Street Smart, Street Safe

Recent winner of a Bronze Apple Award from the National Educational Film & Video Association, self-defense expert Nina Chenault's Street Smart, Street Safe is a disappointing concoction of exercise video and questionable defense tactics aimed at teaching women how to avoid becoming a victim. The program offers some half dozen dramatic scenarios of women being approached and/or attacked on the street or in a car. Each scenario is followed by a re-enactment with suggested defensive moves, and then Chenault and a pair of demonstrators practice the moves--exercise video style. The tape concludes with a review "workout" session. We had two major problems with the tape: 1) Chenault tends to show "one" response to a situation rather than exploring several options, and 2) some of the moves are either unrealistic (a karate-style kick to the kneecap while someone is close enough to be holding your biceps is an extremely difficult move that only a very competent martial-arts devotee would be able to pull off with enough force and accuracy to disable the attacker) or potentially ineffective (Chenault demonstrates the powerful backwards head butt to the face for dealing with a surprise attack from behind, but neglects to mention that the move would achieve nothing if the attacker was a foot or so taller than the person being attacked). A much more comprehensive and better choice is BPS Communications' Scenarios in Self-Defense (reviewed in our September 1992 issue). Too little information can be a dangerous thing; it can lend a false sense of security, and that's the problem with Street Smart, Street Safe. Not recommended. (Available from: Self Defense Systems, P.O. Box 39493, Minneapolis, MN 55438; (800) 451-4077.)