前不久的一个雨夜，约30个女人聚在曼哈顿中城的一个排练场，进行一系列激烈的演习：用拳头锤击，肘击以摆脱锁喉，猛烈踢腿。她们大多穿着高跟鞋。

　　“The idea is to lock in muscle memory,” said the leader, Avital Zeisler, a former ballerina with posture as straight as an index finger and black tresses evoking Cher during her Sonny years.

　　教练阿维塔勒·泽斯勒(Avital Zeisler)曾是芭蕾舞女演员，她站得笔直，留着黑色披肩发，让人想起了和桑尼(Sonny)搭档时期的雪儿(Cher)。她说：“训练目的是形成肌肉记忆。”

　　Ms. Zeisler, 26, is not a model or actress; and her charges were not engaging in some gimmicky exercise class like pole dancing. She is an expert in hand-to-hand combat who has trained members of the military and law enforcement, as well as actresses like Keri Russell, Megan Boone and Amanda Seyfried.

　　26岁的泽斯勒不是模特，也不是演员。她的课程不涉及钢管舞等花哨的舞蹈。她是徒手搏斗专家，训练过军事和执法人员及演员，包括克丽·拉塞尔(Keri Russell)、梅根·布恩(Megan Boone)和阿曼达·塞弗里德(Amanda Seyfried)等。

　　如何用高跟鞋优雅地反抗性侵

　　She is passionate about women learning to defend themselves, no matter what they are wearing on their bodies — or feet. And so this workshop, for which she sometimes charges up to $80 a participant, was free.

　　她对女人学习自卫很有热情，不管她们身上或脚上穿的是什么。她的讲习班有时收费高达每人80美元，但是这个讲习班是免费的。

　　“The objective is to disrupt the attacker’s thought process — even just to get him to blink,” Ms. Zeisler told the assembled.

　　泽斯勒对学员们说：“目标是打断攻击者的思路，哪怕只是让他眨一下眼。”

　　Lydia Billings, 24, a photographer and a founder of End Rape Now who was attending the class, was impressed. Her best friend was raped in high school, she said, but Ms. Billings had never before studied self-defense.

　　这句话让24岁的学员莉迪娅·比灵斯(Lydia Billings)印象深刻。她是一名摄影师、End Rape Now的创始人。她说，她最好的朋友在高中时遭到强奸，不过她自己之前从未学过自卫。

　　“A few really simple, powerful moves can get you out of any situation,” said Ms. Billings, who was wearing a pair of Payless pumps.

　　比灵斯穿着一双Payless浅口高跟鞋。她说：“几个非常简单而有力的动作能让你摆脱任何困境。”

　　Ms. Zeisler is not the first or only person teaching such self-defense techniques. The instructional website Howcast has posted videos about using heels in self-defense (this being 2015, the iPhone is also a potential weapon). And Jennifer Cassetta, 39, a personal trainer in Los Angeles and a third-degree black belt in hapkido, began a class called Stilettos and Self-Defense in 2007.

　　泽斯勒不是第一个也不是唯一一个教授自卫术的人。指导性网站Howcast发布了一些关于如何在自卫中使用鞋跟的视频（现在是2015年，iPhone也可用作武器）。39岁的詹妮弗·卡塞塔(Jennifer Cassetta)是洛杉矶的一名私人教练，是合气道黑带三段高手。2007年，她开设了一个名叫高跟鞋与自卫(Stilettos and Self-Defense)的训练班。

　　“Women feel very empowered wearing heels,” Ms. Cassetta said. “I love heels. I love the way my legs look in them. But most women can barely walk in them, let alone run. If you can’t run away, you better know how to fight off an attacker. You have to be prepared at all times, no matter what you’re wearing, no matter how tall you are.”

