Ask any male supporter of this insanity if they would send their wife downstairs at night to deal with a prowler.
Skeeter, you've just cut through all the nonsense with this nugget of wisdom. Well done.
You'd likely get a "yes". :-) And the wife might agree.
Mrs WBill has a number of female, liberal, feminist friends and co-workers. I had occasion to listen in on a discussion by them of this very topic at a Thanksgiving get together.
The general consensus was "I TOOK a self defense class! I WILL kick the guy's a$$!" Buncha female chest beating.
Unfortunate brainwashing, sez me. I didn't bother with asking them..."Really?", since it would have been a waste of breath.
Any regular-sized guy, bent on destruction, vs an average girl? The girl will get the crap beat out of her, or worse, before she gets to the phone to dial 911. Self Defense classes, while better than nothing (they teach situational awareness, which is good), are otherwise pretty delusional. Figure that the girl is going through a bunch of choreographed hand-to-hand moves with an "attacker" who is likely more worried about not hurting himself. They don't address the "So, this guy gets in your house, picks up your favorite dining room chair, and tries to break your leg with it. What now?". Which, frankly, is a whole lot more realistic. Bad guys don't play fair.
Foolishness. None of Mrs WBill's friends mentioned a gun, either, training in and possession of which I think would be eminently more sensible. :-)