Un-doing Gendered Power Relations Through Martial Arts?

Abstract

According to gender theories there is a power differential between men and women that leaves women vulnerable to violence. This paper seeks to analyze whether martial arts training has the potential to improve women’s safety by challenging perceptions of their vulnerability. Findings from in-depth interviews with fourteen male and female martial artists show that, although martial artists hold normative beliefs about men’s and women’s bodies and their self-defense capabilities in general, they recognize that martial arts training can challenge stereotypical views about women’s weakness and vulnerability to violence. Specifically, women described how they gained self-confidence and learned to protect themselves and men explained how they saw female martial artists as equals when it came to their physical abilities. As such, martial arts training may be one potential avenue for un-doing the inequitable power relations that exist between women and men.

Keywords

• Gender, Power Relations, Martial Arts, Physical Feminism, Body

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