AN ADDENDUM: Tips for Women
My dad's a
blackbelt, and when he
taught me to fight at a young age, he offered these
useful tips. Keep in mind these
largely assume that you're
female, or that for
some other reason you'll never be
fighting for show like guys tend to do--these
rules don't
apply to
male bonding brawls.
1.
Don't fight unless you're raving mad. Fighting when you're only
a bit pissed or
showing off will guarantee that you won't
move as fast as you need to, and that the
blows you take will hurt more, because
blind rage is what provides enough
adrenaline to ignore most
pain. Guys usually don't have as much trouble
summoning that rage; for a woman, it takes a
lot to get that pissed.
2.
Don't talk once the fight has become a fight. No, once the fight is a fight (for me, when somebody puts their hands on me), all talking is off.
Clench your teeth, so that you both
remember to be quiet and also
lessen the risk of having your
teeth or jaw broken. Clenching your teeth also prevents you from
biting your tongue off if you're hit in the mouth.
3.
Take the first shot and make it good. If you're female, you have a built-in reason to believe that your
opponent may be stronger than you or
more experienced in
scrapping. So as soon as you know you're fighting, take the
nastiest shot open to you and take it
full-force. The
genitals are popular for
girls fighting guys (and I've made that work as a first move). Other good ones are the
eyes, the
throat (especially with a punch or chop), the
temple (especially with a
bat), and the
shins.
4.
Don't stop till it's over. Never make the
mistake of getting your opponent
down and letting them back up. Once you
stun them, keep
beating the hell out of them until they
stop moving or are
so fucked up that you're
positive they won't be fighting you anymore. Your
opponent begging you to stop is NOT good enough--if they wanted you to stop before they got
really hurt, they shouldn't have
fucked with you in the first place. Beat 'em till they
stop moving.
5.
Carry a knife. This is my own advice to
women, especially in
situations where hostility is a possibility; my
dad, however, agrees with it. A knife is a
powerful advantage in a fight, especially if your opponent is
unaware of it. And with a knife, unlike a gun, there isn't much danger of
accidentally hurting someone you didn't intend to--and a knife also makes an
invaluable purse-tool, too. Never, however, "hold" anybody at
knifepoint unless you're
sure of your ability to
detain them--it's pretty easy to
knock a knife away. I apply my knife to the other rules: I
normally won't fight unless I'm mad enough to use the knife; I use it to get in
devastating first shots, and it's a great way to incapacitate someone who's down or make sure that they guy who's "
unconscious" really IS.
Yes,
I know I sound vicious; and I do
firmly believe that if you have the
ability, you should
avoid hurting people as much as you can. But that's a
lot easier when you're a 200-lb
guy swinging a
six-inch meaty
fist than when you're a
hundred-pound white girl in Detroit. The first and
foremost use of
fighting is
self-defense; while I understand that
others might have
different motives and situations that they fight for, I believe that the
most important initial information to have about
scrapping is how to
incapacitate someone who's
trying to hurt you.