Embodying Essentialism: The Construction of Strength and Vulnerability in Self-Defense Training Classes

• In Event: 336 - Section on Body and Embodiment Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Bodies in Motion

Abstract

Gender inequality is commonly justified in everyday life by reference to allegedly natural sex differences. The beliefs that men are physically stronger than “the weaker sex” and that this difference accounts for many of the advantages that accrue to men are particularly ubiquitous. Even as strength has become less central to work performance and hegemonic masculinity in the new economy, strength remains central to perceptions of personal safety, and a belief in men’s superior physical strength perpetuates a belief in women’s vulnerability. Drawing on participant observation in two self-defense training programs — Krav Maga and pistol training — I demonstrate how men and women learn to embody strength and vulnerability respectively even in contexts that are explicitly designed to render them invincible. In Krav Maga classes, bodies are constantly thrown into combat and strength and weakness are learned viscerally, but scenarios are staged so that men are routinely positioned as stronger than women. In pistol classes, the action of shooting is highly mechanized and is not dependent on physical strength, but participants coordinate to attribute significance to bodily traits such as hand size and hormone levels. Both cases reveal the centrality of the body to upholding gender norms and the difficultly of challenging beliefs that are experienced as emerging from natural, unalterable traits. As perceptions of strength and vulnerability shape the social world, bearing on where, when and with whom individuals engage, it is crucial to identify the embodied processes that produce invitations to and restrictions on social life.

Author

• Devon Magliozzi, Stanford University