Are self-defense classes effective?

This article was originally published in English

More and more women are venturing into the world of self-defense and combat sports, a trend strongly supported by recent data. A French government report highlights a 11% increase in martial arts licenses and 51% increase in combat sports licenses among women between 2012 and 2017. Although these fields are dominated by men in 2017, with female participation of 32% for martial arts and 31% for combat sports, a notable change has been observed by 2022. According to the National Institute of Youth and Popular Education, in France, that year, the majority of martial arts licenses were held by womenat 62% compared to 38% for men.

In Lyon, France, the organization Renouveau Boxe helps women victims of domestic violence by offering them boxing classes.

A course participant, who did not wish to be named, added: “This training allows us to regain confidence in ourselves and to consider ourselves as people. It shows us that we are not alone in this situation. And in fact, we are not ashamed. Because, very often, we feel responsible for what is happening and we are ashamed of it. But being with other people who have experienced the same thing means that we understand each other and that we speak the same language.

Samir Hamzaoui, instructor and former top boxer, shared his inspiration: “I know what it’s like to take hits and put myself in the shoes of someone who can’t defend themselves. That’s what pushed me to start this project.”

What pushes some women to be interested in combat sports?

Julie Francols, psychotrauma psychologist, enlightens us on this subject: “When you suffer an attack, you have the impression of being dispossessed of something. The aggressor unfairly takes control over you. However, developing self-defense skills means reclaiming your autonomy and capacity to defend ourselves, therefore to regain control of our environment. We are no longer at the mercy of someone”she adds, “we see it in people between the time they start training and the time they finish it; their body expresses the change: they now exist differently in the world.”

How effective are these disciplines in preventing violence?

Christy Martin, former boxing champion and survivor of domestic violence, spoke out on the subject: “Although I was a boxing champion, I was physically and mentally abused by a man… He had threatened to kill me for 20 years. He had threatened to kill me for 20 years, so I pushed, but you can’t push harder. It wasn’t a match. Even though he was 20 years older, he was stronger than me. Physically, I could never have fought against him and won. Every time that he was hitting me, even if I fought back physically, he was hitting me even harder. So I could never have won that physical altercation. And the truth is, I never won the emotional altercations either “. On November 23, 2010, Christy Marty was stabbed and beaten by her husband. At the time, she was 42 years old and the welterweight champion credited with the birth of women’s boxing.

Julie Francols tells us that it’s not just about knowing how to defend yourself: “When we are attacked, the first response, which is an automatic reflex of our autonomic nervous system, is either to attack, to flee, or to immobilize. At that moment, the victim is paralyzed.”

“To implement these self-defense techniques, it takes a few brief seconds that allow the person to regain control of the situation. It takes a lot of training for the self-defense techniques to become automatic. However, at first, there will always be these automatic and involuntary reactions.”

Navigating trauma and expectations

Addressing a critical aspect of recovery, Julie Junquet, consultant on issues of sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination in sport, highlighted the challenges faced by survivors of violence: “I don’t see self-defense as a solution in the fight against sexual violence, and I find that there is even a message that can be guilt-inducing for these women who take classes, who say to themselves “now I know how to defend”, if they are faced with aggression in the future and unfortunately cannot reproduce the techniques they have learned. I find that this can be a bit guilt-inducing.”

Ms. Junquet also highlighted other misconceptions regarding these training programs: “Societal messages are problematic. Don’t dress like that, don’t walk alone at night, learn to defend yourself; it’s always problematic. No, we don’t want to learn to defend ourselves, we just want to not be attacked!”

“We know that placing oneself in conditions of struggle, combat or potential aggression can trigger flashbacks of the real aggression, trigger relivings, and there, this can trigger certain mechanisms in the brain which are quite dangerous. Putting yourself in a situation of aggression is not trivial.”

Christy Martin warns against creating a false sense of invincibility: “Care must be taken when teaching self-defense so as not to create a false belief of saying: “Okay, I’m going to take this self-defense class and I’ll still be able to fend off anyone who attacks me, which is not the case.”

So how can this type of training reach its full potential?

Christy Martin believes it’s not just about the physical aspect, but also the self-confidence that training instills: “It’s not really about the techniques you learn; it’s not about throwing a right hand, throwing a left hook. It’s about the confidence that learning these techniques gives you , and this confidence allows you to be stronger to defend yourself.”

She acknowledges that her boxing career helped her survive the attack she suffered: “I think my boxing career gave me mental strength. Much more than physical strength. Mentally, it made me a fighter. And when I was lying on the ground after being shot and stabbed , I believed in myself. I thought mentally that with God’s help, I could get back up and get through this.”