moon_custafer | Students are advised to practice at "Shadow Drill," not on their friends.

Glanced at a magazine article today in which someone praised the 1942 manual HANDS OFF! Self Defense for Women by Major W.E. Fairbairn (short version -- rather than warning you to avoid male company, not go out alone, or wear modest clothes -- because duh, it's wartime and none of that advice is at all practical -- the major shows you how to jab the heel of your hand into the point of the chin of anyone who tries to molest you). Anyway, I googled it when I got home and the whole thing is up on Scribd, for reasons of historical interest, practical safety, or you just need period self-defense techniques (devised by someone who worked with the Shanghai police force in the 1920s and also trained British commandos) for your 1940s-era heroine.

ETA because Don's subsequent comment and my reply got swallowed by LJ:

> LJ won't let me post this on your Self Defense for Women blog entry for some
> reason. FYI.
>
> ------------------------------
> Best "Self Defense for Women" stuff on TV was the old "Beauty and the Beast"
> series with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. In the pilot Linda gets mugged
> and left for dead. The Beast finds her and nurses her back to health in his
> underground pad: dropping her off anonymously at an emergency ward when she
> starts to regain consciousness. She decides never again to be as helpless
> as she was whilst being mugged and seeks out a sensei who is notoriously
> demanding and choosey about who he takes on as students. He reluctantly
> agrees to a try-out which he starts off by grabbing and immobilising her.
>
> Linda: Wait! NO! I'm not ready...
> Sensei: Ha! You going to just beg and put yourself at my, possibly
> non-existent, mercy? I thought you didn't want to be that helpless little
> girl who almost died doing that.
> Linda: No, NO!