take my chances raising as much of a ruckus as possible :P

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