We’ve been running the Women’s Self Defense Workshops for several years at SBG gyms throughout the country. Every year, more and more women choose to stand up for their safety and the curriculum gets better and better.
But the most heartbreaking thing we encounter is the fact that the majority of women who attend these seminars have already been assaulted.
Throughout the seminar we hear their heartbreaking stories about how they were pinned to the floor, choked, followed in a parking lot, threatened by a significant other, or faced with a male friend who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
For women, these scenarios are not a matter of if but when. The statistics are not in our favor.
Make Your Safety A Priority
I love what’s going on with the #MeToo movement and the Women’s March. I love that as a society we are encouraging equality in the workplace, sports, and politics. We can always find ways to raise our children to value lives.
But what happens when you come across someone who doesn’t care about that? What happens when you are face – to – face with someone who has no regard for your safety and no intention of treating you with respect.
This is a very real thing, and no matter how powerful the women’s equality movement is, you still need to be prepared for this scenario.
What’s even more heartbreaking is that women don’t make this a priority.
Women spend so much time and money on makeup, what their Instagram account looks like, and what kind of wedding to plan that they put their safety on the back burner.
Before you know it, you’re standing in front of someone who, right then and there, won’t hesitate to take away your personal space and freedom.
This is a real thing. Absolutely you should fight for more equality. But you should also have a Plan B to be your best advocate and know how to defend yourself.
This is what I want to instill in this next generation that’s coming up. I don’t want them to have #MeToo stories. I want the norm not to be those terrible statistics but to be women who were their best advocates and were able to defend themselves.
SBG gyms around the world are bringing that movement to their own communities. Coach Amanda Diggins in Portland and Coach Leah Taylor in Montana teach women something that makes them leave with real confidence. They share a message and spread it far and wide and teaching women to stand taller and with more confidence.
Women’s Self Defense in Missoula
SBG Missoula’s first Women’s Self Defense Seminar was on the same day as the one year anniversary of the Women’s March. We were afraid that we’d have a low turnout with such a monumental event going on.
We were amazed when sixty women attended. Many of them came straight from the march. These women showed up and made the statement that protecting themselves was a priority.
We already have a community of women in Missoula to drive this movement forward in our community. Don’t sit this movement out. Be part of it.