Rouse, Wendy. Her Own Hero: The Origins of the Women’s Self-Defense Movement. New York: New York University Press, 2017.
With many female martial artists coming into the limelight, regardless of what art or circles one is a participant of, it may seem that such modern trend – something that is helped by the digital age and the internet. While there is some truth to that statement, it neglects the long history female practitioners of demonstrating to their male counterparts (and even to some fellow females) that they deserve to be on the mat, in the dojo, learning whatever their chosen art. Wendy Rouse helps fill that void, focusing on the start or beginning of its history, during the Progressive Era in the United States. Within the Progressive Era, Rouse couples women’s fight for suffrage with some of their cohort’s training in the martial arts, both activities as a way for women to enter spaces and spheres usually reserved for men.
With the Industrial Revolution creating the technology to not only build the urban centers of today but the workforce as we know it, new jobs began appearing. Women, among other entities, began entering these new jobs and positions, earning their own wages. With this newfound autonomy and agency, some women realized that they can have the same sense of autonomy and agency outside of the workplace – places like urban streets, plays, theaters, pubs, the political sphere, and athletics. The latter two of the list is what Rouse concerns her study with, as the two become invariably linked. Moreover, she makes clear that a majority of participants of these movements originated from the middle and upper social stratas of White women, as they had the most leisure time available compared to other women from lower socioeconomic statuses.
Rouse begins her dive into this first wave of feminism with boxing, the first “martial art” so to speak that women began to participate. Some female boxers even went as far as to compete in professional boxing matches, either against their fellow women, or against male boxers seeing an opportunity to take advantage of a novel idea or to put their female adversary in their “place.” These events, unfortunately, did not last long, as local and state governments passed legislation outlawing the practice. A sporting activity and event – something that one would not immediately consider to be political – became political for the female participants. To flesh this idea out, Rouse explains that during the Progressive Era, women began to push the boundaries and the societal norms of the day attempting to demonstrate their right to be in the same spaces as their male counterparts.
With this pushing of women’s claims to equal footing to men in both public and private spaces, societal norms and protocols of the time began to be called into question by both male and female writers and activists. In doing so, American society discussed what was woman’s role and allowed space in society, fighting between the public and private, let alone if women should be able to practice martial arts like boxing or jiu-jitsu.
A compromise that a few turned to was decreasing the intensity of boxing, downplaying the sparring, competition, and grueling training methods usually associated with the activity. Such a compromise extended to jiu-jitsu when it’s introduction to united states as many a white writer implemented a racist reason as to why the “Gentle Techniques” of jiu-jitsu were suitable for women: Japanese men who taught their art were not as manly as their American counterparts, rather the Japanese men were more feminine than masculine. This feminization and othering of non-white, non-Anglo American peoples allowed anti-suffragists minor concessions to women who wanted to participate in these martial arts, but only the modified and less grueling forms of those systems. But to the women who wanted to have the option to be a part of the same spheres as men, it was no compromise.
There was another reason that women and their allies used to reason why they should be able to take martial arts classes: to combat the growing rates of crime against women in urban areas. This fact – that there are unsavory characters lurking within the cities that could do harm against women – was one of the ones that both sides of the argument agreed on. However, to the anti-female empowerment advocates, women did not need to learn or utilize martial arts but to rely on their male protectors in their lives – their brothers, fathers, husbands, uncles, and male family friends. While Rouse contends with this assertion in the last chapter, the suffragists and the pro-female athleticism advocates disregard their male protectors, as they cannot follow women around all the time, protecting them. It is here that women need to become their own protector, their own hero, in the face of unattractive and menaces from the dark underbelly of the city.
And it is here where Rouse pivots the focus to dispelling the counter arguments posed at the emerging woman in a highly urbanized society: the flirtatious masher, the foreign white slaver, and the black rapist. One aspect that Rouse points out is the racializing of the evil strangers in the cities – surely White Americans cannot harm their own women, only those not of Anglo American decent can hurt the White Anglo American woman! Moreover, newspapers and writers put a classist spin on these stories, characterizing many of these hoodlums originating from the poorer spheres of society. This was mostly the case with the mashers, who, by today’s standards, would be the harassers and hecklers on street corners and store fronts that cat call and raunchily flirt with female passersby. Much like how alcohol is considered a “gateway drug,” these mashers, while flirting on the surface, could escalate into much more – assault, trafficking, rape, etc. From these descriptions and stories in the newspapers from both male and female writers, there was a push for not only women self defense classes but for legislation to target and stamp out mashers to varying degrees of success.
The latter two threats to women, the foreign white slaver and the black rapist, as rouse points out further, were more fantastical stories than actual realities published in papers. She does mention a few close calls with a possible slaver situation, but none that either made headlines or offered much for law enforcement to worry about. The same can be said about the black rapist, as Rouse asserts that there was not much intermingling with upper- and middle-class women. This last fear was essentially made up to play to the fears of White Americans with the increased number of freed African Americans after the Civil War in 1865.
Despite all of these threats – imagined and real – the American public had a hard time discussing the leading cause of harm to American women: domestic violence. Rouse spends a whole chapter chronicling the uncomfortable conversation about wife beaters and how these women’s husbands were supposed to be their protectors, not punishers or captors. Moreover, Rouse opens up the scope to including workplace sexual harassment and other assaults from either male relatives or close friends of the female in question. And it is because of these situations that women were put into more often than before that proponents of the female empowerment movement wanted women to take martial arts and self-defense classes to better prepare themselves and combat their number one perpetrator of their human rights: those supposed male protectors close to them.
Further, Rouse connects what occurred in the early 1900s with events that happened in the early 2000s and beyond – how there still is not a solid or positive conversation regarding domestic violence against women and the lack of support they receive when trying to reach out for help. While this specific conversation is in need of some serious talking, as Rouse asserts, women have been more able to freely move between the private and public spheres, not only existing next to their male counterparts, but even working in fields and workplaces that were once predominantly male. Though not perfect, the gains won by the suffragists and their allies allowed women of today the freedoms and privileges many women of the Progressive Era both dreamed of and fought for. And martial arts were right there with them along the way.
Martial Arts of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 