Wen-Do self-defence worth defending

Genevieve Weigel was skipping class, riding the deserted subway back and forth between Kipling and Kennedy when three older male teens entered her car. One sat beside her. When he asked the 15-year-old for her phone number she didn’t feel threatened, but then he placed his hand on her thigh.

Weigel shoved it off and rose to leave, standing taller than the trio. When the groper blocked her way and told her she wasn’t going anywhere she responded with the angry, gut wrenching yell she learned in Wen-Do. “Back off!” She struck him in the gut and he buckled to the floor.

Another guy wrapped his arms around her from behind. She instinctively shoved her body backwards, smashing him into the connecting subway door, and rammed her heel up into his groin. He collapsed. The third did nothing as she pressed the yellow emergency strip, the doors closing behind her as she walked out of the subway car, which had just arrived at a station. Shaken, she told the conductor what had occurred, and left.

Weigel, who served as this year’s events coordinator for Ryerson’s Women’s Centre, took her first Wen-Do Women’s Self Defence class when she was 12-years old.

What she experienced on public transit is the kind of success story that women share in Wen-Do.

Growing up she was usually stronger than the boys in her classes and often beat them in arm wrestling matches. When she was told that girls are weaker than boys she knew otherwise. “That always seemed like bullshit to me,” said Weigel.

Wen-Do exposed Weigel to her first feminist framework. “It was almost a revelation, like ‘Oh my God, I’m not by myself in this, and women are powerful and I knew somebody knew that,” she said loudly, her crimson lips parting in a broad smile.

Wen-Do originated in 1972 and is Canada’s longest running women’s self defence organization, as well as a registered charity. It was developed in Toronto by Ned and Ann Paige in response to the murder of Catherine Genovese in New York, who was stabbed and killed in 1964 within earshot of 38 neighbours, none of which called the police.

Wen-Do is endorsed by the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre and taught entirely by women, for women and girls (ages 10 and up) of all ages, sizes, physical and mental abilities. Physical and verbal techniques are interspersed with open discussion of violence against women and girls from an anti-oppressive, feminist perspective. Wen-Do emphasizes three goals: awareness, avoidance and action.

Deb Chard has been teaching Wen-Do full-time for 20 years, and taught Weigel’s first introductory course. She explains that self-defence means surviving and doesn’t always require punching or kicking.

She leans forward, elbows resting on her knees, her pale blonde hair short and textured. “We’re looking at doing the least amount of self defence possible to run away,” she said, hands clasped, eyes fixed on each of us intently. “That’s what this is all about. I hope I never have to do this but these are some tools that I have in my tool box.”

After centuries of being told certain outfits and behaviour cause harassment and abuse women accept it as truth, said Chard. It’s common to hear, “But I was asking for it.” If you wear those revealing clothes, drink, or go out alone late at night and something happens it’s your fault. From childhood we are taught to modify our behaviour but in Wen-Do we discuss how skimpy skirts have nothing to do with it.

“Women have been raped in every imaginable article of clothing that you can think of,” said Chard. Clothing becomes the justification, diverting attention from where the real responsibility lies.

Chard explains that when womanized men experience sexual assault in prison it indicates the reality of rape power dynamics over a group. Suggesting that low cut prison outfits instigate rape is ridiculous. If we can understand this about men, why can’t we understand it about women?

Our Wen-Do instructor Denise Handlarski is lying on her back as a woman in a loose, pink t-shirt is bent over the face, straddling her waist and clasping her wrists down against the carpeted floor. It’s April 5 and I’m taking a free 15-hour Wen-Do course at York University, organized by York’s Sexual Assault Survivors’ Support Line (SASSL). Eleven of us are seated in a circle on the floor of a brightly lit room in the student centre, watching Handlarski demonstrate a defence manoeuvre for a pinned scenario.

Anne Rajesparam, an officer and training coordinator for SASSL, stands bent over facing the woman in the pink, arms hooked under her armpits in preparation to support her. When each woman confirms they are ready Handlarski pulls her heels against her butt and digs them into the floor while quickly snapping up her hips.

She simultaneously slides her arms down to her sides, resembling a snow angel motion as her “attacker” is launched forward over her head and into Rajesparam’s arms, emitting a loud gasp. Realistically, if an attacker pinned you while in bed the “bump” might send them headfirst into the headboard or the wall.

Over the course of the weekend we alternate between practicing physical techniques, verbal tactics and group discussions with breaks in between. In pairs we repeat hits into cushions, focussing on tightening our hands, breathing and yelling. We learn a variety of strikes, kicks and blocks in addition to wrist and choke releases, defence against weapons, and group attack strategies.

