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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1970-07-10 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 6
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WATCH OUT! SOMEDAY A REAL CA The Karate Rip-Off Last fall a few women Iowa City Women's Liberation took a self-defense class offered by some men from the university karate club. We learned the basic self-defense techniques: snap kick the groin, eye jab, chop to throat, hammer-fist to groin, and elbow jab. We practiced the snap kick continually because the instructors said it must be instinctive in order to be effective -- if you stop to think for one moment it would be too late. Well, we listened what they said, practiced the snap kick, grew stronger, and became more confident until all of a sudden it dawned on us that we might have to really use it. Even though we were becoming physically strong, we realized that our mental response to an attack would be passive struggling. We would practice the eye jab, but deep inside we thought it was to terrible to lose. Our socialization became clear to us, and as we tried to overcome it, its power over us became even clearer. For months we agonized over the obvious contradiction in our thinking. We couldn't see ourselves responding with force to outrageously brutal attacks again women. We are still struggling with this. Self-defense is a psychological discipline too. In Feb. these same male instructors began teaching a class in Tang Soo Do, a Korean school of karate. There were 20 in the class: about 4 men and all the rest women among whom 10 were Women's Liberation sister.s Karate was a rocky road from beginning to end. One thing a lot of us had trouble with was the mindless, male, marine discipline. I agree with the need for strict discipline in a karate class, but it goes completely against y grain to blindly obey a rule for which no reason is given. The instructor would say "Don't ask questions in class" and I'd say "Why" and he'd say "Just don't." This problem comes up again in the big rip-off, which I will now describe. We came to karate class a usual one evening and were summoned to the other end of the mat by two instructions (hereafter to be referred to as #1 and #2) for a meeting #2 said "You read it" and #1 said "You read it" so #2 finally read it. It was a write-up (inaccurate) of an incident that happened when 6 of us in WLF went to speak to a high school in Davenport. We were eating lunch in the cafeteria (two of us were wearing our tobaks so we must have "looked funny"), when 3 boys sat down at an adjacent table and began to heckle us. The heckling centered around the question of whether Anne was a girl or a boy and continued for five min. I was really getting mad because this used to happen to ma all the time when my hair was short and I knew how Anne must be feeling. The the biggest boy (about six feet) who had already made one reconnaissance pass by our table "to get a better look" came up, leaned over to Anne and leered, "Hey, are you a girl or a boy?" Pat, Phyllis and I jumped up. Pat threw a beautiful kick to his groin but it missed because I grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him back to his own table and forced him down into a chair. I was screaming at him about how he doesn't call Black people niggers because he's scared of them and how he'd better start being scared of women because we're not putting up with this shit anymore. France and Anne went over to him after we sat down and tried to talk to them about chauvinism. The big boy asked if Anne would accept his apology. She said, no. Anyway, #2 finished reading the clipping and started in on a sickening sexist tirade: Him: (close paraphrase) Now, I've been called a nigger many times which is a much worse insult than this and I never responded with karate. I would be a different thing if I were out with my girl and somebody tried to touch her private parts, then I would have to use karate to protect her. Besides if someone came up and "kicked me in my baby-maker," I would be likely to kill her. There we were. Supposed to be listening with respect to our instructors who were spuming all that sexist crap. I just couldn't take it: Me: Just a minute. For one thing you probably have responded physically to being called nigger and if you haven't that's your problem. And another thing, we don't have to sit here and listen to you telling us what is and isn't an insult against women. So fuck it! #1, who had been staring at the floor with a look of disgust o his face, said "You don't talk back to an instructor." Authority figures make Phyllis cry, so she got up to leave. I left with her to see if I could help. We held each other and cried and felt totally frustrated because we knew there was nothing we could do. We wanted to learn karate and