Originally Posted by demarpaint
Originally Posted by billt460
Originally Posted by demarpaint
FTR I am in no way advocating it! Times have changed! There are people that have trained to fight [self defense] and go about it under the assumption the opponent could have a weapon, and use it from the ground. In some instances that may very well be the reason some people stomp heads. In a self defense situation, a knock out or stomping the hands so a person can't use a weapon is a better way than risking killing or permanently disabling someone. Operative words here are self defense.
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As attacks worsen, and become much more violent, the response to that violence must escalate as well. If not you are going to be far more likely to be on the losing end. Women used to be taught to try and kick a guy in the nuts, or spray him with Mace. Today they're taught to gouge at their attackers eyes. Or else flat out shoot them if they are armed.
I've trained in and taught self defense for almost 40 years now. The best defense is not to be in harms way. LOL But we don't live in a perfect world. To keep is short, I try and avoid confrontation, if I have to defend myself I will do whatever I have to do to survive. There are a lot of sick people in the world unfortunately. I taught women to try and take a man's sight way, [and the groin shots, most knew that from when they were little girls] make a lot of noise and get the [censored] away the first chance they get.
Yes, times have changed, and not for the best unfortunately.
The fundamental concept of self defense is to always be aware of what's going on around you to allow yourself to avoid attack or at least to be prepared for the possibility. Burying your attention in your phone is not the best idea when out among people you don't know. Having a firearm is also not necessarily helpful in that you may not be able to get enough time and distance to deploy it and you might also lose control of it, giving your attacker your own weapon.
The whole point of unarmed self defense is to evade and block shots to the head. Take a solid punch to the jaw and you're down, so the priority is to avoid or block any such blows. I'm not sure how good of an idea it would be to voluntarily close with an aggressor, particularly for a woman, as would be needed to actually take someone's eye out. The danger is that you would likely end up in a clinch and if the aggressor is bigger and stronger than you you'll still be able to use some striking techniques but are likely to get picked off the ground and then slammed into it, not a good place to be, although there are techniques that may allow you to control an attacker who ends up on top of you while you're on your back. If an attacker attempts to kick you when you're down, you might be able to seize his foot and give it a hard twist, possibly fracturing something but at least knocking him onto his back. If anyone grabs you from behind, the hard surface of your skull might prove effective against the soft tissue of his face and rearward elbow strikes can work well.
This is all stuff I'd never want to test empirically, which is the reason that situational awareness is the first and best tool in your arsenal.