One ring 💍 to rule them all!

Maybe I disappoint all Tolkien fans among readers of this blog, but this post is not going to be about the Lord of the Rings masterpiece. It will be about an important and often overlooked aspect when a woman is using her hand for testicle-targeting anti-rape techniques, some of which I already mentioned here and here.

Lock your fingers as you would put
 a padlock on his testicles 

The initial step of these techniques is always to put the attacker’s testicles in a tight lock and secure the grip with her hand so they cannot slip away. This can be effectively done by encircling your thumb and forefinger like you would be making an OK sign as close to the body as possible creating a really tight ring. If you imagine, testicles are formed by a skin sack—scrotum which contains two egg-shaped glans testes. Enclosing the root of the scrotum and the spermatic cords basically separate the testes from the body and they snugly come in the palm of your hand. It’s like putting a padlock on the testicles.

As always, in reality, it is not as easy as it sounds. One of the limiting factors is the size of the woman’s hand, but it also strongly depends on whether the attacker’s testicles hang low or are tightly packed (naturally, because of low temperature or man’s arousal). When the testicles are small, the lock can be applied to the whole scrotum. Quite often because of the circumstances such as a small woman’s hand and/or sizeable testicles, targeting a single testicle should be preferred. In this case, you should use your thumb or the forefinger (depending on the angle of the attack, and whether using your left or right hand) to push it between the testicles to separate them first, and then use the other finger to finalize the deadly ring around the top of the testicle. Choose the testicle hanging lower (usually the left one). In the case, that the attacker has a tight ball sack you have to push both fingers forcefully inside the pubic floor to effectively fish out the testes. Keep in mind that on how successful this first step is, depends the accomplishment of the following actions such as twisting, squeezing, and pulling. So it is important not to rely on just light grabbing.  

Depiction of the locking mechanism
in Susan Smith's book

The initial instinct of a man is to budge and/or to try to pry your hand out of him but once you apply the lock properly his effort is to no avail, any movement on his or your part just increases the pressure and causes a painful tug on his sensitive organ(s). It is imperative not to lose the clutch and with all your might keep the fingers as rigidly fastened as possible. In Susan Smith’s book Fear or Freedom, you can see a very good illustration of the proper application of the locking mechanism.

As you can see it is not a trivial move and Linda was very particular that we understand the principle and practice this thoroughly so we can execute it effectively when desperately needed.  

As I mentioned before Linda sought to relate the principle of the techniques to known things and common activities. When explaining to us this step she asked us “Have you seen milking a cow in real?”  We all shook our heads no. “Aaah, I see, city girls!” Linda smiled. She then played us a video on her tablet depicting milking a cow. A young female farmer was grasping a teat and squeezing milk out into a bucket in quick successive movements.

Grabbing testicles is like milking a cow

Linda commented “Now imagine this teat is the attackers’ testicle. Look how the girl forms the ring up as close to the udder as possible and then pushes down. It is like you want to desperately push the rest of the paste out from a tube. In this case, she squeezes out the milk. Pinching or grabbing just the tip of the teat would not work.”

Obviously, we did not have a cow at disposal in our dojo, but as always fake silicone testicles came in very handy.  Linda held the toy with her left hand on one end and with her right hand, she slowly put the thinner area above the testicles into a lock by forming the OK sign and enclosing her fingers.  “You see these bits now cannot escape regardless of how hard I pull or try to wiggle them out.”  She rotated her hands so we can see it from all angles. She continued “Now, I have them secured in my hand and I can easily crush them to a pulp with the combination of the strength of my palm and the fingers as we did with the two walnuts exercise.”

As always, she wouldn’t let us go without trying out the ‘technique of the day’ on a real set of testicles. And we all were in great anticipation as we knew this is going to be hilarious.  “Are we going to milk our guys?” asked Laura sarcastically. Emma added immediately “If so, we need a basket and an apron.”  

We all burst into laughter including Bob and Peter standing close by, who started to blush cutely.  Linda did not like this kind of pubertal banter in her course. She rolled her eyes like she is over this, but I could see a little smirk on her face “Stop it, this is a serious business.” Obviously, our darling attackers were a little bit hesitant to step in.  So, she stood behind them gently pushed them forward, patted both on their shoulders, and asked them “Gentlemen, will you be so kind as to show us your testicles?...”  

Divide and conquer! ✊

When it comes to female last resort self defense there is no one universal technique. On this blog I already described two techniques which can be applied to an attacker’s bare testicles. You can read about those here and here. In the coming posts I will describe some more. However, before doing that I thought I should cover one very important but often overlooked aspect related to these techniques. 

Tight and large scrota are more difficult to

grasp using a lock mechanism.

