November 16, 2011
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
^ßortlanh (Obstruer
MET RO
Girls Empowered
Gaining strength
against abuse
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
B ullying, dom estic abuse, sexual assault,
and violence in schools and at hom e reflect
age-old societal norm s in need o f reversal.
A c co rd in g to U .S. sta tistic s, one in three
w o m en w ill e x p e rie n c e d o m e stic v io le n c e
in th e ir liv es. O n e in th re e te en s k n o w s a
p e e r th at has been a b u se d by th e ir p a rtn e r.
N early 50 p e rc e n t o f c o lle g e w o m en rep o rt
h a v in g e x p e rie n c e d v io le n t o r a b u siv e
d a tin g b e h a v io rs.
A t age 12, girls are also vulnerable to
gangs and m ore likely to be lured into sex ­
trafficking, and because girls are m ore likely
to be sexually abused by som eone they
know , their voices are often silenced.
T hirty-years-ago, police began offering
free anti-rape classes called W om enStrength
for ladies to learn self-defense. N ow , its little
Page 13
sisterprogram, GirlStrength, which began in2008,
reach out to a younger generation o f women. If its
success rate ripples, the days of silence few women
suffering abuse may be over.
In G irlS trength, girls aged 10 to 14 in
elem en tary and m iddle schools are learning
W ith a blackbelt in m artial arts and a
th eater education, G irlS trength C oordinator
C arolyne H aycraft, is not backing dow n on
the p ro g ram ’s m ission to foster aw areness,
dem ystify fear, and em p o w er girls to be
strong and confident.
I f you ’re outside walking by
yourself your instincts pop in.
You can defend, call 911, or run
to the closest house.
— Myeesha Morris
to fight back, both physically and em o tio n ­
ally. N ortheast P o rtlan d ’s Faubion E lem en­
tary school becam e one o f the first Portland
Public School to im plem ent the volunteer-
run n ine-w eek course.
“ W e d o n ’t w ant them to be a fra id ,”
H aycraft said.
Seventh grade girls at F au b io n ’s pre K-8
school ally with instructor Lisa Ernst through­
out the w eek. She teaches them that in d a n ­
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
gerous scenarios, “being n ice” is not their
only option.
G irls learn to use th eir voice through self­
esteem and relationship-building skills. T hey
p ractice how to respond to bullying, ph y si­
cal attacks, and datin g issues w ith role-play
scenarios. Striking, kicking, and scream ing
are am ong the physical skills girls learn that
m ay save them in a surprise attack situation.
For m any, hearing their ow n scream for the
first tim e is alarm ing for those w ho begin the
class tim id and shy, but as the w eeks progress,
the girls get louder, m ore serious, and e m ­
pow ered.
“ A round w eek four, the girls start to open
up to you and each o th er,” said Ernst, a
hairdresser by trade w ho com pleted 130 hours
o f intensive training to teach G irlS trength.
A s a safe space ju s t fo r girls, students
learn to ally and form new relationships w ith
each other, instead o f letting cliques isolate
them . Sidney Bir, an 8th g rad er w ho took
G irlS tren g th last year, said she learned how
to protect h e rself and the people around her.
“ If som eone was being bullied. I’d go
stand next to them , and it m ight m ake the
bully feel in tim id ated ,” said Bir.
The class also aim s to expose girls to
realities of the outside w orld, like pim ps and
Johns and the decoys o f prostitution. T he
continued
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