Product Description
"..complex, densely argued, and original...'"
--Mary Zeiss Stange, WOMEN'S REVIEW OF BOOKS
An examination of women's self-defense culture and its relationship to feminism.
I was once a frightened feminist. So begins Martha McCaughey's odyssey into the dynamic world of women's self- defense, a culture which transforms women involved with it and which has equally profound implications for feminist theory and activism.
Unprecedented numbers of American women are learning how to knock out, maim, even kill men who assault them. Sales of mace and pepper spray have skyrocketed. Some 14 million women own handguns. From behind the scenes at gun ranges, martial arts dojos, fitness centers offering Cardio Combat, and in padded attacker courses like Model Mugging, Real Knockouts demonstrates how self-defense trains women out of the femininity that makes them easy targets for men's abuse.
And yet much feminist thought, like the broader American culture, seems deeply ambivalent about women's embrace of violence, even in self-defense. Investigating the connection between feminist theory and women physically fighting back, McCaughey found self-defense culture to embody, literally, a new brand of feminism.
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Lots of Rhetoric, would have liked more Scientific data, 2008-06-24
In "Real Knockouts," author Martha McCaughey tries several forms of self-defense (from Guns to Model Mugging to Karate) herself, and examines some of the myths that keep a so-called "rape culture" alive. To make her points she uses her experiences, extensive interviews with other self-defense class participants, and documented cases throughout history. Her style leans very much toward the academic.
Her point is compelling: as she goes through all these different courses, she realizes that to some degree, the fear women feel that moves them TO self-defense classes is a social construct; women in these classes are more than capable of doing damage to an untrained assailant, and a culture that promotes passive methods of self defense (don't stay out late, and don't drink) over more active ones (get yourself to a self-defense class, and learn to hit and say 'NO" forcefully) inadvertently creates confidence in a male assailant's mind, and doubt in a potential female victim's.
Certainly, there is some anger in this book; it's not light reading for someone already uncomfortable with the 'feminist' agenda. It accuses men of an unchallenged sense of superiority, and women of sending their anti-rape message in a rather disingenious (and borderline antifeminist) way. But, it raises a lot of good points, and really challenges some of the assumptions we make both in predicting the outcome of a male/female fight, and in trying to discourage them. I just wish that she'd been able to come up with more relevant statistics on success rates for women who have fought back; then she could have backed up her quite-sensible arguments with a measure of real-world proof/authentication. That to me would have been more valuable than the proffered selection of old court cases, logic, and anecdotal evidence.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
A nearly flawless book on a fascinating subject, 1998-04-20
There have been plenty of how-to self defense books. Lots of pictures of techniques, lists of street-awareness skills, and recovery literature. This may be the first detailed treatment by an academic about what self-defense is what it does for the women who take it up, and why some people (including a disturbing number of feminists and government types) are so ambivalent about it. Dr. McCaughey has done an excellent job of looking into the history of the self-defense movement, the philosophy behind it, and the people involved in it. She wasn't content to make grand pronouncements from behind her word processor. She went out, got involved in her subject, experienced it, and met the people who actually do what she writes about.
This book was written at least partially for an academic audience, so the general reader will have to wade through a little bit of jargon. The author leaves out a couple possibly useful points, and I do not agree with everything she says. But these are minor objections. The field of women's self defense finally has an inspirational scholar who treats it with the depth and seriousness it deserves.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
A very good book for any woman to read, 1998-01-01
As a former federal agent and owner of a personal protection company that teaches full-contact self defense for women and police defensive tactics, I found this book to be very good. While I may disagree with some individuals Martha spoke with, her book brings out what those of us who teach serious women's self defense have known for ages - SELF-EMPOWERMENT IS THE KEY !!! Good job Martha !