This month, Jenna DiQuarto worked double duty and both interviewed our wonderful guests and produced the show. Thank you for your dedication and work, Jenna! And for those of you who prefer to watch our stellar podcast on YouTube, please click here for that link.
First, hear Jenna delivering the greeting, introducing us to the topic, before diving into a short snippet of the interview Liz Miller did with Ann Menasche about her recent dismissal from a job she had for 20 years. Ann was fired for saying women are female which makes women the people in society who need abortion rights.
Then, stay tuned for Emily Faye’s world news segment that includes a short report from an interview Thistle did with Amanda Stulman of KPSS USA about their recent action in NYC in front of the New York Times Headquarters in Manhattan.
Next, we get to the topic at hand of women’s self-defense in two interviews Jenna conducted with Adelaide Meadow, and Serendipity Day.
Finally, hear Sekhmet SheOwl’s commentary on what it means for women to defend themselves from male violence to round off this 83rd edition of our monthly show.
Thank you, as ever, dear WLRN listeners, for staying tuned to the handcrafted monthly podcasts we lovingly co-create from the studios of WLRN. Please visit our new merch page to order your WLRN merch today to support the station!
Cover art by WLRN member Margaret Vaek of an anonymous woman at a shooting range.
Having practiced and taught martial arts and women’s self defense in both co-sex and women’s only courses for over a decade, (I’m a third degree BB in TKD) is that martial arts is in the same model as the “stranger danger” courses in self defense. Martial arts are military arts, whether government sponsored military or revolutionary is training against someone unknown. While empowering and useful for women in many ways, I can’t tell you the number of high ranking female martial artists who have been raped or otherwise sexually assaulted or abused. In fact, sexual assault is unbelievably common in co-sex schools and classes. Like any institution based on rank and authority men use this authority to their advantage.
In order to use physical defense techniques, one must be willing to harm their attacker, which becomes more difficult when there is some sort of relationship. women’s self-defense tool box has to include lots of strategies. It’s easy to talk about eye, knees, throat and other targets. Not so easy when it’s your boyfriend or your teacher or uncle. Self defense for women is much more nuanced than an military stranger danger situation. 9x out of 10x It’s not someone jumping out from behind a bush. It’s someone who has already found a way in close to you. Someone you know. Recognizing intrusive and red flag behaviors is equally, if not more important than knowing physical techniques.
When I started my women’s self defense classes, the very first thing I would do after my introduction, is to ask the group what they are already doing to protect themselves. List was comprehensive and always the same: pepper spray, weapons, park under light, let someone know where you’re going, never go alone, hold keys in fingers etc etc etc. All of them VERY good strategies for strangers. Then the class would talk about the kinds of violence they and women they know have experienced and how these techniques and strategies would or wouldn’t work in those situations.
My self defense courses for women were 50% physical training and 50% breaking down sexed gender roles and learning boundary setting skills as well as recognizing intrusive and red flag behaviors.
When I started my women’s self defense classes, the very first thing I would do after my introduction, is to ask the group what they are already doing to protect themselves. List was comprehensive and always the same: pepper spray, weapons, park under light, let someone know where you’re going, never go alone, hold keys in fingers etc etc etc. All of them VERY good strategies for strangers. Then the class would talk about the kinds of violence they and women they know have experienced and how these techniques and strategies would or wouldn’t work in those situations.
One of the next exercises I did was to make two columns on a board. The left column called “Cultural View of an Attractive Feminine Woman” and the right called “Cultural View of an Unattractive Unfeminine Woman.” The adjectives never varied across age, race, socio-economic status etc. The AFW was kind, polite, nurturing, small, giving etc. The UUW was bold, assertive, strong, confident etc. Then I asked which woman would be better able to defend herself, and of course it’s the UUW. But that right column also describes men. Pigeon holing half the population in one column and the other in the other is a recipe for violence. The goal is that both columns be available to all.
Another aspect of my training was in any partner work in my MA school to set a boundary with your partner for contact levels, e.g. full, medium, light, none and for your partner to respect that boundary. Not only did this help students learn physical control of skills, but practice in setting boundaries and having them respected. It never stopped amazing me how many women and girls were shocked to learn that they had the right to say no to any form of touch or verbal interaction. Lots more I could say here.
I co-authored a book, which is unfortunately out of print, but there are used copies floating around called “Training Women in the Martial Arts – A Special Journey” where I talk in detail about this and the benefit of a consciously organized women only space. https://www.amazon.com/Training-Women…/dp/193054684X
I’d like to add that when I opened my school, I reached out to the local DV rape crisis shelter. They were very wary of all self defense classes for some of the reasons discussed in this podcast. But, the history of the women’s movement and self defense is an important thing to think about. It wasn’t until the mid 70’s that women were even permitted in martial arts schools. Even now, the number of women training in the martial arts in negligible compared to men, and the number who actually make it to a high rank is even lower. There is a history, then, of men trying to gain access to our movement by offering stranger danger self defense courses, which of course was disastrous and left those working in anti violence wary of self defense in general.