Here’s my eye popping experience:
1990/91: Went to a “objectification of women in media” seminar. About three hours long. It was well done: it effectively proved to me how women are objectified in media. It was very detailed, and some parts made people throw up and leave. [they showed an extended rape scene from an 80s movie – Roadhouse? I think it was. Only ever saw that part there at the seminar].
Anyway, at the end of the whole thing, the 1/3 of us that didn’t throw up and leave, (I was one of the very few guys there) – they had a “Rape prevention” tips show.
Well, I wanted to see it so I stayed.
They had demonstrations of martial arts techniques, stuff like that. But one thing in particular haunted me:
Instructor held two grapes in her hands. “Go for the eyes: Practice on grapes in your dorm room” POP POP went the two grapes with her thumbs.
That was the last time I wore contacts and went back to glasses.
I was afraid I’d be walking back to the dorm at midnight from the computer lab and a women who was at that seminar would misconstrue me walking too close past her as an aggression. and… pop pop.
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Oh she explained that as well. But the main point was to get used to the feeling of pushing into wet grapes until they pop so that you won’t hesitate for a second if you’re accosted by an attacker.
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even if there’s no threat of blindness of popping, doesn’t matter. I don’t want anybody’s thumbs going near my eyes tongue emoticon It was just the kind of thing I _never_ thought I’d see someone INSTRUCTING people to do.
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Yeah, she went over that too. Bunch of things. All of that was fine. How to pull someone’s arm around their back and break their fingers. Ok, I could see that. Nut crushing, I could see that. Punch the throat, kick the back of the knee… all made sense.
It’s just the eyes; I’d never considered that. It was in the same category as, “And if he attacks you, I want you to pull his fingernails off. If you have a nail file handy, just shove it between the nail and the fleshy part of the finger, jam it in and twist.
Here’s some laminate countertop you can practice on”
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