Muggers beware! Fendalton women are on the warpath

Press, 13 March 1985, Page 17

Muggers beware! Fendalton women are on the warpath

By

KEN COATES

Once, anyone overhearing the present weekly goings-on in St Barnabas church hall, Fendalton, could have set the cat among the parish pigeons. Parishioners and others, some aged over 80, are being shown, in deadly seriousness, how to punch, kick, scratch, pull, twist, knee, pinch, bruise, knuckle, stomp, and crush.

But it is all thoroughly approved; and the initiative has come from among the vicar’s flock. It is not much use turning the other cheek when the assailant is a rapist or mugger, so all are women learning how to attack the most vulnerable parts of a man’s body — V.P.s in self-defence jargon. Instruction for women on how to fight back has been around for years, but increased violence is bringing more women out from their suburban houses. They are learning techniques that will frighten and flatten the most desperate intruder or prowler. A much greater number of older women, especially those living alone, are learning what they can do, and so are little girls, aged between seven and 12.

The women, naturally, mean business, as I found when I attended a session last week (the only male so privileged). In charge is Lynda Morgan, aged 37, mother of two teen-aged sons, a lithe lady skilled in the Korean martial art, Tae-kwon-do. She is a black tip, one rung removed from a black belt, but is emphatic that neither physical fitness nor a high level of agility is necessary for effective self-defence.

Lynda pulls no punches; “Grab him by the hair at the back, jerk his head back to expose his throat, or thrust your fingers up his nose — very painful. “If he’s got no hair, grab him by the ears.”

She demonstrates how to press in and up on little nerves under the ears. “Ooh, oh yes,” reacts the woman on whom she demonstrated.

“I know a woman who kept being bothered by this man. She just did this and told him to get away. He never came back.” In close battle, she urges going for the assailant’s face and inflicting as many marks as possible. “If you have broken a bone, he will need treatment; if you get him by

the hair make sure it’s on your clothes; if there’s saliva or anything from him on you, tell the police, they love it.”

Then there is the ploy of getting the fingers to the sides of an attacker’s mouth and ripping down, forcing him to the ground. “Pinch, twist, and pull the soft flesh under the arms, so he will have two neat bruises,” demonstrates Lynda.

“Some guy may have to explain to his wife or girl-friend how he came to have them under each arm.”

What can a woman do when grabbed from behind? “Go for the inside of the thigh; or, if he is undressed, for the genitals, with the door-opening technique — grab, twist and pull.” Then there is knuckling the top

of a grabbing hand. “It never fails and always makes him let go.” Lynda Morgan is one of 16 women who belong to the New Zealand Self-Defence Teachers’ Association, and who teach the Sue Lytollis self-defence method. She emphasises the importance of building confidence.

She asked members of the class to imagine their right arm is a steel bar, while an attempt is made to bend it. “The secret is what you’re thinking. If you summon all your energy and power you can break a hold which has you imprisoned.” She shows women how to get out of the most brutal and revolting attack — the front-on bear hug.

“Don’t freak out. Remember, your hands are free and there are a million things you can do, including foot stomp, fingers up his nose, knee cap, pinching under the arms, and so on.”

An attacker’s body, she says, is terrain, and there is always a weakness, an opening to a vulnerable point. She shows the women how to get out of the hold that many brothers inflict on younger sisters to show their superior strength — twisting an arm up behind the back. “Foot forward, bend the knee, twist the body, and out. Before, it was always the pain that made you submit, but now, although it is still painful, you can escape.” Mrs Gladys Foxon, aged 68, says she took the course because age was not now the protection it used to be. “I am not a strong person and have had heart surgery, so I

decided I should make use of the little I have.

“I was surprised to learn what little strength is needed to defend yourself, provided you know what to do.”

She says the course must have had some effect for in a nightmare recently she dreamed an intruder crept up to her bed. “We were told not just to scream, but give a gutsy yell. I woke up yelling and startled my husband.” In teaching self-defence to women, Lynda says that changing their mental attitude is all-import-ant. “Our conditioning means we are passive, weak, and submissive,” she says. “We don’t imagine we can do anything to counter attack, so I help women see why the victim mentality is dangerous. “We discuss fears and how to control them. We are concerned, not just with defence against rape, but with gaining more confidence. “Older women know that even to wield their brolly or wave a coathanger has an effect, they feel so much better and less vulnerable.

“It saddens me that so many reach 60, face another 20 years of life, but are so limited by attitude they will not drive out at night alone.

“Often their families make their fears worse. So many thousands of women are locked in their houses, prisoners in their own fears.”

Older women need a lot of reassurance, but are not being asked to throw anyone over their shoulder. They can take counter measures with the strength they have.

“Once they have been to a class they really love it and get right into it,” she says. “Most are very spry indeed.” An indication of the increasing demand for self-defence courses for older women is a proposal of the recently formed Papanui Neighbourhood Support Group which plans such a course, along with those for young girls and

women, at the end of May. Lynda Morgan’s interest in selfdefence was born out of counselling women sexually abused as children, and a perceived lack of prevention. She teaches groups of young girls what the dangers of molestation are, “in a non-frighten-ing way.” She says: “You would be amazed at the number of little girls in my

classes who have had obscene telephone calls. Child abuse has a much higher incidence than most people realise.” In class. Lynda Morgan tries to “get across to young girls what the dangers are without making them frightening.” The old advice to watch out for strangers is irelevant, for it is not the stranger who is guilty of sex abuse of children, but a relative or friend of the family, someone the child knows and trusts.

“I teach girls the difference between good and bad touching, so they can recognise a bad touch, and know it is right to tell someone about it."

Usually, parents request courses at schools or community centres, and she has just begun one at Risingholme Community Centre for 36 girls. "Again, I concentrate on attitude — that they have a body that belongs to them, and that it is right to say no to anyone who wants to ■touch their body.” She considers information for safety is better than people burying their heads in the sand and pretending child abuse is not going to happen. “Abuse can be incredibly damaging, with profound effects in later life.” Lynda is booked up for her defence classes for the next two months. She makes a living from her unusual job, for which women are charged $lB a course, usually over four weeks, with two hours a week. Children pay sl2. “I love it,” she says. “I have to put lots of energy into it, but then I see women getting a great deal out of the course as they become more confident and positive.” Final pieces of advice from the expert:

Obscene phone call: “Be very verbal and strong. The guy speaking gets his kicks out of knowing that he is frightening someone at the other end.”

Answering the door: the golden rule is: If you don’t know who it is, then don’t let the person in. Why are women attending courses in self-defence? Lynda Morgan says that women have always been scared, but now they are fed up with it. Every day newspapers report a rape or an attack on a woman, and women generally realise it could happen to them.