From: ras@athena.mit.edu (Richard A Shandross)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: Model Mugging (long)
Date: 14 Sep 92 19:23:14 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology



Speaking of crunching testicles, breaking feet and poking out eyes... has any-
one mentioned the points that:

	a)  The rapist is at least partially concentrating on something other 
	    than keeping the victim completely subdued?  The MM people have a 
	    concept of "going to 0" - that is not resisting (physically) -
            until the rapist gives an opening.  Then she "goes to 100".  There 
	    is nearly always an opening because of the facts that the rapist is
	    busy getting off with at least some of his attention, and...
	
	b)  One must remove some very vulnerable parts from one's pants to
	    consummate a rape.  I don't think I need to elaborate much on that.
	    But I will also point out that a lot of rapes are oral, which puts
	    those parts in even greater jeopardy.

These are real life facts, and damn it, I'd rather increase my odds enormously
with a certain risk of overconfidence, than not take the course because there 
is no guarantee that it'll work against everyone.

By the way, I **really** doubt many women have this sense of overconfidence 
that so many seem to be concerned about here.  I think that that may be a
projection of some posters here.  The majority of women I know do not have a
tendency to get overconfident.  In fact, just the opposite is usually true:
they see themselves as not being as competent as they are.  It takes a lot of
effort to prove to them that they are strong, long after they get that way.

Further, from experience I have found my own insecurities and confidence ques-
tions to be much related to the course of my MA training.  In undertaking a
long-term disciplined art, it was really years before I got the chance to see
whether I could be effective, and how.  I learned in the way an artist learns:
forms, principles, strength; integration of all these; internalization and 
the art as a personal expression which is beyond all the parts that went into
it.  (It's not quite so linear; some of each step is always happening, but 
anyway...)  It didn't make sense for me to test out my art much til I got to 
the integration step.  I didn't see that then, though, and constantly wondered
if I was "any good," or if I could defend myself in a real situation.  (By the
way the questions were answered not by reaching an indisputable "yes" or "no",
but by realizing that the questions don't make sense:  good as compared to
what or whom, and what *really* is good (tomorrow I'll wonder how I ever could
have thought that was good)? ... defend myself on what day, how tired am I,
who is attacking, what about the adage "the master is struck down by the blind
fist", doesn't worrying about the question create a split state of mind which
will greatly reduce my effectiveness?)  

On the other hand, I've been learning to play the guitar by making
songs - from day one - with very little theory.  It took a little time til
people could recognize my banging as a song, but not very much time.  While
no one would hire me to sit in with Les Paul, what I do is always recognized
as music, and gives people a lot of pleasure to hear.  (*Now* I occasionally
turn to a smattering of theory to improve myself, but I could be very happy
with my playing without it.)  I am certainly not overconfident about my 
abilities; in fact I am pleasantly surprised to get feedback like "oh, I
thought that was a record I was hearing."

In MM, the fighters get immediate feedback and have much more of a sense of the
feeling of hitting with full power than most of us.  As to the usefullness of 
the feedback they get from the "Models," recall that most of them have MA
and/or street experience (though thankfully, not raping experience):  I trust 
their sense of the effectiveness of a strike.  I suspect the graduates are a
lot more grounded in reality than a lot of MAers.  (It doesn't hurt that the
MM instructors take pains not to give the women a sense of overconfidence, 
either.)

If I were a woman, I would want to start to "play songs" immediately, and give
myself a fighting chance in this DAMN atmosphere of intimidation, fear and 
danger that exists out there for them.  THEN I would think about becoming an
artist and bettering the odds even more.  


		Rich Shandross
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts