Alice C.R., Barcelona, Spain SSH Blog Correspondent
The 25th of November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Like every year and (almost) everywhere else, Spain and Barcelona have organized various events, from conferences to theater play and demonstrations.
I have always had mixed feelings about such a “Day”. Of course, I like the idea of focusing on violence against women. This is a good way to catch the attention of people and media and I hope this can help to rise awareness about how real it is. Statistically speaking, we all know women who have been the victim of this kind of violence.
But at the same time, I am a bit skeptical. What about the others days? Acts of violence occur every single day. Putting a focus on one day seems to me like a good deed we only do to have a clear conscience so we can forget about it until next year. And it seems even more true with the success of all these International Days. I have been quite surprised to learn about the existence of an International Underwear Day, a World Egg Day and a World Pasta Day, among hundreds of other “celebrations”.
But, if at least one person can learn more and become aware thanks to the 25th of November, it will make my day.
As I was saying, in Barcelona we have a lot of events and activities. And not only the 25th but across the whole month of November.
I made an intervention yesterday about a project I will speak about next time and I will attend a self-defense workshop next Saturday. And this is what I would like to speak about. It is not really specific to Spain nor Barcelona but it is a topic that has caught my attention for a while.
Every 25th of November and every 8th of March (International Women’s Rights Day), woman are offered self-defense classes and workshops. I think it is very important to offer specific classes to women since women are subjected to specific violence. While workshops are very well done, others are not so well prepared and I must say that some initiatives simply offend me.
Let’s start with what I think is problematic:
First of all, I am tired of the people who say, “Women should go to self-defense class to learn how to defend themselves and protect themselves from being assaulted”. Effectively, you can find in Barcelona some “anti-rape” self-defense workshop. Programs include how to use your keys, a piece of paper and how to deal with strangulation…
I do not like that:
– It tells me that if I do it, I will be able to avoid a rape or any other assault. I could say, “Hurrah! I am protected”. But we all know it does not work like that. Self defense is good, self defense can help you in some dangerous situation but self defense can’t guarantee you will be protected.
This is just another way to put the responsibility on the victim. We ask the potential victims to do an activity whether they like it or not, to take away from their free time, from their energy, from their savings (usually you have to pay for most of these classes) instead of asking potential harassers and attackers to follow workshops and classes about how not to harass and attack.
– It won’t change anything about a possible harassment or assault. I mean, if I need to defend myself that means that I am already attacked. Prevention=zero. But if we want reduce the amount of harassment and assault we need to focus on prevention. The best prevention is education. Educate people that “no” means “no”, that no one is “asking for” being harassed, assaulted. Well, you get the idea.
All this makes me feel that women’s fear for rape and assault is bankable. The offenses and crimes we can be victim of generate a business at our expense.
Then, why did I enrolled for a workshop myself?
Well, because I believe self defense can help me being more confident and develop my strength.
In fact, I am not against it, but this has to be done in good, safe conditions by instructors who know the consequences of an assault, the consequences of being harassed on your way home after a long day at work or in the bus going out with your friends. I am sure a lot of instructors try to do their best and really want help women to feel more safe and confident but from being in their class, I know this does not work.
What works is a class where you feel free to leave if you feel uncomfortable with an exercise, not were you are “forced” to participate because you need to “surpass yourself”, where you will be taught how to develop your proper strength and not standard way of defense, and where no one will tell you that every woman should practice self-defense but that every women should have the right to feel and be safe in any public space even without taking part in self defense class.
Alice likes researching, analyzing and writing about Women’s Rights, gender bias, and intersectionalism with a special focus on sexual violence, rape, rape culture, the impact of street harassment and how the media deals with these issues. She is currently working on a new project focused on how some media participate in the revictimization of victims. Follow her and her projects on her Facebook page and via Twitter @Alyselily.
