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Fighting back on feminist terms : empowerment through self-defence in neoliberal times Bell A. Murphy

By: Murphy, Bell A.
Material type: materialTypeLabelArticlePublisher: Springer, 2018Subject(s): SEXUAL VIOLENCE | FEMINISM | PREVENTION | SELF DEFENCE | NEW ZEALANDOnline resources: Read abstract In: Orienting Feminism, edited by C.Dale and R. Overell (pp.71-94)Summary: In neoliberal times, patriarchal narratives about “women who ask for it” combine with the myth of meritocracy to make the slippery slope between safety advice and victim-blame slicker than ever. The only interventions that have shown empirical reductions in sexual assaults are “feminist empowerment” programmes that equip women with effective resistance skills. So, how can a feminist approach be distinguished from neoliberal discourses that responsibilise women for crime prevention while claiming to “empower” them? Drawing on the author’s experience as a feminist self-defence teacher in Aotearoa, New Zealand, this chapter suggests that a feminist approach should attend to empowerment as a political process with three interlocking dimensions: personal, collective and subversive. Examples are given of how this is, and could be, attempted through feminist self-defence classes. (Author's abstract). Record #5816
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In: Orienting Feminism, edited by C.Dale and R. Overell (pp.71-94). Palgrave Macmillan

In neoliberal times, patriarchal narratives about “women who ask for it” combine with the myth of meritocracy to make the slippery slope between safety advice and victim-blame slicker than ever. The only interventions that have shown empirical reductions in sexual assaults are “feminist empowerment” programmes that equip women with effective resistance skills. So, how can a feminist approach be distinguished from neoliberal discourses that responsibilise women for crime prevention while claiming to “empower” them? Drawing on the author’s experience as a feminist self-defence teacher in Aotearoa, New Zealand, this chapter suggests that a feminist approach should attend to empowerment as a political process with three interlocking dimensions: personal, collective and subversive. Examples are given of how this is, and could be, attempted through feminist self-defence classes. (Author's abstract). Record #5816