The crucial starting point of all hand-performed strikes on testicles is to establish a firm and well secured grip on the target before going further with the technique. This is not always easy.  It all depends on the size and strength of the female hand and the size and type of the attacker’s scrotum. During our self defense course Linda emphasized the importance of making a correct decision in using the right move which should be also thoroughly practiced so it can be applied quickly and effectively when needed. She used a high-quality silicone  analogue of testicles I mentioned before: she held it in front of us and we had a second to grab it and then she pulled it back. If our grasp was insufficiently secure and strong, the testicles slipped out of our hands. Sometimes she also used two walnuts in a sock and when we succeeded, we could keep the prize. That was a good motivation😉. Of course, we also tested our grip-applying skills on our boys. But I won’t write about it today not to upset some of the sensitive readers. 

Description of 'divide and conquer'

by Susan Smith 

So what are the ways to get a good grip? One is by using a lock mechanism by ringing the forefinger and thumb around the root of the whole scrotum or by locking and isolating just one testicle. The latter can be recommended if the woman’s hand is small, and the testicles hang low. Otherwise, a woman can used the so called divide and conquer technique.

The name ‘divide and conquer’ (or ‘divide et impera’ in Latin) is an old principle of ruling known from Antiquity. The idea is to divide an enemy or a state to smaller entities which when separated, and often put against each other, are much more easily defeated or ruled. For instance, Julius Caesar used this principle when successfully invaded Gaul (sorry Asterix and Obelix). Nowadays, the concept is also used in computer science for solving complex problems. And of course, it can be applied to female self defense as well. 

How does it work? For this this type of grip, take a hold of the  whole scrotum and divide it by forcefully digging fingers between the testicles. One testicle then becomes secured by four fingers and the other one by the thumb. You can now conquer each testicle separately! The best depiction of this maneuver is in the  book Fear or Freedom from Susan Smith which contains a very good illustration. Once applied, the testicles can be then squeezed and jerked or hit sharply with the other hand. Depending on the situation the hand attack can come either from the rear or from the front. 

Stress balls are excellent for training

 grips and improving strength.

One of the best ways to train this technique is by using a stress ball which is by the way also good for improving strength of your hand. I always keep one in my office desk. I noticed, when practicing (sometimes during busy hours) all my male colleagues rather leave me alone. An excellent way to relieve stress, to reduce your workload and to gain some respect! I can only highly recommend to all women😂!

An inspirational story

This inspirational story from Susan’s book clearly demonstrates how combination of trickery and a properly executed incapacitating technique is a key to success in defending yourself during a sex attack. It is one of the best evidences that any woman can turn the tables on a filthy rapist when necessary.

Faking compliance in giving a
blow job provides a great opportunity
 to apply some of the most effective
techniques of the last resort self defense.

One the woman in my study used her head, in more ways than one, during assault. She reported that she was abducted at gunpoint and taken to a secluded area. The rapist threatened to kill her and brandished his weapon to render his victim helpless. Like many rapists he was unable to get an erection. He dragged her from the car, shoved her down on the desert floor and commanded her to ‘blow’ him. This rapist, like most other attackers who carry weapons put his gun down as he felt in control; his victim quietly ‘went along’ until she could safely react. She complied with the rapist orders long enough to gain his trust and divert his attention, then she took a bite. She bit his penis close to the base, then grabbed a testicle and twisted and squeezed. She did not let go until she was sure the attacker was incapable of retaliation. If she had stopped before this point, she might have not been able to leave him clutching his groin immobilized in the very spot where he might have left her dead. She took the car keys and drove the car safely away.

The legacy of Susan E. Smith

In my last post I heavily criticized the way most self defense instructors and book authors taboo testicles as a self defense target. But it was not always like that. Especially the 80ties broke some kind of social inhibition surrounding this organs. Depiction of male genitalia and their vulnerability became a common theme in popular culture. Traditional martial arts ceased being considered an effective way to win a fight especially when a woman’s dignity and her life is at stake. This also meant that testicles lost their long-lasting privilege of a sacred spot. The self defense systems became geared more towards effectiveness than to sportiness.

During this time one of the truly revolutionary self defense book written by Susan E. Smith ‘Fear or Freedom’ came out in 1986. As a feminist she emphasized that women should not rely on men when it comes to their safety but to take matters into their own hands, sometimes quite literally. She interviewed survivors of sexual attacks and their experience materialized in her own system. Absolutely superb is the chapter about the techniques of the last resort self defense, in which she stresses that initial compliance followed by sudden execution of one of the three drastic incapacitating techniques can be a ticket to freedom. She provides an unprecedented information on testicles as a target. With absolutely no reservation she explains in detail and through some realistic illustrations how  woman under a sexual assault should perform a move she called ‘the testicle twist’ on exposed testicles of an assailant, giving a highly empowering lesson to any female reader: ‘What power  women can have knowing that there is one technical but simple, no-fail defense for rape’. Truly an excellent book, the type we really miss nowadays.  

You can borrow this book via archive.com or buy it on Amazon.I will dive in some of the information in her book in my later posts.