Comments

I am interested in becoming a certified trainer for Just Yell Fire. I gained my Master's degree in Library Science last May with an emphasis in children's and youth services, and hope to find a job soon as a public librarian. With the amount of contact I will have in that field with young and teenage girls, as well as contacts with schools and other libraries, I would like to find out how to become involved and help promote your program.

I have been training in aikido as a self-defense art since June, and will be testing for my first rank soon. The more I learned in aikido, the more it made me aware of how girls and women in America are socialized about violence. Movies, television, and popular media seem to promote the belief that girls and women cannot win or escape in a situation where we are under attack by a man. Recognizing this made me interested in finding out what programs were already available to promote girls' and women's self-defense. I discovered Just Yell Fire by Googling "women's self-defense". I was thrilled to find that someone has begun a movement to counter that socialization early in women's lives, beginning with teaching the girls who are most at risk that they CAN defend themselves and escape an attacker, even if their attacker is much larger. I myself am only 5'1", and the techniques that eliminate an attacker's advantage of greater height are also especially applicable to me.

I live in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, and I would like any information available on training for certification for Just Yell Fire, either locally or in neighboring states if necessary. Many thanks to you, Dallas, and everyone else involved with Just Yell Fire for your caring and hard work.

I loved your project.

It resonated.

I teach martial arts and care about the students.

Thank you for your vision.

We want to thank you both so much for the JYF Program on May 7th in Albion. The students loved being a part of the program and learning how to protect themselves. I heard back from many of the 5th grade girls about watching the movie with their parents and that they feel better knowing how to stay safe. I also heard back from a few parents thanking us for offering a program like this to our students. Our staff is looking forward to being trained in August with you and we hope that all of our girls from 5-12 grade will be offered self-defense and we can generate more discussion about this important topic. Thank you for also meeting with the girls for lunch, signing books and being so understanding.

I have just heard about the DVD from members of a city-wide committee that deals with domestic violence in the Jewish community. As we all know, date rape, abduction and other types of violence cross cultural, racial and religious lines -- they highly recommended this film for use in our schools.

Thank you so much --

"Thanks so much to Chad and Just Yell Fire for their great training session. I really enjoyed the course and believe the course will really benefit our young women in the community. The concepts are easy to remember. I look forward to passing on the techniques I learned."

My name is Ellie and I'm fifteen years old. Today I was reading a Tae Kwon Do magazine and ran across Just Yell Fire. So I went to your website and watched the movie. I think what you guys are doing is awesome and that girls need to know that its ok to fight back and don't be afraid if someone threatens you. I'm just a yellow belt in TKD right now. But I've already learned some important self defense and how to help others in a harmful situation. The video was great and I really appretiated that you guys showed different ways to defend yourself, in different situations. My mom and Dad have always taught me to walk with confidence and to alway pay attention to that gut feeling. I can usually tell when something doesn't feel right and I always try to avoid vulnerable situations. I think that the message you guys are trying to spead is extremely important and that every girl should see this video. Thank you so much.

I am the media Specialist at Wittenberg Elementary/Middle School and I just downloaded your "Just Yell Fire!" for our School nurse. In watching the beginning to see if the download worked, I was instantly drawn in by how good it was. I watched the entire program and will be having my 17 year old daughter watch it tonight. Thank you for making available such a well done presentation on a very important topic. Our pre-teen and teenage girls need to hear repeatedly that they have the right to say "NO!" and that they can change their minds. They also need to know what to do if they find themselves in one of these situations.

Hi there! I can't believe your story about how this film got started. But it's amazing. Congratulations on your successful journey, and by helping so many teen girls. But not only are you guys helping out young teen girls, you are helping out adult women. I myself, like so many others have been victimized by sexual assault. The ones who hurt me were never charged. I have two little girls, ages 3 and 8 months, and of course they are so young, I want them to have the opportunity to be able to protect themselves as they grow into adults. By having this video I will be able to help protect them, my nieces, and also my sisters and any other woman I have in my family and friends. I seen you guys on Montel today, and I cried, and cried. It's amazing what you can do if you really want to promote change. I'm so proud of you both, being a mother like I said, I pray to God each and every second that my girls will be just like you guys. Wanting to change things for the better.

My heart goes out to you and your crew for what you all have done.
Thank you again, but remember one thing that I tell my friends who have been hurt... You are NOT a victim, you ARE a survivor inside and out.

With love always, and forever!

This is an awesome video! my last two girlfriends were both sexually assaulted in college. neither defended themselves (adequately) and neither later reported.

I have a niece who is a freshman at college and I seriously FEAR for her safety because she is a shy girl. I will send her this link to view and post on my Myspace as a Bulletin tonight. You're very courageous and the World needs more women like you!

Cheers

I just had the pleasure of reading the article �Fighting Fire with Fire� by Dallas Jessup in the Current Health 2 � Sept. 2009 issue and watched the Just Yell Fire video on the website listed. What a tremendous video! I want to extend my sincere thanks to Dallas and everyone involved in making this video and to let you know I plan to include it in my Human Sexuality Course that I teach as part of my health curriculum. Thank you for helping all girls everywhere stay safe!