Handlarski’s dark, defined curls hang at the nape of her neck and she wears thin black glasses when she isn’t demonstrating attack defences. She instructs us to inhale and exhale while executing defensive attacks, saying “hut.” The “h” breath opens up the diaphragm ending with a “t” sound that prevents us from biting our tongues.

Yelling during a strike enables adrenaline and oxygen to fuse in the bloodstream, preventing us from freezing when afraid. It also provides a rush of energy and can surprise the attacker.

Handlarski reiterates that we’re not using strength against strength but using our larger body parts against the attacker’s weaker, smaller targets, such as a heel palm strike to the nose, a low kick to the shin, or a hammer fist to the collar bone.

These attacks are all examples of soft Wen-Do, which are not likely to cause permanent damage to most healthy individuals. Hard Wen-Do is a technique that could be fatal or cause permanent damage, such as knuckle jab to the windpipe or a strike to the temple.

Learning the differences between soft and hard Wen-Do is important in the context of the Canadian legal system, according to Sue Kernoham, a detective and coordinator at Toronto’s Sexual Assault Crimes Unit. Although every woman has the right to fight back, they have to work within the law and use reasonable force, says Kernoham.

If an attacker punches you and you retaliate by stabbing them that is excessive force. “It’s a really grey area, and all situations are unique. You need to be able to articulate why you used as much force as you did (in court),” she said.
Handlarski gestures to the white calligraphy on her black tank top representing the Wen-Do symbol. In the centre is the Japanese character for “woman” surrounded by a circle, which she calls the line of justice. Women need to trust their instincts and give themselves permission to act, which can also mean escaping a dangerous situation. “I want you to believe you’re worth defending,” Handlarski said, looking around the circle at us.

Weigel thinks it could be realistic for the Women’s Centre to ensure that a full, 15-hour Wen-Do course is available to women at Ryerson. She hopes to volunteer with next year’s coordinators and gain support from the Office of Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Services and the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) to subsidize expenses.

Full Wen-Do workshops regularly cost $100 a person, which the Women’s Centres’ budget can’t currently cover.

Toby Whitfield, the RSU vice-president of finances and services says that if the Women’s Centre requires additional funding for a student event, the Board of Directors will decide whether or not to incorporate it into next year’s budget. “If the priority for the Women’s Centre is to do something like this we would work to see if we could make that happen,” said Whitfield.

Another option for women on campus is Rape Aggression Defence for Women, a free, four-day course taught by Ryerson’s Security and Emergency Services Team. R.A.D. classes run once a semester but additional classes can be requested, says instructor Tanya Fermin-Poppleton.

Workshops focus on avoidance of threats in daily surroundings, like walking to and from the subway. Up to 12 women can attend R.A.D. and upcoming sessions are posted on the Security Services website as well as security bulletins around campus.

Having experienced sexual violence, Weigel wants to use Wen-Do as a way of regaining her voice and hopes to become an instructor someday. She feels that Wen-Do empowers women by discussing and experiencing what we can do as opposed to what we can’t.

“It really deals with how women are powerful, not just that they are oppressed and victims. Most of the time we resist and most of the time we’re successful and I think that needs to be something that women are taught.”

*Published in the May edition of The Ryerson Free Press

Happy IWD! Being the door

“Feminism 101: Instead of being the doormat get up and be the door,” says Lillian Allen, looking up at row upon row of cheering women during the International Women’s Day (IWD) Rally.

Her poetry articulates our struggles. “Laugh when they try to bend your back down low.”

We’re in the OISE building at 252 Bloor St. and its starting to rain outside. It’s about 11:30 a.m. on March 7th and inside there are mothers, students, grandmothers, immigrant workers, activists, children, husbands, boyfriends, friends, sons, and daughters. They may not be here for the same reasons by there is a common thread running throughout this auditorium. They are here to support the women that they know, the women that they are, and those they might never meet.

As one speaker bluntly puts it, “We all came off different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

The Toronto theme of IWD is “Good Jobs, Dignity for All.”

A good job is something that many women are forced to do without. Minimum wage is $8.00 in Canada. Think about a mother working full time shifts that receives a mere eight dollars for her labour. Think about raising children on that kind of salary. Think about being in debt, paying off loans, and making that kind of money. That’s the reality for many and that’s why IWD is fighting to raise minimum wage to $10.00.

“We will not be quiet and we will not be ignored,” says Judy Vashti Persad, an organizer of the event and our first speaker of the morning. “We must continue to be a movement for all women.”