　　卡塞塔说：“女人穿上高跟鞋会感觉很有力量。我很喜欢高跟鞋。我喜欢穿上高跟鞋后我的腿型。但是大部分女人穿着高跟鞋连路都走不好，更别提跑了。如果你跑不掉，那就得知道如何反击。你必须随时做好准备，不管你穿的是什么，不管你多高。”

　　While it is known that shoes can be lethal weapons — last year, Ana Trujillo of Texas was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing her boyfriend to death with a 5-inch stiletto heel — they are not always easily accessible when they are on your feet. And they tend to handicap one of the best strategies for self-defense: running away.

　　虽然我们都知道高跟鞋可能是致命武器——去年，德克萨斯州的安娜·特鲁希略(Ana Trujillo)用5.5英寸（约合14厘米）的细高跟鞋刺死男友，被判终身监禁——但如果它是穿在脚上，你并不总能把它轻松取下。而且高跟鞋也会妨碍一种最好的自卫方式：逃跑。

　　But despite warnings about the perils of heels, and the havoc they can wreak on backs and ankles (“Working out in heels is really bad for your calves, and can cause tears or tendinitis,” said Rob Conenello, a sports podiatrist in Orangeburg, N.Y., and the past president of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine) it’s unlikely that urban women are going to stop wearing them anytime soon. So some concerned with safety are factoring in that reality.

　　但是，尽管人们一直在提醒高跟鞋的危险以及它对后背和脚踝可能造成的伤害（纽约州奥兰治堡市的运动足病医生、美国足部运动医学学会[American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine]前会长罗布·科奈奈罗[Rob Conenello]说：“穿着高跟鞋运动对小腿很不好，可能导致撕裂或腱炎”），但是短时间内城里的女人不大可能停止穿高跟鞋。所以一些顾虑安全的人也在考虑这个现实情况。

　　According to a United Nations analysis, about 35 percent of women worldwide said they had experienced physical violence, including rape, murder and sexual harassment.

　　据联合国的一项分析，全世界约有35%的女人称自己遭遇过暴力袭击，包括强奸、谋杀和性骚扰。

　　Ms. Zeisler is one of them. At 19, she was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend at the time, after which she went through a debilitating depression. She left her home in Toronto and traveled to Israel, her father’s birthplace, to study Krav Maga, an Israeli form of self-defense.

　　泽斯勒也是其中一位。19岁时，她被当时的男友性侵，之后陷入极度沮丧，离开多伦多的家，前往父亲的出生地以色列，学习以色列的自卫术——近身格斗(Krav Maga)。

　　In 2013, she created and began teaching the Soteria Method (Soteria is the Greek goddess of safety), whose components include self-defense, fitness and, yes, “empowerment.” She defines self-defense as “having the ability to create, live and protect a life that you love.”

　　2013年，她创立并开始教授Soteria Method（Soteria是希腊安全女神），它包括自卫、健身和“获得力量”。她认为自卫是“有能力创造、度过并保护你热爱的生活”。

　　Her argument is that women shouldn’t have to alter their physical appearance or “compromise their femininity,” she said, to ensure their ability to protect themselves.

　　她认为，女人不必通过改变外貌或“放弃女子特质”来确保获得自我保护的能力。

　　“When I teach self-defense, I want to make sure it’s authentic to women,” said Ms. Zeisler, who has also written a book, “Weapons of Fitness.” These weapons can presumably include Christian Louboutins. “The point of training in heels is that if you’re wearing heels and targeted for an attack,” she said, “you’re equipped with a few survival strategies that can save your life.”

　　泽斯勒说：“我教自卫术时，想要确保它对女人真的有用。”她写了一本书，名叫《健康武器》(Weapons of Fitness)。这些武器应该包括Christian Louboutins牌高跟鞋。她说：“穿着高跟鞋训练的意义在于，如果你遭到攻击时穿的是高跟鞋，你拥有几种能救命的生存策略。”

　　Lori Hartman Gervasi, 57, a black belt trained in traditional karate who also has taught self-defense in heels, believes that women need to contemplate their shoes, along with other items of clothing, before an attack even happens.

