Self-Defense: Steps to Survival
This book is dedicated to everyone who was ever violated and didn’t fight back – because you didn’t know how, you were scared, you thought you’d be hurt worse, or you thought it was your fault. It wasn’t your fault. It’s important that you survived. And it’s safe to learn how to resist now.
No one deserves to be sexually assaulted. No one ever asks for or causes sexual assault. People aren’t attacked because they ‘did something wrong’ or made a poor choice. Most assailants are known by their victims and plan their attacks far in advance. Knowing this, you can learn to defend yourself.
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Self Defense: Steps to Survival
Kathleen L. Mattingly
Available July 2007
208 pp · Paperback
ISBN 978-0-7360-6689-1
$17.95
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Self-Defense: Steps to Survival teaches simple, easy to master techniques that work in real-life scenarios. You don’t have to study martial arts for twenty years or lift weights all summer to use these skills effectively. At your own pace, you’ll learn:
- verbal defenses against harassment
- how to establish boundaries
- how to spot and assess potential perpetrators
- standing defenses using your arms, hands, legs, and feet
- ground defenses including arm strikes and kicks
- how to break free from holds or pins on the ground
- knockout blows
- defenses against weapons and multiple assailants
Women often assume they are too small, too old, too young or not physically fit enough to protect themselves if attacked. But, according to Katy Mattingly, author of Self Defense: Steps to Success (Human Kinetics, 2007), none of these prevent women from fighting back. In fact, the average 8-year-old is capable of breaking an attacker's kneecap and women can defend themselves against much taller and heavier perpetrators.
According to Mattingly at least three obstacles leave women open to attacks:
Never having been taught
Despite a high rate of victimization in the world, a large majority of women have never been taught how to defend themselves and believe they could never protect themselves against a man or someone with a gun.Lack of confidence
Mattingly emphasizes that utilizing self defense techniques doesn't require that a person be extremely strong or have 20 plus years of martial arts training. Mattingly demonstrates easy-to-follow techniques; provides tips on becoming more aware of surroundings and teaches the use of vocalization as a deterrent in Self-Defense: Steps to Survival.Believing myths about violence and safety
Accepting incorrect information often leaves women open for attack. Many women have internalized false information about whom to fear, where they are at risk, what successful self-defense looks like and what works versus what doesn't."Each and every one of us has been trained at some level to distrust our natural instincts," Mattingly adds. "To practice effective self-defense, we must reawaken both the ability to trust our own instincts and the willingness to act on that knowledge.