they held all the cards When we finally got back to the meeting, #1 was telling us that we were only orange belts and that we could not give any more karate demonstrations without him. We mentioned that it was politically important that women give them alone. He said, no. That was that. We went to a local restaurant to reconnoiter. We decided that I shouldn't have gotten mad and Phyllis shouldn't be upset because it reduce our effectiveness. To prevent this in the future we invented a distress signal (fist with thumb up) which means close the ranks so we are physically closer and can help each other! We also decided that the only weapon we had for collective bargaining against #1 was his desire for good students to build his reputation as an instructor. We established the policy that if any sister got kicked out of class for outside use of karate that didn't meet the approval of the instructor, then we'd all walk out. But if a sister got kicked out for a breach of discipline during class we would remain in class and teach her out of class. (We compromise here because we feel it is necessary for women to learn karate.) We came to our next karate class armed with these plans to find that we had been ripped off. All the qualified mail instructors refused to teach us for various reasons. One said we didn't realize that it was a privilege to learn karate. He was in a class where the instructor used to knock people out while they were at attention to see how long it took them to get up. It was a privilege to be knocked out. Another said he would not teach people who would do anything so "disgustingly sub-human" as wear their tobaks into a bar. One said that karate was his religion and we had violated it by not knowing innately where to wear our tobaks. #2 gave us back our quarters for the board we didn't get to break, and we left. (You know what I think? I don't think it was religious at all. I think it was the groin kick. Dig it.) We thought that that was the end of karate because we felt we needed an instructor to make us work. With some doubt, therefore, we started holding a class every night from 5:30-6:30 at Wesley House to teach other women what we know and to work out. We've found that collective teaching reduces the inherent elitism in teaching and makes the class less stratified. Still, we really need to learn more karate so if anyone is inclined to develop a mail-order course we'd appreciate it. FEMALES AND SELF-DEFENSE The ever increasing rate of the [unreadable] against women has prompted women's mag[unreadable] papers to issue warnings and offer advi[ce] [to?] male readers. We are warned not to go [unreadable] after dark, but if we must venture out [unreadable] advised to carry alarms, mace, nailfiles [unreadable] enticing clothing, and of course if att[unreadable] so some passing man will come to our re[scue?] The crimes against women are the most [unreadable] pression of the pervasive attitude of [unreadable] women. While some of us have not experi[enced?] [unreadable] treme, all of us have been subjected to [unreadable] "harmless" forms--being handled, whistled [at?] hooted at. You don't treat an equal hu[unreadable] that. Any female not under the "protec[tion?] [unreadable] is "free game." If she's not private p[roperty?] she's public property. We have depended on males to "protect [unreadable] The right to protect is also the right [unreadable] is time that all females learn to defe[nd] [unreadable] Males are taught how to take care of [unreadable] while growing up. Females are systemat[unreadable] this right. Our culture does not allow [unreadable] velop strength. Girls are not supposed [unreadable] things. The result is that women are p[unreadable] The psychological consequences are of e[unreadable] significance. Women feel they should [be?] [unreadable] they need a man to protect them. Women's physical weakness and its ps[unreadable] consequences can only be overcome through [unreadable] their bodies. Of the various forms of [unreadable] karate enables you to become consciously [unreadable] physical potential by teaching you to m[unreadable] whole body. Only when we have gained t[unreadable] that comes through developing our physi[unreadable] exercising it, will we be able to gain [unreadable] mobility. It is a basic and immediate necessit[y?] [unreadable] be given access to free self-defense in [unreadable] dividual women should not have to pay [unreadable] defend themselves. It is not an indivi[dual?] [unreadable] Women should demand that free self-defe[nse?] [unreadable] be provided by towns, schools, business [unreadable] departments...all institutions which ha[unreadable] over women's lives. The attacks on women will stop only [unreadable] as dangerous to attack a woman as it is [unreadable] another man. Pat Galligan Delpfine Welch (Reprinted from No More Fun and Ga[mes?] [photo of woman] 6 Vol. 1 No. 2 [hand drawn arm]Ain't I
