Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I can take care of myself


Women have the strength and ability to defend themselves. It is too often that we (as women) are rendered pointless within the realm of our physical abilities. I believe we are strong enough as well as smart enough to learn and be able to defend ourselves.  Men are not the only ones that are able to be strong, and I know I am personally able to take care of myself. I do not need anyone to take care of me and I think more of us should feel capable to be on our own.  Also, I do not believe it is necessary for men to feel that they need to constantly take care of us and protect us as society so often stereotypes and preaches.

Maybe you would consider taking a self defense class to boost your confidence and your knowledge?


 
”You are confined only by the walls you build yourself”
 
Women as well as men in this case should feel safe knowing that they are capable of defending themselves in a frightening situation. Say you are walking home from a bar late at night and you are attacked...What would you do if you had no clue how to handle the situation? Society has this twisted idea embedded into all of our brains that men are dominant and strong while women are there to raise the children and do household work.  I want women to know that men are not always the ones that need to take care of us, we can take care of ourselves sometimes.  And I want men to know that it does not always need to be their job to be the strong dominant figure they are so often considered to be.

Here is a link to a website that offers self defense classes:

By: Jade Gilbertson

18 comments:

  1. I agree 100%! I took a self defense class at my gym back home a while ago with a friend and everyone questioned me and asked me if i felt threatened by someone. It's not that I felt threatened by anyone in particular but it is a scary world when you're least expecting it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a wonderful topic to talk about. When I first came to college, my mom told me to never walk alone at night and to always take a friend with me. I understood where she was coming from, and she scared me a little bit. It is a scary world out there for your women, because we were taught to always look behind us, and that there are bad men out there who could hurt us. Self defense classes are one way to prepared, because men do not expect women to fight back!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting topic! I totally agree, I do NOT need anyone to stand up for me and take care of me. Yes, I will agree that like any girl I like when men stand up for me and make me feel safe, but when it comes down to it, I can hold my own pretty well. When I was in high school, my mom encouraged me to take a self defense class and at the time, I didn't understand why. I have always been a bigger girl, and never thought that anyone would harm me. Now that I am at college, walking home from the bars can be a dangerous situation. I am thankful that I had that training and I have been educated on how to defend myself. I encourage guys and girls to be proactive about their safety, especially because women can attack just as easily (men are not always the attackers). I am glad you included a link to find self-defense classes, so that if someone doesn't know who to find them, they can now. Good topic!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "I want women to know that men are not always the ones that need to take care of us, we can take care of ourselves sometimes."

    I agree that knowing how to de-escalate and confront dangerous situations is an important skill. Not just for women, but for everyone. Women are adults who can take care of themselves. Not just sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good blog topic! I definitely like to take care of myself and find myself capable to do so. Growing up, my father was cop and always taught me to be vigilant and aware at all times. He tells me to look at peoples hands, to watch doors and windows wherever I am and always have an escape planned. Sounds a little over-borad but I value that advice and it actually does come in handy. Its helpful to predict or see a situation before it happens, although it doesn't always happen that way. I often walk alone a night. Sometimes im walking home from the library, sometimes I walk home by myself after the bars. I carry a knife with me and I won't wear headphones walking at night. I keep my head on a swivel, always watching in a 360 radius. I also feel confident in my fighting ability. I feel strong, independent and empowered, and do not like when people insist I should feel otherwise. Good blog!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am definitely behind the theme of this post: I hate the fact that the male socialization teaches them to be the "protector," while also teaching them that women are in need of "protection." Most often I run into this sort of attitude online where males will do everything in their power to be the protector of a female ("white knight") because he feels that women always need protection. The absolute worst part about this comes from the intersection of this 'protector' status and an entitlement complex combines to have them believe that once he has protected the woman, she's entitled to give him all the affection he desires.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice topic! I have taken Karate for 8 years and I think it is very important for everyone to have some form of training to defend themselves. I liked the quote and pictures that you put into your blog! It made it look very professional and easy to read. I think a cool thing you could have done is put links into the blog where women and men could go to learn how to defend them selves (WSU has classes that people can take to learn how to defend themselves..) Just a thought :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure if you noticed at the bottom there but I do have a link to self defenses classes offered in LaCrosse.:) Thanks for the comments!

      Delete
  8. The interesting part about this, though, is that a lot of self-defense classes just teach you how to minimize your injury while calling for help. I feel like self-defense classes, though a good thought considering the current state of society, is not what women need to find empowerment, and I think one of the biggest steps out of this is to stop viewing the problem as "women get attacked" and start focusing on how "men who attack women" are the real problem.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think everyone should feel independent and be able to take care of themselves. I can totally relate to this article, i see myself as a young women who totally take care of herself regardless of a man was around. I wish more women were empowered like us to feel that they can take care of themselves. Regardless of what the comments say, if someone is thinking about taking self defense classes, just do it, what do you have to loose??

    ReplyDelete
  10. It is hard for me to understand the idea of fear in public. I come from the middle of nowhere and was always friendly to strangers. I imagine the amount of fear and sense of helplessness also depends on where you are from. I imagine that a big part of this is where your are raised and how safe you feel in most situations.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes! I have recently thought of training in self-defense recently as a way of getting in better shape and with children possibly, too. I feel it is important for everyone to feel the confidence of being able to defend themselves. The world can get very real when you least expect it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My favorite part about this blog is it is very inspiring. All women should be comfortable with feeling safe and independent and many that I know look for the help men immediately when in situations like walking at night. This blog is very motivating and has a lot of drive behind it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Taking a self defense class is something that I have always thought about doing, but never really put in to practice. However, once I graduate college and will most likely live on my own, I am seeing just how important it is to protect myself as a woman. I think this is a very relevant topic to bring up- being a woman means being strong on your own and not relying on a man to protect us! We should take a stance to protect ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I totally agree! I dont want someone to have to defend me all the time, sometimes I just need people to stand by as I save myself.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is true! Sometimes it is nice to have a guy stand up for you, but other times you just want to stand up for yourself. Some guys think that women are weak and can not stand up for them selves which is completely wrong. I think guys should give women the chance to stand up for them selves, instead of always trying to defend them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. whooou!!! Heck yes!!! Thank you for writing about this! Yet i am also the girl who wants to be protected, but I can protect myself if that makes any sense

    ReplyDelete
  17. Totally. Great blog a solid way to go about this I like that you added a way for people to actually do something about it. Disney movies, Disney movies, tell me those are not a huge part of what happened to our generation. Why is there always a prince to save the princess in the castle.

    ReplyDelete