You'd likely get a "yes". :-) And the wife might agree.
Mrs WBill has a number of female, liberal, feminist friends and co-workers. I had occasion to listen in on a discussion by them of this very topic at a Thanksgiving get together.
The general consensus was "I TOOK a self defense class! I WILL kick the guy's a$$!" Buncha female chest beating.
Unfortunate brainwashing, sez me. I didn't bother with asking them..."Really?", since it would have been a waste of breath.
Any regular-sized guy, bent on destruction, vs an average girl? The girl will get the crap beat out of her, or worse, before she gets to the phone to dial 911. Self Defense classes, while better than nothing (they teach situational awareness, which is good), are otherwise pretty delusional. Figure that the girl is going through a bunch of choreographed hand-to-hand moves with an "attacker" who is likely more worried about not hurting himself. They don't address the "So, this guy gets in your house, picks up your favorite dining room chair, and tries to break your leg with it. What now?". Which, frankly, is a whole lot more realistic. Bad guys don't play fair.
Foolishness. None of Mrs WBill's friends mentioned a gun, either, training in and possession of which I think would be eminently more sensible. :-)
Fred Reed talked about this.
He discussed female muscle and bone mass. My take: As a 59 year old man that has not been to a gym in 4 years (I really need to get back to it) I could arm wrestle most “bodybuilder” women and, if I so choose, break their arm.
Period.
This whole thing is utter nonsense. It also brings up the whole equality thing on the flip side: Should women be required to register for the draft?
A civilized country puts women and children in combat as a last resort, and for its very survival, not to be “fair”.
Self defense classes for women have one, and only one, goal: provide an opportunity for the woman to escape.
Prevailing in an attempted rape, without being armed with a firearm, and holding the perp at bay until police arrive is not, and was never, the goal of self-defense classes.
Maybe its time to move them to the front line and let them get a taste of real combat. Let them go on the View when its over.
“There I was trying to scale this cliff with my 100 lbs. pack on and those a$$hole$ in my squad just left me there at the bottom. Can you believe that?”