In recent news, there have been several violent reports of attacks against women who were unable to defend themselves properly. This is largely because they were never taught the techniques and strategies necessary to fight against a larger, intimidating, predatory assailant. In this generation, where it often seems as though these attacks are becoming evermore prevalent, it is especially important that females are equipped with the skills necessary to defend themselves from any verbal or physical harm. For several years, the company IMPACT has come to Marymount to teach a Self Defense course; many Marymount students insist it is definitely a class worth taking.

One of the most important reasons why Marymount girls should take the Self Defense is because as most of us head off to college, we will be living in the real world and on our own for the first time in our adult lives. With this newfound freedom also comes the necessity of interacting with people and strangers that we never had to engage with prior. Self Defense not only teaches girls how to physically protect themselves from worst case scenarios, but how to verbally protect themselves as well.

The course equips young girls with ways to deescalate a verbally abusive situation whether it be regarding a stranger, friends, family, or a figure of authority. In addition, Self Defense teaches fighting techniques and addresses situations including an attack while walking to your car, uncomfortable instances at a party, and various rape scenarios. While IMPACT emphasizes their hope that girls will never be in these types of situations, they also stress that they want students to be able to defend themselves properly if they ever find themselves in these worst case scenarios.

The class consists of an instructor, who teaches the girls the fighting sequences and how to properly make use of them. Additionally, men who are trained through the IMPACT program wear protective body suits while acting as the attacker, so that students can feel what a real situation may seem like and thereby, gain knowledge as to how to defend themselves in these scenarios. One of the most important rules of the self-defense class is that throughout every fight, students are required to fight with the complete extent of their force, as if the confrontation was real.

Many of the Marymount girls who are enrolled in the class, myself included, would vouch that it is an essential and worthwhile class to take before leaving Marymount and going to college. Not only does the class provide some form of defense skills to use out in the real world, but some classes also include meditations. Junior Dani Glenn commented that these serve as “an open space, where you are being supported by your schoolmates… It’s an environment where you can talk freely and feel comfortable by doing so.” By the end of the semester, girls not only obtain defense and verbal skills, but also become more united and bond with their classmates. At the end of the day, it is important to recognize that because we go to an all-girls school, we should take advantage of this course as a valuable opportunity to educate ourselves of how to combat violence against women around the globe.