What is Women's Self Defense?

Women's Self Defense, in my view, has always been a class, or a seminar, or a program designed to teach women how to defend themselves against the classical menacing man-figure who is stalking you in a dark and empty parking garage...

Women's Self Defense teaches how to defend yourself against such horror, such uncertainty, such fear...

But I submit to you two concepts... The first being the word "defense". In my personal view, I abhor this word when it comes to self defense. Now granted, it has to be called "self defense" to be located in google searches or phone book logs, but when it is stripped down to its bare essence, protecting yourself is not defense...it is preservation. In preserving your life, I submit to you that defense is not the word to use... Attack is.

What do I mean by attack? Picture this...

Scenario 1:
A man walks up to you and clearly says to you, "I am going to take your purse, break your arm, blast open your nose on your face and kick you 10 times while you are on the ground."

How do you feel?

Scenario 2:
The same man walks up to you and leans into your personal space and with a clear voice says, "I am going to take your child from you... I am going to torture them and kill them..."

HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW!?

If your blood rose to your face and you felt like killing me for writing that...then you just found out the difference between self defense and self ATTACK!



The second concept I submit to your review is the person you will be preserving your personal safety from...

Who says it is going to be some strange rapist in a parking garage?!

Approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States.
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S. Dep't of Just., NCJ 183781, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm

I call it the, "it can't happen to me" excuse.

What about your spouse? Your boyfriend? Your brother? The great guy you met last week and are going out for date 3 with?

Ignorance can no longer be afforded! Look at the stress of this economy. What happens when your husband of 30 years just came home after being laid off of his job of 20 years...what if the stress makes him do something to you that you thought was unimaginable?

That is where self defense and preservation truly become a scary issue. Can you protect yourself from your loved one? Can you, in the time of need, perform an act so violent to someone you care so much for, as to cause injury to them and even kill them?

It is down right disgusting to even think of. But after years of service as a police officer in Illinois, I feel that this issue is alive and well and not talked about enough... and by not talking about it, the violence will never stop.

For more information, training, or comments visit http://www.izzo-training.com/

Classes are in Hoffman Estates, South Barrington and Northbrook Illinois.

Izzo Training Systems is passionate about women's self defense along with educating and empowering the women of Chicago and the North West Suburban Area.