Wing Chun is the only fighting art ever created by a woman to defeat larger, stronger attackers.
(The following was written by a female student here at the Wing Chun Boxing Academy LLC) Many self-defense classes can be found throughout the country. Some offer as little as a 2-hour open enrollment course, with the first hour offering discussion on safety techniques, and the second hour going over physical techniques. Other self-defense classes are taught within 20 hours, which can be taught over a span of a 2-day weekend or broken up into separate workshops. University campuses also tend to offer women’s self-defense classes that span a 4-month period. These classes explore the concepts, strategies, and methods of self-defense. While reading about the concepts, strategies, and methods of self-defense may enlighten someone of situational awareness of potential danger, it does not hone-in muscle memory when actually faced with such a said attack.
Wing Chun is a martial art that emphasizes a lifelong learning process, optimizing self-defense in its true form. It incorporates muscle memory, allowing one to practice not only being the defender, but the attacker as well. This allows a person to gain confidence in the skill of not only defending oneself, but also in reciprocating force against the attacker in order to allow the would-be victim to safely leave the situation behind. The art is both mental and physical. It emphasizes technique over strength, which allows a smaller and more delicate person to be able to easily overcome a stronger and/or larger opponent. Because of this, Wing Chun is suitable for both men and women, young and old, and all levels of fitness.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
Prior to coming to my first class at The Wing Chun Boxing Academy, I have to honestly say I had never heard of the system before. I knew nothing about it, not only as a style, but with regards to self-defense. I had taken self-defense classes before, practiced some “get-away” moves, but when I was actually attacked, I initially froze. I didn’t remember a thing that I had learned about my self-defense courses. What kept running through my mind was “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” I then tried to fight. I clawed, I dug my fingers into him, I tried to get away, but my attacker overpowered me. My attacker was someone that I had known and worked with for over a year at the time of the attack. When I first came to class, I was told that this was a woman’s art. That it was made for a person who was smaller than the attacker. I was skeptical. I couldn’t see initially how this obscure-sounding art could actually help me where the other self-defense courses had utterly failed me. However, I decided to keep coming to class and see if it was worth my time. Techniques and moves were explained to me. They started to make sense. The realization came to me that what this art form had that others lacked was muscle memory. The art form made sense, but in order to apply it in real life, I would have to understand it so well as to create it into a learned muscle reflex. In addition, I have to mentally understand how the technique works in order to gain confidence in my skill. The more I learn, the more I see its value. Had I known at the time of the attack what I know now, the attack would have never been successful. When I was recently confronted with another possible altercation, this time by a woman, I was surprised by my lack of fear at the possibility of an attack. The value in this art is the peace and confidence that it gives you when facing life, allowing you to live in joy instead of fear.
Some Facts:
Females are consistently being targeted for acts of violence, both fatal and nonfatal. Nonfatal violence includes rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated or simple assault. Fatal violence includes homicide or murder, and non-negligent manslaughter. As of 2008, females age 12 or older experienced about 852,000 nonfatal victimizations. Females are at risk of intimate partner victimizations at the rate of 4.3 victimizations per 1,000 females age 12 or older. About 99% of intimate partner violence against females in 2008 was committed by male offenders (Catalon, Smith, Snyder, Rand, p. 1-2, 2009).
With regards to fatal intimate partner violence (current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend), females made up 70% of victims killed by an intimate partner in 2007, a proportion that has changed very little since 1993. Females are generally murdered by people they know. In 64% of female homicide cases in 2007, females were killed by a family member or intimate partner. In addition, 25% were killed by others that they knew, and only an estimated 10% were killed by a stranger. Males are more likely than women to be killed by strangers (Catalon, Smith, Snyder, Rand, p. 3, 2009).
57% of rape or sexual assault against females was committed by an offender whom they knew. Strangers committed about 31% of all rape and/or sexual assault cases. 1 in 5 rape or sexual assaults against females (20%) were committed by an intimate partner. Almost half (47%) of the rape or sexual assault against females in 2008 were reported to the police. 4 out of 5 (80%) of the rapes against females were committed by males (Catalon, Smith, Snyder, Rand, p. 5, 2009).
In 2011, a telephone survey was conducted, known as the “National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.” This survey was supported by the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Defense. Nearly 1 in 5 surveyed said they had been raped or had experienced an attempted rape at some point, and 1 in 4 reported being beaten by an intimate partner. 1 in 6 women have been stalked according to the report. By definition of rape, 1% of women surveyed reported being raped in the previous year, a figure that suggests that 1.3 million American women annually may be victims of rape or attempted rape. More than half of the female rape victims had been raped by an intimate partner, and 40% had been raped by an acquaintance (Robin, NY Times, 2011).
