Kicks for chicks

In first person

A quick upward thrust to the nose, followed by a fast knee in the groin. As my attacker keels over, I deliver a kick to the face. "No!" I yell, striking the lower back. "No! No! No!"

"Good job, Sally!" my attacker says, and suddenly, I come back to myself. My attacker is actually my instructor, and I'm not being jumped on a street late at night. I'm in a well-lit room at the Takoma Park Community Center with five other students on a Tuesday evening in late January, taking a self-defense class so I can protect myself if I am jumped on a street late at night.

Recently, society has made efforts to become safer for women: On Jan. 5, President Bush signed into law the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which allocates $3.9 billion over the next five years to combat female-targeted violence in the U.S. Despite this progress, I feel that I should be prepared for anything from day-to-day street harassment to sexual assault.

As my instructor tells us to repeat the exercise, I assume my stance: hands up to block, one foot back for balance. No matter what's coming at me, I know I can fight it.

Taking action

I wasn't so confident before. While I filled out my college applications, it struck me that next year, I would not be in the same safe environment any longer. I would need to stand up for myself, whether in simply disagreeing with my classmates or in fending off leering boys at a party.

Although my realization is common, the fact that I acted upon it is not. Despite most women's intentions to take a self-defense class, few get around to it, according to my instructor, Lauren Taylor, a teacher with the D.C. Self-Defense Karate Association's Defend Yourself program for close to two decades.

The low number of women taking self-defense classes is unfortunate, says Sally Van Wright, chair of the Board of Directors of the National Women's Martial Arts Federation, because such classes are a central part of building a safe community. After taking a class, women see themselves less as victims and more as people who can effect positive change, she says.

When senior Sandy Lopez signed up for the self-defense class through the Jump Start girls' program at her middle school, she was motivated by past experiences in which she felt vulnerable. The memories ran through her mind: a man sitting too close to her and her friend on the bus, her friends' tales of boys' unwelcome advances and the too-friendly touches she'd been receiving lately from an older man she knew.

Over the three weeks of her self-defense class, Lopez learned how to deal with each of these situations safely and effectively, skills that she says she will never forget. As I move out of my ready stance and mime kicking my opponent's knee and scraping down her shin with my shoe heel, I begin to understand what she means: My body will remember this move in the moment when I need it most.

"A powerful feeling"

But I won't remember it without repetition. My self-defense class meets for two hours each week for six weeks, giving me the chance to practice techniques for protecting myself until the movements become drilled into my muscle memory.

According to Taylor, my self-defense class addresses three topics: awareness and prevention of attacks, defensive verbal techniques and physical strikes as a last resort for getting out of a situation safely. Sophomore Lily Naden, who took a self-defense class last summer, feels she walked away more knowledgeable in each of these areas.

In one simulation that Naden did, a partner play-acted the part of an obnoxious man and asked her a series of intrusive questions. At first, Naden thought it would be easy to say "no" to her partner and make him leave her alone. But when the simulation was actually carried out, she found herself "tip-toeing" around the confrontation and allowing the pressure to build on her. With practice, though, she built the self-confidence to yell "no!" with power.

Looking back, Naden realizes that her inhibition stemmed from a desire to be courteous. "It feels rude to say 'no,'" she explains. "But the truth is, if [a man] is asking you all these questions and you feel uncomfortable, then they're not being polite."

Naden also learned how to defend herself if a man attacked without warning. With a partner, she practiced simple defensive strikes, such as making a quick, upward thrust with the base of her hand to the bottom of her opponent's nose or grouping her fingers together into a sharp point that she could jab at an attacker's eyes.

As Naden practiced these strikes, she felt her confidence rise. Although the class wasn't "revolutionary" for her, she says, it was still a valuable experience. "It was a powerful feeling walking out and knowing I could defend myself," she says. "I can. Everyone can. Maybe you're not as helpless as you think you are."

Real-life self-defense

My self-defense class over, I exit the community center at 9 p.m. and think of ways that, at this moment, I could be safer. I check to the left and the right as I walk towards my car, keeping my head up and my eyes and ears alert for anything unusual. Less than a month ago, I probably would have strode across the parking lot, headphones in my ears, oblivious.

This isn't just a process of learning I've gone through - it's a process of growth as well. I am stronger now, emotionally and physically. My transformation is one that Taylor notices in many of her self-defense students. "I see them valuing themselves, taking up space in the world, making the choices they want to make because they're living in less fear," she says.

Although she took the class years ago, Lopez still carries the self-confidence she gained during those three weeks. Last year in Langley Park, she was walking home after she had her nails done for prom, and a man in a car asked her for directions. As she answered his question, he suddenly exposed himself to her. Immediately, she walked away, but not before quickly memorizing the man's license plate. She found the nearest group of people, asked for a cell phone and called the police to report the incident.

If the same incident had occurred before the class, Lopez says she would have frozen up and kept silent about what happened. "I know exactly what my reaction would have been," she says. "I would have just stood there. But I ran, and I told people." Although I hope never to experience a similar event, I know that my self-defense class has prepared me to deal with one successfully.

Lopez echoes my new confidence when she says that taking a self-defense class is like learning to write. "You don't just leave it," she says. "You take it with you because you know that you're going to need it in the future."