On Wednesday evening, 10 women gathered at the Chimera self-defense workshop to learn how to better defend themselves against potential attackers.
Chimera identifies the most practical and appropriate methods of self-defense, both mental and physical, that women can use to better prepare for a situation in which they feel threatened.
It combines martial-arts defense with verbal techniques to help women learn to use their voices and their bodies to ward off potentially hazardous situations.
"There's been a lot of interest for a program that was woman-centered," said Bronwyn McNutt, a third-year computer-science student and the event's organizer. McNutt is treasurer of the Women Students' Association, the group that sponsored the event.
She said she learned "that being nice to people is something that you don't have to do." McNutt said it's OK to be polite, but that no one has to smile and appease someone "just because they exist."
"I don't think I'm any safer than I was before, but I am better equipped to deal with situations," she said.
Karen Sundstrom, a certified Chimera instructor and an advocate with Sexual Trauma Services, said Chimera has existed since 1980. It was formed by a group of women in the Chicago area who were dissatisfied with the defense programs available for women. The programs mostly dealt with situations men found themselves in, and most of the strategies and techniques focused on men's strengths and abilities, not women's.
Sundstrom said Chimera has instructors teaching in Chicago, Wisconsin, New Jersey, North Carolina and South Carolina. She said she has been actively involved in women's self-defense since she was in her 20s; she has been a Chimera instructor since 1990.
She said a Chimera is a mythical beast in Greek mythology that could change its shape. Sundstrom said the positive side of Chimera is "that women can use whatever tool, if necessary, to keep themselves safe in situations."
She said she wants women to realize their intuition and gut feelings are reliable, and they should pay attention to them.
"It's not that women don't listen to their gut instincts," Sundstrom said; "it's when they do listen to their gut instincts, other people tell them, 'You're being paranoid.' "
Sundstrom said the dynamics and conversations in the Chimera class are used because "they're connected to what really happens, which very seldom looks like the story that's in the news or on the television."
She said Pauline Bart, author of "Stopping Rape," has interviewed women who were successful in warding off attackers. The Chimera class uses techniques Bart found that could help stop attacks: reacting to early behavior, reacting quickly to someone who is intruding on you or invading your space, being more forceful, yelling and not screaming, using some kind of physical response, and getting to safety quickly.
Sundstrom said she tries to connect what she sees with survivors of sexual assault with what she is teaching to the class.
"I will see a situation and always ask, 'Am I doing anything in my class that would have helped this woman in this situation?' " she said. "If I'm not connecting that, then I'm not doing a very good job."
Another Chimera workshop will be offered tomorrow from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Blatt Physical Education Center.
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