Of these statistics, women are not only more likely to be targeted as victims for violent crimes, they are also more likely to be targeted by someone they know and potentially trust. Although many sources of media sensationalize cases where women are targeted by men they didn’t know, it may come to a shock to many women when their attackers are someone they know well.
Because of violent crimes against women, self-defense classes have arisen to help women reduce their chances of becoming victimized. While their intentions are good, they lack long term training in helping a woman to be able to recall this said training when faced by dangerous situations. If the training for self-defense is not consistently reinforced, when faced in a potentially dangerous situation, the natural instinct is to either fight or flee. Once the instinct takes over, memories of previous self-defense training are erased at the time of confrontation.
Sources:
Catalano, S., Ph.D, Smith, E., Snyder, H., Ph.D., Rand, M. (2009). Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings: Female Victims of Violence. NCJ 228356. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvv.pdf.
Robin, R. (2011, December 11). “Nearly 1 in 5 Women in U.S. Survey Say They Have Been Sexually Assualted.”New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/health/nearly-1-in-5-women-in-us-survey-report-sexual-assault.html?_r=0 .
Tsui Sheung Tin. “The Hidden Power of Siu Nim Tau. Retrieved from http://www.tstvingtsun.bc.ca/HiddenPowerOfSNT_remix.html.
– Lillia. B., student of The Wing Chun Boxing Academy
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What Women say about the training here
“Girls, do you want to learn to defend yourself in a friendly, intelligent atmosphere? This is your school and this is your martial art! Wing Chun Kung Fu was originated by a Shaolin nun as a system of fighting for a smaller person to be able to defend against a stronger, larger attacker. It is extremely effective. You don’t have to be a great athlete to learn wing chun. Especially under the instruction of Sifu Dustan Carroll. He creates an intelligent and enjoyable atmosphere for training. Been here for 2 1/2 years and loved every minute.”
–Julie
“You know SiFu, not to unload on you or anything…but I would like to say thank you. I got involved with this guy who thought it was okay to hit me. (my ex….)
He head butted me one night and broke my nose… it was crazy…I am still trying to figure out how I didn’t go down from that. I mean I was seeing stars it was the hardest blow I had ever taken. I’m not going to lie, it took me a second to understand what just happened…..But you see after that, he put a dvd cord around my neck and that was when I went crazy because it was life or death. It was scary but because of what I learned from you, even years later…I was able to hurt him enough to get away and call the cops. I remember standing there with blood all over my face and all I could think of was you and what I had learned in your class… With what you taught me, I fought back and got away. I still swear to this day it was taking your class and learning some Wing Chun from you that made me not afraid and gave me the will and power to fight back. I know the Wing Chun I learned from you saved my life because he was trying to strangle me…but I just kept thinking there is no way he is going to do this to me…and somehow, I got the upper hand, fought hard and used what I learned from you to get away…..THANK YOU!
Please put this on your web site because I want to see more women in self-defense classes… if I have a little girl I swear she will be learning how to fight. If it’s a boy he will to but it’s so much more important for a girl to know how to save their lives, because creeps go after what they think is the weaker person. It’s so easy for a woman going up against a crazy guy like that to think “What’s the point in fighting back?” He is flat out tougher than me. And it is also so easy to end up how I did because guys that do that look normal…talk normal. I never saw it coming. He had always treated me good up till then….. I don’t know what changed him but he was going to kill me and I used what you taught me and can still see you saying it, “Fight for your Life!”
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR TEACHING ME. IT SAVED MY LIFE.”
–Gina H.
“The class is way better than the website described it. I couldn’t believe how helpful everyone was and how what I learned today could be used right away.”
-Angel
“I have to say that what you teach really works. Even though I only trained with you for about 7 months what you taught me saved my life.
I was attacked outside of a mall in Pennsylvania and instinctively stopped my would be attacker. He wouldn’t let me in my car and tried to force me into the backseat. I didn’t have to think about what to do, my body was on auto-pilot and I hurt him bad enough that he was lying on the ground when I drove off.
When I got home, I was in shock and had a few drinks, as I told my son about what had happened. He wanted to know what I did and we went through it again. He then tried to show me some moves that he had learned but I was able to stop him without thinking. What is so crazy about it all is that my son serves in the Army and is a combat veteran and I am half his size. Thank you SiFu for training me to react instinctively, without it I would have been hurt really bad. By the way my son told me to do what you taught me because it is extremely effective even after I had a few to drink.
Thank you!”
-Penny
“You are real and that is what makes everything you teach so valuable. You have made it possible for me to go out without fear. It means so much to me. Thank you!”
-G.H.
Old School Martial Arts Training That Works
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