Glenn,
I've never had the joy of hearing Vicki's lecture on that subject in person. Wish I could!
Backstory to this thread for those who didn't know it: on another thread in the Revolver forum,
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=334966, a member asked what he should do about his girlfriend's inability to pull the trigger more than once on the SP101 he'd bought her. On that thread, I engaged in a little Crazy Talk by suggesting that perhaps he should not have purchased a firearm
for her without her even trying it on to discover little things like that (silly of me, I know). Then I suggested that she could build up her hand strength by using a Gripmaster and by regular practice, but that she'd probably be best served to change to a semi-auto, which is much easier to run for someone with weak hands. Someone else on that thread said she should just use the gun in SA mode, cocking it each time. I said that's not a great idea for a
defense gun, and listed four reasons for that. Orchidhunter then posted the quote you see above, the appeal to authority.
Since he provided no additional argument
other than the simple appeal to authority, there wasn't anything to discuss so I didn't post in the thread again. Apparently he thought I hadn't seen it, or wanted a response, so he came into the T&T forum to start this thread about "Teaching Ladies."
There were few men of Cooper's era who were capable of taking females seriously as students of defensive pistolcraft, and Cooper (may he rest in peace!) was not among them. He was, for good or ill, a product of his times.
One of my mentors is the best instructor I know, for men or for women. This man is an excellent instructor precisely because he does take his students seriously. Even when teaching children, he does not treat them as junior mascots on the range, but as intelligent people who are serious about learning to shoot -- and he gives adults, including adult females, even more respect. From him I've learned that my students need
and deserve to be treated as if they are serious about learning to shoot and about defending their lives with a firearm.
For myself, I will not teach a sub-optimal technique to my students. If an accomodation needs to be made (and sometimes it does), I will discuss the reasons for the accomodation and I will explain
exactly what trade offs are being made, what they're giving up and what they're getting in return. I will not sugarcoat the issues and I won't treat them as if they're minor children incapable of understanding the point and making their own decision, or as if they're incurious and uninterested in learning what they need to know and should instead just be told what to do.
Contrast this with the advice soooo often given to women. A woman's introduction to firearms often starts out like this: "Oh, you want a revolver. You won't have to learn how to ..." Or maybe it starts like this, "Oh, you should get a shotgun. You won't have to learn to aim ..." Or it starts like this, "Oh, get a Glock. You won't have to learn a lot of ..." Seen the common denominator yet?
You won't have to learn. That's pure and unadulterated crap -- and it's even more disconcerting and depressing when it's an "instructor" saying or implying such things to her or about her. How did she get into a firearms class, if she wasn't interested in learning? How and why did she purchase a defensive firearm, if she doesn't want to know anything about how to defend herself? Even if her significant other "made her" get the gun, she's still an adult capable of making her own choices, so at some level she does in fact want to learn how to use the gun she agreed to purchase.
So when I encounter someone who isn't willing to engage on the issues, isn't willing to discuss the dangers and benefits of a given technique "for women" (or for any other student!), but instead simply appeals to the authority of a man who was raised in "another country" than the one I grew up in, well ... there's nothing left to say. Shrug and move on!
pax
