A self-defence and fitness class is offering its first free session to female students at the Blackburn Sport and Leisure centre tomorrow.
Z’s Defence Academy, which won the Blackburn with Darwen Sports Council ‘Contribution to Active Communities’ Award in May, is a community organisation and newly formed charity offering self-defence, boxing, and kickboxing lessons “in aim of inspiring women to learn self-protection.”
The female exclusive self-defence lessons run every Thursday from 6pm to 7pm and the free taster sessions will be available exclusively to Blackburn College students for three weeks on June 9, 16, and 23.
Z’s Defence Academy trainer Zee Jogi, 32, is the North West’s only female civilian self-defence instructor qualified self-defence instructor.
Through teaching the basic fundamentals of self-defence and physical exercise, Zee hopes women will become “more confident, resilient and understand what is right and what is wrong.”
She continued: “Blackburn is a deprived area and women are constantly targeted by men.
“Domestic abuse has risen massively, which is one of the reasons why we are very exclusive with the services that we offer.”
Violence and sexual offences are among the most common crimes in Blackburn with a 12 per cent increase of domestic abuse crimes from 2020, statistics have shown.
According to government research in 2021, there were four times as many female victims of sexual assault as male victims.
She added: “Women are being victimised and the figures are shocking.
“I’ve developed 17 years of martial arts experience, so I want to use this by going out and delivering more of these self-defence sessions.”
As well as generally helping women who want to learn self-defence, the organisation focuses on helping women who have struggled with victims of domestic abuse by providing group activities and one to one support.
Sharing her thoughts on the counterargument that female self defence lessons may potentially be a form of victim blaming, instead of focusing on prevention Zee referenced previous research that has shown self-defence training as beneficial to women.
“It can lead to gain in women assertiveness, self-esteem, self-sufficiency, physical competency as well as decreasing anxiety, helplessness, fear and avoidant behaviour.”
The organisation have received an enthusiastic response, receiving messages from fifteen women so far, who aren’t students at the college but asking whether they can sign up for a trial.
“Unfortunately, the movement is all down to the funding. Blackburn College have been very helpful in providing a free venue for us to deliver these sessions.”
The academy aim to offer free self-defence lessons to all women in Blackburn by early July.
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