How Ted Bundy’s Killing Spree Launched a Legion of Feminist Karate Masters

When a serial killer terrorized 1970s Seattle, these women banded together to defend themselves. Now they’re teaching a new generation to take control.

Edited by Genelle Levy

Before the man showed up, Py Bateman was having a regular day. She had swung by the karate dojo to let in some students and was now arriving home to freshen up. Her friend would be picking her up soon. They had plans to go to a folk festival. The man must have hid behind the low wall separating her deck from her house, because as soon as she stepped up to let herself in, he was at her neck with a knife. Her first thought: Oh shit.

Bateman snaked her hand between the knife and her throat. She grabbed it by the blade, the steel slicing into her palm. She kicked back into the man’s groin, and he fell forward, sending them both to the floor. She’d tried breaking free, but his limbs were too long for a tuck-and-roll maneuver to work. The man had slashed her eyelids, and it was becoming increasingly hard to see, but she kept coming at him. She assumed that would be the end of it. She remembers thinking: Most men who attack women they don’t know will run away if you star…