Susan Brownmiller
- 1973
Fellowship Title:
- The Crime of Rape
Fellowship Year:
- 1973
Street Fighting Woman: A Setback
June 12, 1973, New York City When I filed my last report on self-defense instruction I was still in a state of temporary euphoria; the hitherto unknown world of punches, jabs, knees and kicks having been but recently unveiled before me. There is no point now in pulling my punches. I am dictating this new report propped up in bed on many pillows, shoulders braced in a stiff white harness. On Thursday I broke my collarbone in class while trying to execute a forward fall from the running position. The events leading up to this catastrophe shall be briefly described. An attempt at analysis will follow, although what sense can be made of this ridiculous state of affairs still escapes me. I began the study of ju-jitsu under Milton Lederman, a 30-year master of the art, at the newly opened Japan Cultural Center. Having joined the class a month or two after its formation, my overriding concern was to catch up to the other students and this I felt I was successfully accomplishing when
Street Fighting Woman
February 27, 1973, New York City On the first of February, 1973, my placid, sweet, pacific lifestyle underwent a significant change. I began my rigorous program of self defense instruction. I am now the possessor of one judo gi, size 3, and my sensei is Mr. Milton Lederman, 5th degree ju-jitsu black belt and master of all oriental martial arts. The reason I have given over my Tuesday and Thursday evenings to Mr. Lederman is this: I want to know if an average-size woman properly trained in unarmed combat can actually defend herself against a male aggressor. If this hypothesis is true, it has stunning implications with regard to the crime of rape. Japanese systems of self defense have appealed to me for some time. The Japanese are a small people and their techniques of unarmed combat are geared in a Zen kind of way to neutralizing and deflecting an opponent’s superior size and strength. If it works for them, it should work for American women. The way I feel now in New York
The Police the Press and Roseann Quinn
January 20, 1973, New York City The Night Owl edition, of the New York Daily News for Friday, January 5, 1973, ran the following front page scream headline’: Teacher Victim of Sex SlayingBattered With Statue of Self Below the headline the News ran two photos. One was a shot of the victim’s disheveled apartment. Clothes and books were strewn haphazardly over her bed. A littered dining table showed the remains of a half-eaten meal. A box of Domino sugar and a container of yogurt were distinctly visible. The second photo, an insert, was a family snapshot of the victim herself: Roseann Quinn, age 28, a teacher of handicapped children. She was smiling. I have seen the Daily News carry over the same front-page headline for all seven of its editions, but in the case of Roseann Quinn, a more experienced hand took over for the most important Four Star Final, the paper of record. The picture layout for this last edition remained the same and no new facts had appreciably changed the story,