“When she was showing us how to gouge out someone’s eyes, I was like, ‘This is really disgusting,’” undeclared freshman Lindsay Damiano@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Lindsay+Damiano@@ said. “But the fact is it might come to that, and I absolutely would do it.”
Approximately one in four women attending college in the United States will experience either an attempted or completed rape before they graduate college, according to studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention @@http://www.cdc.gov/@@and the Department of Education.
It was with this staggering fact in mind that Sexual Assault Support Services in partnership with the ASUO Women’s Center conducted its self-defense workshop for female students last night at the Student Recreation Center.
Thirty-five preregistered students participated by engaging in physical and psychological exercises aimed at promoting both attitude and action against sexual violence. Directed by program coordinator Elly Maloney,@@sociology.uoregon.edu/cv/hollander.pdf@@ the students learned basic self-defense information and strategies through both verbal and physical methods in a framework of “think-yell-run-fight-tell.”
“A big part of the effect that this education has on those who participate in it is the element of confidence,” Maloney said. “That can translate into honoring intuitive feelings that something is wrong.”
There are many ways to avoid dangerous situations, such as programs like Safe Ride@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/saferide/@@ and Designated Driver Shuttle@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/asuodds/mission.html@@; but Nina Nolen,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Nina+Nolen@@ public relations coordinator at the ASUO Women’s Center, reminds us that students should not have to rely on forms of assistance that promote isolation and dependency.
“People are studying late and ought to be able to walk home,” Nolen said, “We want all of the women on campus to feel safe and know that they can protect themselves.”
Maloney began with an overview of people’s impressions about self-defense and ultimately included the practical application of some basic tenets of martial arts disciplines to be applied when all means of preventing escalation have failed.
Focus was placed on stance and balance, particularly the necessity to remain upright and ready to continuously block and strike. Strong and weak zones of the body were identified on both defender and attacker, and practice strikes were performed on padded targets.
Though these exercises contain great value, it is important to consider that “fight” is not always the end of the story. Telling a story of unsuccessful resistance is undoubtedly a painful ordeal.
“Our culture, in different ways,” Maloney said, “is inherently very victim-blaming@@favorite word@@ and not very supporting of survivors telling their story or recovering in the ways that they are wanting to.”
For this reason, she placed heavy value on training derived from documented experience, employing the collective wisdom of survivors in hopes of promoting an “empowerment-based model.”
Lisa Oland,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Lisa+Oland@@ sexual violence prevention and education coordinator at the Women’s Center, points to data that there is an environment of fear rather than transparency among survivors.
“We have 22,000 students here; 12,000 thousand of them are women. That means 3,000 female students will be assaulted in some way. Last year, only eight women reported being a victim,”@@wow@@ Oland said. @@Factual inaccuracy in a quote? Leave it, right?@@
Ostensibly, this statistic was the result of the University’s controversial change to a mandatory reporting policy by counselors and administrators made aware of a sexual crime.
Nolen vehemently rejects this policy though, citing that it removes the power of disclosure, producing a further affront to the morale of victims and possibly giving perpetrators leverage through access to the victim.
Despite this point of contention, when it comes to victim advocacy, it is important to remember that the broader purpose of a self-defense workshop is prevention — which in many cases can and will be successful.