Balls of steel, balls of fear 🫣

Knowing physical self defense techniques is essential, but sometimes fighting is not even necessary to successfully thwart an unwanted advance or even a serious sex attack. Looking back I greatly appreciate that Linda took a very holistic approach to our training and comprehensively covered some crucial psychological aspects as well. As already mentioned the greatest irony of Nature is that the core of a man's masculinity is also the source of his greatest bodily and psychological vulnerability. Male external gonads produce the male hormone testosterone which drives aggression, and sperm which is critical for the continuation of the genetic lineage.

Grow some balls! It takes balls to do it!

Balls of steel? Not really. Rather balls of fear.

We all heard these sayings, didn’t we? Even in my language, we have similar expressions. Despite being just two little squishy pain generators in a fragile pouch of skin hanging between the legs, testicles across cultures symbolize manliness, courage, and boldness. Paradoxically, at the same time, their proud possession generates man's greatest anxiety. It is overwhelming angst of the possibility of failing in their protection which results in incredible pain, embarrassing situations, or worse, completely losing them and ending up permanently emasculated. They are called balls but just because of their spheric shape, not because they are sturdy as steel ball bearings😊; they are also called family jewels, precious two pendants to be protected at all costs, eggs, and nuts to signify their fragility and crackability.

Linda used to say: “Once you control his testicles, you control him completely, his body as his mind.” But it is not as easy as sounds. Boys learn from an early age that even slight accidental hits there hurt like hell, so they immediately try to protect them even if the threat is relatively negligible. So as already covered in one of my previous posts, distraction and deception are the keys to fully taking advantage of the vulnerability of testicles.

I remember, in high school boys tried to hit on us girls and to touch our tits and buttocks, and of course we protected our dignity and retaliated with quick knees into their boy bags. We hadn’t been provided with any training at that time, it was very instinctual and we just somehow picked it up. Even if we did not manage to properly connect with the right spot, the boys immediately crossed their legs, buckled, and rather backed off. Of course in instances when the knee connected well, the reaction was even more telling and the lesson was learned. Despite being horny, and apparently in the urge to explore and probe our female parts, they soon realized the vital danger and that it was not worth putting their sensitive organs in jeopardy. Although it was hilarious to observe the pitiful loss of machismo, I did not think much about it at that time.

Regardless of the level of muscularity,
men protect their testicles anxiously.  

Later when I attended Linda’s course I realized that having Bob and Peter on site was not only beneficial to effectively train the techniques on living “darling attackers” and real male organs but also to watch their natural reactions. It was telling when Linda just playfully flicked at their testicles with her hand, they timidly budged for safety. These were relatively lighthearted situations but when Linda started to explain some of her brutal techniques, they suspected their genitals were going to be used for some detailed realistic demonstrations. Even though they knew she was not going to do any harm or damage to their delicate organs they could not hide their anxiety behind the façade of invincible brave young men. 

It was all part of Linda's plan. It was not abstract or made up, it was genuine, and we could see it with our eyes, hear it with our ears, and learn from it. As young ladies appeared in the dangerous world, we soon became equipped with extraordinary knowledge and skills of how to put men to their knees and came to the realization men should fear us not the other way around.

 Our empowerment was born!

One of the unresolved issues of female self defense, even Linda was not definite about is whether we should let a potential attacker know what are we capable of to deter him from even trying something on. Or the other way around, should we rather keep our little brutal tricks in secret so we can unleash them unexpectedly when he is the most vulnerable and even exposed? Both approaches are valid, it all depends on the situation and encounter and type of attacker. In the first case, if you decide to go that way, it calls for some vivid descriptions of what can happen to his testicles when he disrespects your no.  Another tip is, when already fighting, loud shouts with each execution of a technique can be quite frightening, but not exactly the classical kiah! like in karate, but rather pop! crush! or rip!

I would like to finish this interesting topic with a related inspirational story. An anonymous blog reader sent me a very interesting story from his sister which greatly demonstrates the power of inducing male panic in preventing sex attacks and harassment.

Just holding a knife can induce fear and
 quickly solve a sticky situation. 

My sister had just finished a night of partying out on the town in a big city. She keeps a hunting knife with a 6-7 inch blade under the driver's seat. An unknown guy pulled down his pants exposing himself to my sister and her girlfriend close to the passenger side window.

Her friend in the passenger seat was freaking out. My sister told her friend to roll down the window. The girlfriend initially said no but my sister said don't worry we're okay and showed her friend the knife. "Just play along with me and we'll teach him a lesson," she said. My sister pulled the knife out of the sheath and handed it to her friend as she rolled down the window. She acted like she was sharpening the knife blade on a barber's leather razor strap (her palm). They both started talking to the pervert. Come here little man we'd like to see it closer while still acting like she was sharpening the knife on her wrist.

The guy saw the large knife and started walking away. My sister followed him with her 4-wheel drive jeep driving up onto the sidewalk while they were still asking him to come closer to the passenger side window. Saying "Come here little man we want to see it closer. Don't be afraid". They said over and over again. The man turned into a dark alley and my sister stopped following him and drove home.

Quick thinking on the girls' side enabled them to solve the situation without any physical contact. The guy will think twice to try it on again, next time the knife could be rather hidden…