Ok, a little discussion on martial arts, self-defense and social decay. My instructor in Kuk Sool Won in Mountain Home, ID sent the following e-mail:

"Well here's one for us to look at. After reading my comments please read the news article.
In the past I have clearly taught our youth students involved with playground scuffles that they should not whip out their can of Kuk Sool woop butt, but in this case, I feel the girl had every right to protect her self.
Kuk Sool has several very good defense against lunge and grab techniques; and some good ground fight techniques as well.
In this case I specifically think that (Wa Ki) defense against pins from the prone position would have helped her, although I have never tried them from a two attacker situation. Should be interesting to experiment with that.
It's also interesting to note that the pattern here in this attack is very similar to other male to female attacks.
Most females know who their attackers are, and most don't expect an attack to occur. As in this article where the boys said that things just got out of hand, many male on female attacks are situations where certain dating rituals get out of hand.
No I'm not referring to the ritual where the young man picks up the girl in the living room, introducing himself to her parents, while the dad is cleaning his shot gun, then politely opens doors, pulls out chairs, helps with coats and gets her home at the appointed hour set by her parents. I'm talking about different rituals, born out of the gutter then the garden.

OK so how to protect your self.

- Set and enforce high standards of personal conduct,
- Dress in clothing you would visit your grand parents in
- Light switches are in the on position
- After the 400000 date, ask don't take, a kiss, and kiss like you would kiss your own mom
- Double dating is fun, and much safer
- Use back hand techniques amply when necessary


Sounds old fashioned? Wander through old crime reports and compare today's rate of male, female attack compared to yesteryear."

Kyo Sa David

Nampa teens plead guilty to attack on female classmate
06:47 PM MDT on Thursday, September 30, 2004
Ysabel Bilbao
Idaho's NewsChannel 7
NAMPA -- Two teenagers in Nampa pleaded guilty to battery Thursday for an attack on a female classmate.
The Canyon County Prosecutor says two 13-year-old boys went too far when they allegedly held a 13-year old classmate on the ground and touched her inappropriately.
In a probably cause affidavit, one of the boys told police quote, "things got out of hand, and I've never done anything like it before."
The court report says the victim and two boys were headed toward the baseball field at South Middle School when one of the boys pushed the girl to the ground, pinning her down.
The document goes on to say the boys then touched her breasts, both over and under her shirt.
The boys were carrying condoms according to police, but they claim they never showed them.
The attack happened on August 30th, and originally the two were charged with lewd and lascivious conduct.
One of the boys pleaded guilty Wednesday to a battery charge, the other boy entered his plea Thursday.
"What happened was that clearly the boys went too far, she was horsing around with them, but it's not her fault that it went too far," said Canyon County Prosecutor Dave Young.
The boys now face a maximum of 90 days in the juvenile detention center for the attack.
However, Young says they have no prior criminal record and that will be taken into account at sentencing.
A spokesman for the Nampa School District says the two boys have been expelled and will likely have to attend an alternative school in the future.

Without commenting on the actions or behaviors represented in this article, I have to say that I like our instructor's old-fashioned look at appropriate dating rituals. I would also say that I think martial arts training is a good thing for girls and women these days. We had a teenage girl in our class in California that was a black belt. She used to complain that guys were too intimidated to ask her out on dates. My thoughts were that if they were intimidated, then perhaps they had the wrong motivation to begin with. I do know that I would pity the fool 13 year old boy that would try any stunt with her like the boys in this news article did. This girl could put a serious hurt on the grown men in our class.

I am happy that both of my boys are now black belts (and I like the automatic respect from their peers it affords them). My next goal is to have my daughter start training again. She did for a couple of years while we were in California, but it hadn't been quite as convenient here in Idaho. I think it's time for it to become convenient...