Violence against women is still sadly present in 2021. For some, knowing self-defense techniques is one of the means of fighting this systemic scourge.
To guard against violence, should you learn to fight? Is it still up to women and minorities to defend themselves against systemic violence? The question comes up regularly. Against violence, the risk of aggression, we want to have the means to defend ourselves. Rather than owning a defensive weapon, which can be turned on you, you can learn some self-defense techniques. Self-defense makes it possible to ward off physical attacks, but also verbal attacks for certain courses. As the philosopher Elsa Dorlin says, it is about making a change in the way of considering the response to an aggression: “to defend oneself is not to learn to fight, it is to unlearn not to fight”. Knowing a few techniques can give confidence, as the Difenn association asserts on its website, which offers self-defense courses: it allows you to “to question the construction of gender which causes, trivializes and justifies this violence and thus to develop the capacity of action of women. It increases their repertoire of attitudes and behaviors in order to protect themselves in a perspective of primary prevention”. For this, aufeminin received boxing coach Kelly Bessis to show us four movements to defuse an attempted aggression.
Each time, we must succeed in anticipating the movement of aggression to a minimum. It is also about putting strength in your movements, and not being afraid to hurt. Use all parts of your body, from arms to knees. Finally, as Kelly advises, do not hesitate to give voice to frighten the aggressor and alert any passers-by around you.