Now it is time for our morning history lesson. Introduce Rosie the riveter. You know that feminist icon that you see on poster, t-shirts, etc? That woman in the red bandana, flexing her bicep in her blue factory uniform, well she was a real person.
Long before she became an icon of the American feminist movement she was the propaganda poster girl for WWII, urging women to get out into the workforce. This morning two women in bandanas converse on stage in an insightful dialogue about the woman behind the poster, the “Real Rosie.” Rose Will Monroe worked in an aircraft factory in Michigan in 1920 and was featured in a promotional home war effort film, as well as a poster campaign. She even had a theme song, “Rosie the Riveter,” which was performed acoustically by Ryerson Free Press editor Nora Loreto.

“But if war made men out of boys it made feminists out of women,” says a “Rosie” on the stage. As women entered the workforce at the time, some factories started offering services such as daycare. “I wonder what it would take for them to do that today?” enquires one Rosie, igniting audience laughter. This led women’s movements towards unionization for better conditions in the workplace. Today, “Rosie became what all women made her, a symbol of women’s power in the workplace.”

But there is a lack of power over our education. Liana Salvador, the Vice President of Education at Ryerson University’s Student Union, takes the stage to articulate her realizations about facing academic obstacles. “High tuition fees disproportionately affect women,” she says. She recounts her experience as a woman of color, working in low paying jobs, in debt, to finance her education. “My government is giving me a really shoddy deal.”

Currently earning her second University degree, Liana is over $50,000 in debt. “Hey Dalton, I didn’t make as much this summer, can I pay half? That’s not going to happen,” she says.

Instead of channeling money into the military, the Canadian government should be funding our education system, because debt is crippling female students. “We need to stop being underpaid, undervalued and under funded,” says Salvador.

Next to take the stage is a woman who discusses the value of IWD, and asks women to consider contributing an hour’s worth of their pay, or any amount within their ability, towards funding this event. She explains the meaning behind each Canadian bill. For example, the fifty dollar bill features the Famous Five-Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, and Louise McKinney- who fought for the “Persons” Case, giving women civil rights and the status of person under British Privy Council.
She says that because the government hardly wants women thinking of feminism every time they purchase a coffee, they imprint a monumental achievement in women’s right on a bill that some of us rarely see.

The twenty dollar bill, featuring Elizabeth II, Queen of England, is one woman that will never have to worry about her pension or replacing a hip, says our speaker, to swells of laughter from the audience. “I hope there are a few bills floating around now,” she says, with a wide smile, as jingling buckets pass from hand to hand.

Two women who work at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre stand beside each other, telling stories of sexual abuse that span miles. The auditorium is silent, as their voices confront the pain, the numbness and the healing. They speak of abuse at the hands of family and strangers, the depression, the sense of betrayal towards those that should have loved them.

One woman is older, with a long braid of grey and white locks hanging down her back. The other is young, in a t-shirt and jeans with a mass of small curls framing her face. She says, “My heart aches that even my brother didn’t spare me.” The older woman answers, “Neither did mine.”

“I called and called the shelters. ‘Sorry, no bed again. Call again.’”

“I swore I would never let my heart feel again.”

“All I longed for was to be loved.”

“It happened again, it must be my fault.”

“Afraid to trust.”

“Afraid to leave my daughter with anyone.”

“I am proud of the feminist I have become.”

The other answers, “It was never my fault.”

Our last performer before we head out to march, with signs and banners in hand, is Michelle St. Bernard, a.k.a. Belladonna. Her lyrics hinge together, smashing into one another, like cars on a freight train. The links are powerful and the impact is heavy, forcing you to see the tracks her mind has followed. “I’m so low in the barrel that you don’t believe it.”

“I’m so low on the totem pole I’m about to grow roots.”

The tracks end with, “I’m so strong, cuz you’re so strong, and we’re so strong.”

“We got to get up.”

It may be raining, but we get up.

International Women's Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated globally on March 8th to celebrate women’s accomplishments but also to remember the battles we have fought for rights. These days many young women take for granted what the second wave of feminism achieved in improving equality.

They may think that women’s rights have been won. We can vote right? Many of us can get an education, we can work in careers that were formerly reserved for men, we can get divorced and own property. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Think about the fact that in 2009, women still aren’t paid for equal work of equal value in the workplace. Think about the glass ceiling that still exists in jobs where motherhood ultimately devalues women’s contributions on the workplace. If a father goes to pick up their sick child he’s a saint. If a mother does it, it’s commonplace, hardly noteworthy, or even frowned upon as negligence of one’s job. In terms of reproductive control we still face obstacles.

