Krav Maga for Women is about teaching women how to protect themselves against violent attacks that may occur in almost any modern-day scenario. The lessons in this book apply to attacks against you and threats to your safety during a street crime, common battery, robbery, carjacking, etc. Additionally, we address crimes related to sexual assaults, which are at epidemic proportions in the United States.
The book contains important life-saving Krav Maga techniques adopted especially for the needs of women. This book will also serve to increase awareness, build sound tactical reasoning in order to avoid danger, and, should the need arise, present the finest, most realistic methods for women to defend themselves in a time of need.
Why Krav Maga for women? This question, admittedly, is one that Krav Maga Worldwide considered when beginning this book project, since the Krav Maga mantra “it’s designed for everyone” is fundamental to our philosophy. So, why did we feel a book focusing on women was necessary?
While the Krav Maga defensive techniques certainly are designed for everyone, it’s be short-sighted to ignore the physical and social differences of men and women. In truth, women generally have less upper body strength than men do. Men have traditionally been involved in more competitive sports, particularly those involving contact. Women during their youth are not typically subjected to the same level of schoolyard scuffles as male classmates. Historically, the tenets of society engender us to frown upon girls engaging in activities that are typically reserved for boys. In social settings as adults, men are more likely to be involved in ego-driven confrontations, while women are more likely to be the subjects of verbal or physical assaults of a more sexual nature. There are certainly other examples that can further illustrate the differences between men and women, but this begins to explain our motivation for creating a book designed especially for the needs of women.
The most important point relative to this book is that women serve in the Israeli military, and have done so in some shape or form since the inception of the nation. Israel, in terms of its geographical region was, and currently is greatly outnumbered by other military forces in the Middle East. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had to be supported by a wider range of the population compared to most Western forces. For example, men serve in the IDF well into their fifties and, as mentioned earlier, mostly related to the threat of terrorism, and the strong likelihood of war with neighbors was of the highest concern.
The total integration of women and older men in the Israeli military necessitated that a hand-to-hand combat and self-defense system be developed that would be effective for all who serve. Krav Maga is the system taught to Israeli women to prepare them to serve in combat. In fact, Krav Maga is a critical part of the combat-readiness training for women who serve in the IDF as well as the National Police Force, the Israeli Secret Service, and the Israeli Intelligence Service. For women, there is not self-defense system in the world more street and battle tested than Krav Maga.
If you’re familiar with Krav Maga training, you likely won’t notice significant differences in the techniques in this book, but you may note shifts in technical or tactical emphasis in some of the techniques or situations. While you may never be able to completely prevent yourself from being sexually assaulted, there are some things you can do to defend yourself against an attacker and to help reduce your risk or being assaulted.
Why Krav Maga for Women? courtesy of the book Krav Maga for Women – Your Ultimate Program for Self-Defense.