I've recently started going to historical sword-fighting classes, which has been great for many reasons, one of which being that since you're wearing protective gear and using foam practice swords, you really are encouraged to Swing To Hit the person you're sparring with.
Now, to be clear, I am a sort of sickly weak-wristed Victorian academic and the closest I ever came to a fight in real life (when a 15yo girl stole my seat at a concert and threatened to 'knock my lights out' when I complained) I burst into tears. However, I enjoy this simulated violence a great deal. In fact, I've enthused about this to multiple people now, along the lines of "So you know how you've always wanted to just go ape shitt? like, not that you *actually* want to hurt someone, or be hurt yourself, but the idea of it? the urge to dive into the heat of battle, to lose yourself in the thrill of the chase - the rush of being hunted, and hunting in turn? how all the world narrows in the face of danger, the blood rushing in your ears? how you've always wondered if that thing about the human jaw being strong enough to crack bone is true? how you long to bare your teeth and let loose and see what you could really do, if it came down to it? if you had to?"
To my surprise, my attempts to discuss what I thought to be a universal human instinct have been met with reactions ranging from "That's... interesting" to "?????no??? I don't know what you mean??" So, now I'm curious:
