Although self-defense courses may not solve the issue of sexual assault in our society, they are beneficial in that they prepare individuals to protect themselves in case they are ever assaulted, and help individuals to feel more confident in their ability to defend themselves and prevent assaults from occurring.

The Rape Aggression Defense System (RAD) is currently offered to women students attending Penn State through the Center for Women Students and the Penn State University Police. According the the University Police website, the course focuses on “awareness, prevention, risk reduction, and avoidance—as well as several maneuvers available to women during a confrontation or attack,” and is taught by certified instructors working with the law enforcement.The program is twelve hours long in total, and takes place over the course of four three-hour long sessions. While RAD is a great program in that it prepares participating women to better protect themselves from potential sexual assaults, the program only appeals to a relatively small number of female students who are willing and able to make the 12 hour time commitment and attend all four sessions, in addition to their normal obligations. Classes are also offered by demand and are not available year-round.

Penn State also offers kinesiology 057 Personal Defense, which counts as credit for the health and physical activity general education requirement. The course is designed to teach students to be proficient in the martial arts and self-defense. Once again, kinesiology 057 is beneficial in that it provides students with skills in martial arts and self-defense, and helps prepare students to deal with conflict situations in general. However, the course does not specifically address methods of preventing and defending oneself against attempted sexual assaults, and similar to RAD, only allows women to enroll. Unfortunately, the course also reaches a relatively limited number of students; only one 25 student section was offered in the spring 2013 semester, and the course is not being offered at all during the fall 2013 semester.

It is not fair to assume that sexual assault is an issue that only pertains to and affects women. Although the majority of victims on college campuses and in the United States are female, men do experience sexual assault as well. According to the Department of Justice, approximately 9 percent of sexual assaults in the United States involve male victims, and 10 percent of gay and bisexual males report being sexually assaulted, according to Investigate West. Therefore, it is discriminatory to only offer self-defense courses that men cannot enroll in; if they wish, men should also have the opportunity to learn to defend themselves and protect against attempted sexual assault.

Furthermore, with as large of an issue as sexual assault continues to be at Penn State and on college campuses across the country, self-defense classes focused on preventing sexual assault should be made far more easily accessible than they are currently. As useful as the Rape Aggression Defense System is to students who do enroll, and as beneficial as kinesiology 057 may be, they are not made nearly as widely available as they should be, and do not appeal to a large proportion of the student body. With busy schedules, many college students simple cannot or will not make the extra time commitment necessary to enroll in RAD, and with only one section of kinesiology 057 this semester, and none in the fall, these courses cannot adequately prepare a large proportion of the Penn State community to defend themselves from sexual assault, if ever necessary.

The University needs to offer a course modeled after RAD, that it focuses specifically on teaching self-defense methods effective for preventing sexual assault. However, as sexual assault affects both men and women, both genders should have the opportunity to enroll. In order to be effective, it is also important that the course be offered for credit as a health and physical activity course, and be offered more frequently than kinesiology 057 as to appeal to a larger number of students.