University student Ross Harke was sick of hearing his female friends’ stories of sexual abuse. He wanted to do something about it.
Last summer, he did. He started a business called Honor Empower and Respect LLC, which offers college women at the University and at Oregon State University a chance to learn basic self-defense methods in half-hour classes. This evening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the EMU Fir Room, Harke will host his second round of lessons at the University.
Harke said statistics vary, but most show that between one in four and one in six women will be a victim of sexual crime in their lifetime.
“Everybody knows at least one of these women,” Harke said. “You get beat down every time you hear about your friends telling you what has happened to them.”
That’s why Harke believes every woman should take self-defense training — so that she is less likely to become one of the abused.
Countering abuse through self-defense, Harke said, is only step one in what he knows will be a long and painful process of social change.
“A huge step will be to talk to the men” who are abusers, because they are the “root of the problem,” he said. “But that could take years.”
In the meantime, Harke said, women can learn self-defense and not only counter abuse, but also find more confidence to “do more things men take for granted.”
Lessons start at the beginning of every hour and half hour. Men, though they can’t participate in the classes, are welcome to come and show their support.
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