Don’t forget that in Canada there is still conflict over a woman’s right to autonomy over her body. On March 5th, 2008 the “Unborn Victims of Crime Act” passed second reading in Parliament (Bill C-484). This would amend the criminal code and lay separate charges in the death of a fetus when a pregnant woman is attacked. This is a slippery slope towards criminalizing abortion, and giving personhood rights to fetus’, which infringes on women’s rights, as outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In this day and age, our bodies are still not our own. And if you think about women’s rights globally, it seems there is a steep hill to climb. If we look outside our own privileges, whether they are based on class, race, ability, sexual orientation or religion, the world isn’t as rosy and equal as we thought it was.

IWD is a time to remember our past, but also to celebrate what we have done, and work towards future growth. There are different Women’s Day themes, marches and gatherings all over the world on Saturday, and in Canada the theme of 2009 is: “Strong Leadership. Strong Women. Strong World: Equality.” Watch this video for our opinions.

In Toronto there will be a Rally at the OISE Auditorium 252 Bloor St. (St. George Subway Station) at 11 a.m. with speakers and performers to hear before the march. The theme of the rally is "The Rising of the Women is the Rising of Us All !"

Thousands of women’s groups and unions will join together, marching to Ryerson University, where the IWD Fair will be held from 3-5 p.m. in the Student Centre (55 Gould St.).

So come out if you want to rally for women’s rights, because justice for all women is something that we can work for, instead of burying our heads in the sand. It’s as simple as believing in equality for all people.

A sexy killer indeed

Sexykiller is a lurid foray into gore, fashion and one woman’s agenda for reckless murder. Oftentimes over the top, director Miguel Marta has created a campy, irreverent world where death is delivered with style, in a senseless, yet calculated, manner.

The mood was festive at the Ryerson Theatre, where the Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness program attracted students and refined movie-goers alike to the promise of blood and comedy, on Friday, Sept. 12. Marta and his lethal leading lady, Macarena Gomez, were both present at the world premier of Sexykiller on Ryerson’s campus. Gomez looked classy and sleek, and less like a killer than her on-screen persona, until she pulled a mock gun on her director and asked with playful flair, “Shall I do it?”

Sexykiller follows the reckless rampage of Barbara (Gomez), a Barbie-inspired Latin beauty who gets off on hacking heads at a medical campus in Spain, and then harbours the remains in her refrigerator. Her desire for revenge is insatiable, spurred by anything from unsatisfactory sex with a partner whose cock barely penetrates, to the unlucky woman who purchases the red dress she has her eye on.

You have to hand it to her, Barbara knows what she wants, and she goes for it. Mixing death and pleasure is her forte, in a field of expertise where women aren’t expected to wield a knife. In fact, the disbelief is raised by some of her male victims. But Barbara has no time for sexist attitudes. She declares to the shaking young man she means to kill, “You know what the problem with the world of serial killers is? Too much male chauvinism.”
She kills her victims with as much skill and precision as she dedicates to her beauty regime and accessories, and with deadly results. Using sexuality as another foolproof weapon in her arsenal, she litters the university with corpses, and takes the time to describe her precise chilling techniques to the audience with cooking show finesse. During a particularly educational segment she explains to the viewer that the three basic tools of murder occupy every household kitchen: masking tape, a handkerchief and a plastic bag. Watching her next victim hop hysterically around her apartment, blindfolded and suffocating inside plastic, it’s easy to appreciate the humour of the stylish and inventive murders that dispatch those who piss her off. The slaying spree thrives until Barbara falls hard for Tomas (played by Cesar Camino), a student who cuts up cadavers and invents a method for witnessing the final moments of the dead. She mistakes his penchant for blood as akin to her own, and gets wet at the thought of a kindred spirit in crime. But when Tomas discovers that the campus killer the authorities have been hunting down is his lover, and Barbara discovers he’s not a murderer after all, their twisted tryst ends. For Barbara, being tied down to a man would terminate her opportunities to tie down and mutilate others. And that isn’t about to happen any time soon.

Barbara isn’t your stereotypical horror flick female evildoer. She isn’t possessed and tied to a bed, or some demon who devours children in the dark, or some cursed woman crawling in a crablike manner down the stairs making unnerving creaking noises. Barbara stirs shit up, and those who stand in her way, whether they deserve it or not, are punished. Whether it’s death by stiletto or a being strung up by your ribcage, the merciless mamacita of this gag-filled comedy turns murder into a fatal fashion statement.

*Featured in Mutedmag.com