November 22, 2017
Page 9
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Girls learn about self-defense, safety and setting boundaries in GirlsStrength, a companion program to WomenStrength.
Woman Strong
Self-defense classes for women and girls
by d anny P eterson
t he P ortland o bserver
With multiple disclosures of sexual assaults by men
against women making national headlines, from movie
producer Harvey Weinstein to actor Kevin Spacey, now
might be the time to consider getting some tips on self de-
fense by enrolling or volunteering with WomenStrength.
When you sign up, you will be taught the knowledge,
skills, and ability to help women and girls be leaders in
non-violence. The program, which has been around since
1979 and is supported by the Portland Police Bureau, has
trained more than 120,000 women and girls in the Portland
area in mixed martial arts skills for physical self-defense,
non-physical safety workshops, de-escalation skills, and
boundary setting.
Adult women who can serve as volunteer instructors
are also neeed. No experience is necessary, but self de-
fense classes for females must be taught by adult women.
Instructors from all backgrounds and abilities are encour-
aged to apply by Dec. 1, with training beginning March
31.
Sarah Johnson started as a volunteer for the organiza-
tion in 2001 and said that it was some of the most reward-
ing work she had ever done. She became the director of
the program in 2005.
“We have women who take our class who walk in very,
very passive the first day and they leave assertive on the
third class. So I definitely think it makes a great impact.
You literally watch women’s lives change and transform
right in front of you, it’s pretty powerful stuff,” Johnson
told the Portland Observer.
A nationwide response to sexual assaults on social me-
dia, the Me Too campaign, has been a way for other wom-
en to signify that they too have been a victim of sexual
violence, and to illuminate how widespread the problem
is for women everywhere.
According to a 1998 National Institute of Justice sta-
tistic, 1 in 6 American females have been the victim of
attempted rape or rape in their lifetime, with the majority
C ontinued on P age 16