Your assessment of the "Just Yell Fire" video/program

lifespantkd

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I recently came across the Just Yell Fire TM video/program for "teaching girls to fight back against predators and sexual assault." The website is at: http://www.justyellfire.com/index.php and, the video is at: http://www.justyellfire.com/movie/Just_Yell_Fire_Movie.mov. (If the link to the video doesn't work, just look at the home page of www.justyellfire.com and you'll see how to watch it.) Its target audience is girls and young women from age 11 to 19 years of age. I am interested in thoughtful and constructive comments about its pros and cons. What does it get right? What deficiencies do you see? If you think its effectiveness depends on something, please define that something well. Would you use it? If so, how? If not, why not? And, if you wouldn't use it, what would you do instead, given that the statistics of violence and sexual assault against girls and young women mean that doing nothing is not an option and given that relatively few members of the video's target audience will have access to years of full-contact self-defense-oriented martial arts training against larger attackers prior to an attack?

Thank you in advance for your insights,

Cynthia
 
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Cyriacus

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First, i havent watched it. But i have talked about it with someone who has. Their conclusion was that it is good for females 10-16, but beyond that, it relies too heavily on a bit of a stereotyped set of situations in which its ideas would amount to much. In other words, I fear its generalising may lead to some future victims having a false sense of security, because they think they 'know what to do' in that situation, when reality is a bit of a smack in the face by comparison. Itd be better if it didnt imply that it would work, if that makes any sense.

EDIT: Again, ive not watched it, and dont plan to. This is just the outcome of a 10 minute chat i was having, in which we both concluded the same thing.
 

Cyriacus

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Mm, I remember one other thing: It does cover some good Theory. It covers good stuff. It just has too much of a "Someone will do this so You will do this" Logic at many times, when it comes to their idealogy of response.
 
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lifespantkd

lifespantkd

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Cyriacus!

Anyone else?

Cynthia
 

Buka

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While I applaud the intent of the film producers to help young women, there is very little about that film that I like.
 
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lifespantkd

lifespantkd

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While I applaud the intent of the film producers to help young women, there is very little about that film that I like.

If you watched the film because I posted about it, then thank you for spending those 45 minutes! And, if you have time to be more specific about what you didn't like, I'm interested in your thoughts.

Thank you,

Cynthia
 

Strategic Living

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Cynthia, I wrote a review of this movie 2 years ago: http://www.strategicliving.org/enews/Just-Yell-2.php

I do not use Just Yell Fire when I teach self-defense for teen girls for three reasons. First, I feel it is fear-mongering. Second, the movie's focus is on stranger danger, when in fact teen girls are assaulted mostly by people they know and often like. Finally, I am uncomfortable with the position of the young girl of color always being the one who did not fight off the attacker and the white girl showing the "correct" way, and feel this isn't the role modeling I want to show students (and I often have students who will pick up on that and challenge it).

Hope this helps.

Joanne
http://www.StrategicLiving.org
 

Carol

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I haven't seen it but I'll watch it this week when I'm at a computer with sound. Will report back :)
 
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lifespantkd

lifespantkd

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Cynthia, I wrote a review of this movie 2 years ago: http://www.strategicliving.org/enews/Just-Yell-2.php

I do not use Just Yell Fire when I teach self-defense for teen girls for three reasons. First, I feel it is fear-mongering. Second, the movie's focus is on stranger danger, when in fact teen girls are assaulted mostly by people they know and often like. Finally, I am uncomfortable with the position of the young girl of color always being the one who did not fight off the attacker and the white girl showing the "correct" way, and feel this isn't the role modeling I want to show students (and I often have students who will pick up on that and challenge it).

Hope this helps.

Joanne
http://www.StrategicLiving.org

Thank you very much for your thoughts, Joanne!

Cynthia
 

marymdavis

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I just recently watched the Just Yell Fire film with my 13year old daughter. I am absolutely impressed with Dallas Jessup and her goal toempower young girls. This being a high school project, I would have to say thevideo production is pretty impressive all things considered. I recently signedmy daughter up for a Just Yell Fire class with master teacher Chad Von Dette atwww.chadvondette.com . The guy wasawesome. For parents with daughters… 1.You should watch this film with them and 2. You should sign them up for a classwith one of the certified Just Yell Fire trainers. I am lucky enough to live inFlorida where Chad lives. He’s the guy that created the techniques for theprogram and is Dallas’ street fighting teacher. If you go to the Just Yell Firewebsite there are trainers all over the country that might be closer.Definitely watch the film with your kid and take a class with them too. I had areally fun time doing the class with my daughter and we both learned a lot. I also think that doing it with her makes talking about awareness and prevention with my daughter just that much easier now.
 

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