Wen-Do is a form of self-defence art for women developed by Ned and Ann Paige, a married couple from
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
. Dr. Paige, an optometrist, dedicated himself to creating a program to teach women to protect themselves after hearing of the
murder of Kitty Genovese
In the early hours of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender, was raped and stabbed outside the apartment building where she lived in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. Two weeks ...
in New York on March 13, 1964.
Ned and Anne were practitioners of
jujutsu
Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...
,
karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...
and
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...
. However, through the years as many more women took up Wen-Do, various techniques were shared and added to the system.
The name combines a contraction of the word ''women'' with the Japanese word ''
Dō'', meaning "way".
Though the base and concepts of Wen-Do come from
martial arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...
, Wen-Do is not considered one by its adherents.
Wen-Do classes focus on scenarios that often confront women, such as
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
and domestic attacks. Classes do not involve any physical contact unless a student is ready and wants to. The system also encompasses
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and empowering discussion about issues that face women and violence in contemporary society.
After WenDo was invented in the 1960s and afterwards spread within the western countries, mainly America, Canada, Europe, it was introduced to Egypt in 2013, by Schirin Salem, to tackle the growing phenomena of sexual harassment in public spaces (such as streets, transportation means, work places etc.). WenDo as a practice equips women with practical and easy to apply tools for prevention and protection from different forms of sexual harassment. The set of tools address different types of awareness including psychological awareness, body posture, physical techniques and gender knowledge. The aim is to avoid threatening situations but being able to react if they happen, by taking the appropriate actions. In July 2014 the 1st generation of 14 female Egyptian WenDo trainers was certified. In December 2014, the 2nd generation of WenDo trainers was born, 11 female Egyptian trainers were certified.
See also
*
Model Mugging, another feminist self-defense program, now known as Impact, uses padded attacker.
References
External links
Wendo - Women's Self-Defence
North American martial arts
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