I have practiced Kali-Kun Tao for about 2 years from a local instructor and practitioner of >35 years.
It is a very street level practical art form of fighting, unusually operating from a attacked to counter attack situation and dealing with the variables with techniques and when to employ them.
Our class comprises of open hand techniques, joint locks, some ground fighting ( but not much) and weaponry such as escrima stick, knife counter attacks and defence, as well as the karambit.
We drill these movements constantly, to develop the flow when countering an attack, and follow-up to make sure the attacker is severely disabled or has completely "stopped"..
If you can find a good local instructor well versed in FMA, I highly recommend it.
For females, I think it's a no non sense self defence for
the streets, and builds their confidence.
Besides, it's fun when practicing the techniques and you'll discover what techniques work and don't well work for you.
I'm a fairly short person, some techniques will not work on somebody way taller than me!
BUT you'll move to another technique that may work as you'll learn to flow around the attacker. Improvisation is encouraged in our class to develop instinctive memory to move away or to the threat if opportunity exist for counter attack.