Women practice verbal self-defense at Cranberry Public Library
CRANBERRY TWP — Growing up in a dysfunctional home with an “unbelievably brutal” mother, Jackie Umans said she learned to loathe bullies at an early age. When she grew older, Umans sought out self-defense classes that made her feel like she could fight back against an aggressor. Never again, she said, would she be made to feel weak and powerless.
But, she said, self-defense isn’t just physical.
At a verbal self-defense class held Friday, March 22, at the Cranberry Public Library, Umans, whose experience in self-defense spans 25 years, reminded women their voices were equally powerful in warding off potential assailants.
“We’re not going to get into fighting today — we’re just going to use our voices,” Umans said.
“Unlike (mace) or a gun, your voice can’t be taken away from you or used against you,” she said.
Verbal self-defense is one aspect of self-defense taught in Model Mugging courses around cities in the United States, Uman said, and can sometimes be more effective than trying to physically overpower an assailant.
“It is really helpful to come out with both barrels and yell, because muggers do not expect that,” she said.
“When a woman can be that powerful in her voice, it has a huge impact,” she said.
Uman recalled times she had used her voice not to yell, but bellow, at assailants — with surprising results.
“He startled, backed away, like I punched him in the face,” Uman said.
The number one rule to success with this method, she said, was to shed any notion of acting ladylike. After all, bellowing isn’t for the meek or mild, she said, but is animalistic and guttural. It should shock the aggressor.
When Uman told women to stand up as a group and practice yelling, some of the participants had trouble mustering up noise.
All together, the women practiced tightening their stomach muscles, and yelling with all their strength — through their diaphragms — and then adding words, like “Back off,” and “No.”
“We tend to have higher pitched voices than men, but when it comes to self-defense -” Umans paused, her calm, steady voice trailing off.
“You’re going to talk like this!” she roared, startling one woman sitting in a chair watching the class.
“It’s not very ladylike,” Umans chuckled. “It isn’t easy. We have to shed years of socialization.”
“Why don’t we, as women, use our voices?” Umans asked the group. “Why don’t we scream? The reason we don’t act fierce is because we’re socialized not to.”
“Muggers think if you’re nice and sweet and quiet, you’re a pushover,” she said. “So imagine his shock and disappointment when instead of having this nice victim, he’s got a fierce warrior.”
She told women to close their eyes and envision a scenario where a loved one — a spouse or a child — was in a vulnerable position, with an aggressor coming toward them.
“If you feel like you can’t fight for yourself, think of a loved one,” she said.
The noise in the room grew.
“Did it feel any different when you were yelling to protect someone than when you were yelling for yourself?” Umans asked the women. “You see, I had to come up with a way to let you guys feel OK with being animalistic.”
Umans also discussed ways of using body language to take up space and walk with confidence in public settings, and acting “crazy” to scare away assailants.
Umans said it was not in her “nature” to act submissive or meek, but noted not every dangerous situation is the same, and told women to “trust their gut” when deciding what response would be the most effective in protecting themselves.
After the event, Kim Carey, of Marshall Township, who attended the event with her daughter Erin Williams, said she was struck by Umans’ emphasis on casting off proper social etiquette in the face of danger.
“We’re taught to be ladylike all the time and not to fight and not to be mean,” Carey said. “To protect yourself, you have to be … more guttural, more forceful.”
“To use that element of surprise, to get yourself a minute to run, to scream even louder, it almost feels like you’re taking some control back,” Williams said. “I’ve got power just … with my voice.”
