Everywhere you turn, you’re hearing stories every day,” Carl Stoldt said of the reports of females who either are missing or have fallen victim to foul play.
And that is exactly why women must be able to defend themselves, said Stoldt, a martial arts instructor and member of Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Dothan, in Columbia Baptist Association.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “an estimated 2.1 million U.S. women … are raped and/or physically assaulted annually.” Another million are stalked.
Figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that young girls and women to age 34 are at a higher risk for crimes of violence, including rape, sexual assault and robbery. In fact, in 2005, the age groups of 12–15, 16–19 and 20–24 shared nearly identical rates for victims of violent crimes: 34.4 per 1,000 people 12–15 years old, 34.0 per 1,000 for 16–19 and 34.8 per 1,000 for 20–24. The rate was 20.9 per 1,000 for women ages 25–34 and fell from there as age increased.
Cindy Rohrscheib, an officer with the Cullman Police Department, said statistics reveal that four out of five girls are sexually assaulted before adulthood and 73 percent of attackers know their victims.
Because of the growing concern for safety, some women in Stoldt’s church expressed a desire to be taught how to react if the need arose.
“I saw where we could possibly meet that need,” said Steve Barrett, Ridgecrest Baptist’s minister of recreation. So the church held a women’s self-defense class.
Stoldt, an instructor in the church’s Christian martial arts program, helped to conduct the all-day course that also attracted women from the community. About 30 females ages 12 and up attended.
After Sandra Arnold, a member of Trinity Baptist Church, Geneva, heard about the self-defense course at Ridgecrest, she invited Stoldt to conduct a class at her Geneva Baptist Association church. About 25 females high school age and up attended the all-day event.
Arnold said the things she learned that day stay on her mind when she is out in public.
Nick Madsen, director of campus recreation at Samford University in Birmingham, said a course is offered there to arm participants with information and skills for averting threatening situations, including ways to be safe in the home.
Paul Couch, academy training director for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Training Academy, conducts the annual course. Couch, who has taught self-defense for 30 years, said he wishes he could conduct a self-defense course every day because the need is that great.
“Most women don’t believe they can (defend themselves),” Couch observed.
But with self-defense classes, women can learn to get out of holds, to kick and punch the right way and to scream, bite and do whatever else to break free and flee. The crucial thing is “don’t give up,” he said.
Self-defense, however, is more than delivering a kick to the attacker’s groin area, a move that isn’t necessarily effective, Stoldt said.
Being defensive encompasses attire, choice of jewelry and hairstyle and an awareness of how subtle actions make a person vulnerable.
Self-defense skills were taught in February to college women as a breakout session during Baptist Campus Ministries’ Reflect ’07 event at WorldSong Missions Place in Cook Springs.
Christy Hicks, director of Baptist Campus Ministries at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, was responsible for coordinating the self-defense course for the women’s retreat.
Hicks — whose husband, Paul, is pastor of First Baptist Church, Irondale, in Birmingham Baptist Association — enlisted the help of Rohrscheib, a certified instructor of the Equalizer women’s self-defense program.
“The girls (at the retreat) absolutely loved it,” Hicks said.
Rohrscheib told the women present how as a child, she experienced sexual abuse perpetrated by a relative and at age 15, survived an attack by three 18-year-old males.
In the years between those traumatic situations, Rohrscheib learned martial arts, which she believes not only gave her the skills to fend off the three attackers who far outweighed her but also to develop a “survivor” mentality.
Engaging in a self-defense course helps to “get your mind set in motion for defense,” Rohrscheib said. Such a mind-set causes a person to function constantly in “survivor” mode — thinking through scenarios of attacks to formulate an escape, being aware of surroundings and avoiding situations that put him or her at risk.
It also gets the individual ready to use the defense techniques learned. “I think every woman should know how to defend (herself),” Rohrscheib said.
Stoldt feels it is also important for children to learn to defend themselves. In fact, he has put together a self-defense class to teach children how to get away from an attacker.
His next seminar for children ages 4–17 will be Oct. 6 at Memphis Baptist Church, Dothan, in Columbia Association.
For more information about Stoldt’s ministry or upcoming events, visit www.defenseusa.net.
For further information on self-defense, visit www.equalizerwomen.com or contact Rohrscheib at cynthia908@bellsouth.net.
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