The Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre hosted a self-defense seminar for women at Carleton July 9 to Aug. 27.
This is not a “typical self-defense course,” according to the coalition’s website. “ ‘A Stronger You’ focuses on empowerment and recognizes that the vast majority of people are assaulted by someone they know.”
The course also addresses systemic violence and deconstructs the common myths and stereotypes about violence.
Janet Hefferman, one of the co-owners of a karate school in Barrhaven, taught the seminar.
Hefferman, who has taught martial arts at her school ‘Stronger You’ since 2003, said she first got the idea of hosting a seminar at Carleton when she heard Julie Lalonde, one of the co-ordinators for the coalition, promoting an event on the radio.
“I called her and told her about the empowerment model we use in our self-defense seminars. I thought it would be a good fit.”
“We’d been talking with Equity Services and University Safety about their self-defense seminars,” coalition member Sarah McCue said.
She said the coalition wanted to offer a self-defense seminar that was not only for women.
“Violence happens everywhere. It doesn’t discriminate,” she said.
That is why when “Stronger You” hosted a self-defense seminar at Carleton last spring, it offered two sessions: one for women, and one for “queer-oriented people,” McCue said.
Hefferman said 10 people signed up for the eight-week course, titled, ‘Personal Safety for a Stronger You,’ which was held in Robertson Hall on Monday nights.
Hefferman, who has a fifth-degree black belt in karate, said the women learned a combination of self-defense techniques such as knee kicks, palm heel strikes, and digging one’s thumbs into the attackers’ eyes.
“Don’t fight fair,” said Lynn Davidson, one of the instructors present at the last class Aug. 27. “You need to do whatever it takes to get home safely.”
The participants practiced strikes on shields and on an instructor dressed in a padded suit.
Kicking and punching is only one part of the course. As Davidson stressed, the most important thing the women can learn is how to avoid dangerous situations.
“It’s just a matter of developing small habits, like noticing when you’ve zoned out,” Hefferman said.
Davidson said predators are more likely to pick on people who look like easy prey, so the students are told to walk with their heads held high in public and to avoid things that might distract them, such as headphones.
‘Stronger You’ hosted a self-defense seminar at Carleton last spring and then offered to hold another one in the summer, she said.
She said she has already noticed a change in the women attending the seminar, as they seem to be more aware of potentially dangerous situations.
“That’s what’s important. We need to build a continuum of skills so we can handle anything from catcalls, to more dangerous things like stalking and sexual assault,” Hefferman said.