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WATCH OUT! SOMEDAY A REAL CA The Karate Rip-Off Last fall a few women Iowa City Women's Liberation took a self-defense class offered by some men from the university karate club. We learned the basic self-defense techniques: snap kick the groin, eye jab, chop to throat, hammer-fist to groin, and elbow jab. We practiced the snap kick continually because the instructors said it must be instinctive in order to be effective -- if you stop to think for one moment it would be too late. Well, we listened what they said, practiced the snap kick, grew stronger, and became more confident until all of a sudden it dawned on us that we might have to really use it. Even though we were becoming physically strong, we realized that our mental response to an attack would be passive struggling. We would practice the eye jab, but deep inside we thought it was to terrible to lose. Our socialization became clear to us, and as we tried to overcome it, its power over us became even clearer. For months we agonized over the obvious contradiction in our thinking. We couldn't see ourselves responding with force to outrageously brutal attacks again women. We are still struggling with this. Self-defense is a psychological discipline too. In Feb. these same male instructors began teaching a class in Tang Soo Do, a Korean school of karate. There were 20 in the class: about 4 men and all the rest women among whom 10 were Women's Liberation sister.s Karate was a rocky road from beginning to end. One thing a lot of us had trouble with was the mindless, male, marine discipline. I agree with the need for strict discipline in a karate class, but it goes completely against y grain to blindly obey a rule for which no reason is given. The instructor would say "Don't ask questions in class" and I'd say "Why" and he'd say "Just don't." This problem comes up again in the big rip-off, which I will now describe. We came to karate class a usual one evening and were summoned to the other end of the mat by two instructions (hereafter to be referred to as #1 and #2) for a meeting #2 said "You read it" and #1 said "You read it" so #2 finally read it. It was a write-up (inaccurate) of an incident that happened when 6 of us in WLF went to speak to a high school in Davenport. We were eating lunch in the cafeteria (two of us were wearing our tobaks so we must have "looked funny"), when 3 boys sat down at an adjacent table and began to heckle us. The heckling centered around the question of whether Anne was a girl or a boy and continued for five min. I was really getting mad because this used to happen to ma all the time when my hair was short and I knew how Anne must be feeling. The the biggest boy (about six feet) who had already made one reconnaissance pass by our table "to get a better look" came up, leaned over to Anne and leered, "Hey, are you a girl or a boy?" Pat, Phyllis and I jumped up. Pat threw a beautiful kick to his groin but it missed because I grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him back to his own table and forced him down into a chair. I was screaming at him about how he doesn't call Black people niggers because he's scared of them and how he'd better start being scared of women because we're not putting up with this shit anymore. France and Anne went over to him after we sat down and tried to talk to them about chauvinism. The big boy asked if Anne would accept his apology. She said, no. Anyway, #2 finished reading the clipping and started in on a sickening sexist tirade: Him: (close paraphrase) Now, I've been called a nigger many times which is a much worse insult than this and I never responded with karate. I would be a different thing if I were out with my girl and somebody tried to touch her private parts, then I would have to use karate to protect her. Besides if someone came up and "kicked me in my baby-maker," I would be likely to kill her. There we were. Supposed to be listening with respect to our instructors who were spuming all that sexist crap. I just couldn't take it: Me: Just a minute. For one thing you probably have responded physically to being called nigger and if you haven't that's your problem. And another thing, we don't have to sit here and listen to you telling us what is and isn't an insult against women. So fuck it! #1, who had been staring at the floor with a look of disgust o his face, said "You don't talk back to an instructor." Authority figures make Phyllis cry, so she got up to leave. I left with her to see if I could help. We held each other and cried and felt totally frustrated because we knew there was nothing we could do. We wanted to learn karate and they held all the cards When we finally got back to the meeting, #1 was telling us that we were only orange belts