I (21f) am a pretty short (5'2") fencer (HEMA, rapier), and I often get advice to target a tall opponent's belly with my rapier. Also I've attended a self-defense class, and the instructor gave me advice to go for the abdomen of a tall attacker, if I have a pocket knife in my hand.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Bougie_Birdie@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 8 hours ago

I took a self defense class once that covered attackers with a knife. Most of the class was around defending against attacks on the belly, the instructor said it was the most obvious target. That makes sense too, it's high lethality, hurts like a bastard, isn't protected by bones, and it's in easy reach for most people.

In the context of fencing, I'd have to guess there's two things at play. First, if you're much shorter than your opponent, I'd guess the belly is roughly the same height as where you've been practicing striking people anyway. Second, if your opponent is especially tall, then strikes against the belly are further away from his perspective (his eyes are up here), and that might put them at a disadvantage.

I don't know much about fencing, so correct me where I'm wrong, but I imagine the belly is the physically lowest legal target to score a point? I'd think that technically anybody would be disadvantaged to defend the lowest point, but their height makes it more pronounced. If you're 5'2" your belly is something like two feet below your eyes, but if you're 6'3" it's like three feet. That's a pretty significant difference.