I would say it's a bit of both. Fighting to me is UFC/"putting your dukes up" and slogging it out. SD is a more wide ranging view that encorporates awareness, verbal de-escalation, avoidance tactics and either pre-emptive strikes acting in SD, or using set pattern (kata style) responses to given attacks. That's obviously just my take on it, and I do think it's a grey area because they overlap in the sense that you go into a UFC ring, and technically speaking you're looking to start a fight, if someone tries to bottle you in a bar, you defend yourself. As I say though, they very much overlap.
Again it doesn't seem that grey an area, in one situation (ufc-esque) you are williningly engaging in a fight you actually have chosen this and its not a case of someone invading your personal space or endagering your safety without you agreeing to it beforehand. Self defence is obviously true of the situations i have illustrated before hand and what makes it self defence is that its not your choice for it to be happening, even when you strike pre-emptively you are doing it because you were put in a situation which you didn't wish to be in.
The only way i see it as a grey area is the idea of refering to techniques used in a UFC type scenario as self defence - the real self defence would be not to get in the ring in the first place. But what you use in a ring to make distance or incapacitate the opponent can be the same skills used in a real self defence scenario in a pub or whatever.
What i mean is, how is it a bit of both? I mean if someone attacks you and you stop them by hitting them it seems like a reaction used only to defend ones self. Its an appropiate and seems like these wing chun skills were used in self defence. I don't see how the fighting aspect you have described comes into it, its not like the wing chun person is looking to fight, its a reaction driven out of a fear for their own safety.
The way i see it, any fighting skills can be put to use in a self defence situation and perhaps thats what you mean by it being both. The realtionship between the people involved in the incident will be what determins if its a self defence issue or perhaps a drunken macho man issue or any other issue filled with variables. That of course goes towards the laws behind what constitutes self defence and i would definitely agree there is a grey area there. The only reason i am even posting in this thread is to say wing chun is viable self defence skills! My point was to point out that the satement "I have done a little of the SD stuff, but mostly We have focused on Strictly Wing Chun" and how to me the skill set learnt in wing chun serves as a self defence mechanism as well as a fighting mechanism. The difference between being dictated by the situation.
As for the other question, I'm very nearly a dad, with a family to protect, ANYONE who breaks into my home, armed or otherwise is getting hurt. Badly. I'm not going to rely on some flimsy half baked law that's as misleading as it is weak. The problem with the law here is that it gives little support to the person who's home has been invaded. How would I know the "intention" of the assailant? How would I know whether they were armed? I'd go with the intent of causing great harm. That's my honest feeling. If you're alluding to whether or not my going and confronting a burglar, intruder, et al and whether or not that constitues fighting or SD, I still say it would be both.
well doesn't that then suggest that all self defence calsses are both fighting and self defence? I mean this suggests that a woman defending a potential rape attack with a knee to the groin is fighting - and if that is the case then surely that solidifys my original statement that wing chun skills are self defence skills.
I don't think fighting and self defence are interchangable terms but i do think that the fighting skills learnt all apply to being self defence (well almost all) and what sets the terms apart is the situation. I mean sure its an ability to fight that you use but you use it in a manner that constitutes self defence. Other than that the only thing that makes your situation both is your intent to cause the intruder a lot of physical harm (this borrows the idea of fighting you described earlier in your post). This comes down to your intent, if you knock the guy out out of the intent of keeping your family safe that to me suggests self defence, using a fighting technique in a self defence situation. Even if it was done out of protecting your property it seems to be self defence, you haven't dictated the situation, you haven't agreed to engage in violence on similar terms. This is all triggered by the intruder what you initially want to do is protect, if once you are in a position of safety you continue to intend harm upon the intruder then yes that would no longer be justified as self defence and would simply be fighting or something other.
What you highlighted from the other post by monj was that sd is dealing with rape, muggings, chokes etc. But the skills that are taught in wing chun are skills to deal with things like this, i mean a rapist will want to grab you and control you, perhaps take you to the floor all things that could happen in a fight, people will also try and choke you in a fight. Mugging is a bit different but an understanding of distance is hugely important as well as reading the mugger/opponent. I guess what i want to know is what makes self defence different from wing chun?
I think in some ways it boils down to intent and who's starting what to whom. As for using weapons in the home, I'd take whatever's to hand, I have a rather sharp Roman gladius, wonderful stabbing weapon, a bokken, and a baseball bat. Nice selection. They're either display weapons, or things used in my MA practice. I should think that me running downstairs in the nip, screaming like a banshee, wielding a gladius would be quite a heart-stopper. Not sure whether that'd be from the sight of me in the nud, or the sword...
Well intent was what i illustrated in my previous post, an intent to stay unharmed and safe vs. an intent to harm. I have a few baseball bats and some other weaponry myself, my use for them beyond playing baseball and practicing weapons forms would be protection.
I have studied wing chun for quite sometime now and i never look to fight, i don't want violence in my life, my skillset is to keep me safe and deal with unwanted situations as quickly and effectively as possible so they have as little a bearing on my life as possible. I enjoy my art thoroughly but i don't go looking to use it, my mindset is one that runs alongside self defence and reflects the Kuen Kuit. If i am put in a situation in which defence is needed then my defence is wing chun or like you a baseball bat or a sword with a good scrwam or shout. However the nud has never been a technique i have used.