Back in the beginning of March, I participated in a Gender Equity Week event. On Thursday, March 7th from 6:30-7:30pm, I was in the Silcox Gym in TD Arena learning about self-dense and jiu jitsu! The event was officially titled “Feminist Jiu Jitsu for Self Defense Training.” However, it welcomed individuals of all genders and identities to come learn a few moves to feel safer and confident as we move about our daily lives.

I will admit, I was a little skeptical when deciding on if I should go or not, just because I had never tried any sort of jiu jitsu or martial arts before. Also, I couldn’t find a friend that was free to go with me. But, I had a friend that went to middle school with me that had done jiu jitsu for several years, and ever since then, i vowed that I would try it one day. So I told myself I was gonna go no matter what (even if I was going to make a fool of myself or be a bit awkward at first).

So I went to the gym and the first thing I saw was a large mat (like what you would expect to see for a wrestling match) on the floor. That made me nervous, but yet intrigued, because like I said, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. There was a pretty large group of students there already. I started talking to a few people and quickly found out that the majority of them were all involved in one of the Women and Gender Studies courses and attending the event was mandatory for them. They all seemed excited though, and that made me feel more comfortable and excited too. Soon other students, outside of that class (like me), showed up too. Then a few minutes later, older students and a handful of adults came in, all dressed in the robe-looking things (typically referred to as a “gi” – I learned). One of them was the instructor of the Women and Gender Studies course, and then there was a husband and wife, who I found out actually teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes at their place on James Island, as well as through a course in the College! I had no idea that there was an actual class available for sign-up at CofC where you could learn jiu jitsu – seriously, it counts for a PE credit, crazy! The other older students (there were about five girls) had either been members of their class they teach at the College or had been going to their separate practice.

They started by showing us a few demonstrations. It was insane! There was one 13-year-old girl and she was going against the adult man (he said he was 250 lbs) and she would literally flip him over her shoulder like it was nothing!

After they blew our minds, they explained that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is all about leverage and angles, not about strength. So this made more sense about how she was able to defend herself so easily against him. They explained that learning these moves and getting into the habit of practicing jiu jitsu is not only good for the body but for the mind as well. It was honestly so inspiring and so cool! For the next half, they showed us four moves for us to practice on each other and have to take away with us for the night. Although they were simple (e.g. how to break away from a simple arm-hold), they made you feel so empowered and a little more confident when walking around campus. It was such a cool experience and I am so glad I ended up going! I hope I go to another session like this (maybe over the summer?) and hopefully even take the course at CofC in the future!