　　57岁的洛丽·哈特曼·格维西(Lori Hartman Gervasi)是传统空手道的黑带教练，她也教授穿着高跟鞋自卫的方法。她认为，女人在遭到袭击之前就需要考虑自己的鞋子和衣物。

　　“That way they’re not standing there thinking ‘Oh no, I’m being grabbed by some jerk and dragged by my hair to his car and I’m in heels of all things!’” said Ms. Gervasi, author of “Fight Like a Girl … and Win: Defense Decisions for Women,” who is based in California. “Instead, this woman should know many options for getting out of this ordeal. Like stuffing her thumb in his eye and using those high heels to rake down his shin, then kick him in the groin.”

　　格维西说：“那样的话，她们就不会站在那里想：‘哦，不，有个混蛋揪着我的头发把我往他的车里拖，我却正好穿着高跟鞋！’相反，这个女人应该知道很多摆脱这种折磨的方法。比如用大拇指戳他的眼睛，用高跟鞋刮他的小腿，然后踢他的腹股沟。”她住在加利福尼亚州，写过一本书，名叫《像女孩那样战斗并获胜：女性自卫策略》(Fight Like a Girl … and Win: Defense Decisions for Women)。

　　Ms. Seyfried, 29, trained with Ms. Zeisler off and on for two years, and said her advice also included many hypotheticals. “It’s basic survival, and how we can outsmart the attacker,” Ms. Seyfried said. “It’s not just about learning it, it’s about getting it into your bones and the muscle memory of it. She had me picture the possibilities and imagine myself in these situations. If you have one exit and it’s blocked by the attacker, then what do you do?”

　　29岁的塞弗里德跟着泽斯勒断断续续学了两年。她说，泽斯勒的建议还包括很多假设，“它是基本的求生方法，是关于如何战胜攻击者。不仅要学习，而且要把它变成骨头和肌肉记忆。她让我想象各种可能性，想象自己处于这些情况中。如果只有一个出口，但是攻击者挡住了出口，那你该怎么办”？

　　(Answer: Scan the assailant to see if he is armed, then improvise a weapon, like a chair — or shoe. If these aren’t options, defense training enables a woman “to close in and neutralize the threat,” Ms. Zeisler said.)

　　（泽斯勒说，正确的做法是打量攻击者，看他是否携带武器，然后寻找临时武器，比如椅子或鞋子。如果找不到临时武器，自卫训练能让女人们“近身搏斗，降低威胁”。）

　　Vanessa McDaniel, 33, a graphics designer who is traveling around the world, is so enthusiastic about training with Ms. Zeisler, which she has done since November 2012, that she plans to become a Soteria instructor. Ms. McDaniel was attacked when she was younger, and always wondered how she could have gotten away.

　　33岁的凡妮莎·麦克丹尼尔(Vanessa McDaniel)是一个在世界各地工作的平面设计师。她从2012年11月开始跟着泽斯勒训练。她对此很有热情，打算也成为Soteria教练。麦克丹尼尔是在更年轻的时候遭到攻击的，总是在设想当时她可以怎样逃脱。

　　“Training with Avi has given me more confidence,” she said. “Walking down the street, I feel like I am better equipped to handle the catcalls or other situations I might encounter, and I have — fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it — had the opportunity to use some of what she’s taught me in real life.”

　　她说：“跟着阿维训练让我更有信心。走在街上，我感觉自己能更好地应对吹口哨挑逗等情况，我在现实生活中已经用到过她教我的一些方法——这到底是幸运还是不幸，得看你怎么看了。”

　　And Dayna Bloom, 26, a singer and songwriter in New York, said that studying with Ms. Zeisler has given her extra oomph in areas besides self-defense.

　　26岁的戴娜·布鲁姆(Dayna Bloom)是纽约的一名歌手和词曲作者。她说，跟着泽斯勒学习让她不仅能自卫，而且更有魅力。

　　Ms. Bloom has learned “how to attack life,” she said. “Even though someone is not attacking me.”

　　布鲁姆说，她学会了“如何攻击生活，就算没人攻击我”。