Isn’t it truly unfair for women not to be able to walk around at night alone and travel alone? One may be opposed to these kinds of inequalities but cannot deny the actual danger. In view of this reality, SNU counselors working for the prevention of sexual harassment and abuse among students have organized a comprehensive self-defense program called ‘Action School for Women’.

Minhae Kim, a consultant at Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, started off the lecture with an inquiry: “Have you heard of the term ‘victimize’?” If a victim of sexual abuse can go on with normal life, like taking classes at school or hanging out with friends, she is no longer considered a victim. This is because our society takes it for granted that all women are exposed to the danger of sexual abuse and the inevitable accompanying fear. What action will women have to take in order to confront these cultural abuses?

The lecturer presented 5 ways through which women can protect themselves and revitalize their own good health: Be yourself, change your voice, make your body look bigger, analyze and break men’s typical attack pattern, and fight if you must. The most important of the five is the forth, acting against the expectation of the offender. By doing so, it is possible many times to prevent sexual abuse. She also advised practicing swearing in case of the need to fight. If one is uncomfortable with swearing, inventing your own way to scare an offender is also advised.

A week later, defense training that included warm-up exercises, strength training and taekwondo was in progress under the instruction of Sunyoung Song, a taekwondo instructor. Doing warm-up exercises is a process that enlarges the activity range of the body. As a woman has a smaller body compared to a man, expanding the physical capabilities of her body is critical for a woman. Through strength training, women can overcome a sense of being weak, whether indeed physical or psychological, by strengthening the muscles. This is even more important than learning the art of self-defense.

Instructor Song gradually transformed timid participants whose shouts and movements were at first weak and effeminate. Participants learnt to open their minds and became very active as the training became vigorous, running over mats and adapting moves effective in actual situations.

Action School was designed with special care so as to encourage women to come together by themselves without shyness and adapt fast.

Miyoung Jeon (College of Social Sciences, ‘07), a participant in the training, said that she had taken part in order to shake off the insecure thoughts that haunted her in everyday life and is now full of confidence to never back down during a fight.


26/11/2007
PR Office