and that we could not give any more karate demonstrations without him. We mentioned that it was politically important that women give them alone. He said, no. That was that. We went to a local restaurant to reconnoiter. We decided that I shouldn't have gotten mad and Phyllis shouldn't be upset because it reduce our effectiveness. To prevent this in the future we invented a distress signal (fist with thumb up) which means close the ranks so we are physically closer and can help each other! We also decided that the only weapon we had for collective bargaining against #1 was his desire for good students to build his reputation as an instructor. We established the policy that if any sister got kicked out of class for outside use of karate that didn't meet the approval of the instructor, then we'd all walk out. But if a sister got kicked out for a breach of discipline during class we would remain in class and teach her out of class. (We compromise here because we feel it is necessary for women to learn karate.) We came to our next karate class armed with these plans to find that we had been ripped off. All the qualified mail instructors refused to teach us for various reasons. One said we didn't realize that it was a privilege to learn karate. He was in a class where the instructor used to knock people out while they were at attention to see how long it took them to get up. It was a privilege to be knocked out. Another said he would not teach people who would do anything so "disgustingly sub-human" as wear their tobaks into a bar. One said that karate was his religion and we had violated it by not knowing innately where to wear our tobaks. #2 gave us back our quarters for the board we didn't get to break, and we left. (You know what I think? I don't think it was religious at all. I think it was the groin kick. Dig it.) We thought that that was the end of karate because we felt we needed an instructor to make us work. With some doubt, therefore, we started holding a class every night from 5:30-6:30 at Wesley House to teach other women what we know and to work out. We've found that collective teaching reduces the inherent elitism in teaching and makes the class less stratified. Still, we really need to learn more karate so if anyone is inclined to develop a mail-order course we'd appreciate it. FEMALES AND SELF-DEFENSE The ever increasing rate of the [unreadable] against women has prompted women's mag[unreadable] papers to issue warnings and offer advi[ce] [to?] male readers. We are warned not to go [unreadable] after dark, but if we must venture out [unreadable] advised to carry alarms, mace, nailfiles [unreadable] enticing clothing, and of course if att[unreadable] so some passing man will come to our re[scue?] The crimes against women are the most [unreadable] pression of the pervasive attitude of [unreadable] women. While some of us have not experi[enced?] [unreadable] treme, all of us have been subjected to [unreadable] "harmless" forms--being handled, whistled [at?] hooted at. You don't treat an equal hu[unreadable] that. Any female not under the "protec[tion?] [unreadable] is "free game." If she's not private p[roperty?] she's public property. We have depended on males to "protect [unreadable] The right to protect is also the right [unreadable] is time that all females learn to defe[nd] [unreadable] Males are taught how to take care of [unreadable] while growing up. Females are systemat[unreadable] this right. Our culture does not allow [unreadable] velop strength. Girls are not supposed [unreadable] things. The result is that women are p[unreadable] The psychological consequences are of e[unreadable] significance. Women feel they should [be?] [unreadable] they need a man to protect them. Women's physical weakness and its ps[unreadable] consequences can only be overcome through [unreadable] their bodies. Of the various forms of [unreadable] karate enables you to become consciously [unreadable] physical potential by teaching you to m[unreadable] whole body. Only when we have gained t[unreadable] that comes through developing our physi[unreadable] exercising it, will we be able to gain [unreadable] mobility. It is a basic and immediate necessit[y?] [unreadable] be given access to free self-defense in [unreadable] dividual women should not have to pay [unreadable] defend themselves. It is not an indivi[dual?] [unreadable] Women should demand that free self-defe[nse?] [unreadable] be provided by towns, schools, business [unreadable] departments...all institutions which ha[unreadable] over women's lives. The attacks on women will stop only [unreadable] as dangerous to attack a woman as it is [unreadable] another man. Pat Galligan Delpfine Welch (Reprinted from No More Fun and Ga[mes?] [photo of woman] 6 Vol. 1 No. 2 [hand drawn arm]Ain't I
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