In accordance with Buckinghamshire Council raising awareness for Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) we put on two self-defence classes for anyone who identifies as a woman to attend and learn some skills surrounding self-defence. In November and January, we had the company ACT Self-defence come in and give us a seminar with some practical elements too.
In accordance with Buckinghamshire Council raising awareness for Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) we put on two self-defence classes for anyone who identifies as a woman to attend and learn some skills surrounding self-defence. In November and January, we had the company ACT Self-defence come in and give us a seminar with some practical elements too.
During the seminar we were shown a few apps that can be used when you are walking home to make you feel safer, and for you to report any areas that are of a concern when walking home.
- Strutsafe.org - 0333 335 0026 Strut Safe is a volunteer-operated and non-judgemental support line. We will stay on the phone with you until you arrive safely at your destination, no matter where you are going or where you have come from. We stand in solidarity with marginalised people and are unaligned with the police. We provide kindness and reassurance to anyone who needs it during their travels.
- StreetSafe - Street Safe is a service that allows you to report safety concerns in public places without giving us your name (anonymously). This includes issues like poorly lit streets, abandoned buildings, or vandalism, as well as instances where you feel unsafe due to someone following or verbally abusing you.
We also discussed vulnerability, spiking incidents, what you should and should not report and we received some valuable advice from the highly experience ACT team.
The Common Law states that you have a right to defend yourself, others and property. A person is entitled to use reasonable force against another or in defence of another. We were taught what reasonable force was and how to defend yourself against another person. Some of the things we learnt included:
- Breakaways from a wrist grab, a chokehold and hair pull
- Strikes using the knee, hand and elbow
- ACT principles: Assess, Change and Take control
The practical side of the class was very informative, and we were able to test out what we had learnt on the other people in the class.
Personally, I found the session hugely enlightening. I now have more confidence that I could defend myself, should the situation arise, and also how to keep myself safer, especially on a night out.
We are grateful to ACT and the VAWG funding for giving their time and thankful to be able to provide this type of training to our students. We are hoping to deliver more on this topic, bringing the personal safety course to as many students as possible at BNU over the coming years.