October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and events like Take Back the Night work to promote awareness, prevention and healing from violence. Although, according to Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, rape and sexual assault has fallen by over 65 percent since 1993, there is still one person sexually assaulted in America every two and a half minutes, most by someone they know.

Awareness of not only your surroundings and acquaintances but of self-defense are a few ways to lower the number of successful assaults.

The UT Police Department’s Crime Prevention Bureau offers several classes ranging from how to use pepper spray or your key chain for self-defense to a 12-hour series of classes on Rape Aggression Defense. The classes are for women only and are free for UT students, staff and faculty. The classes focus on awareness, risk reduction, avoidance, overall prevention and feature physical defense simulations.

Eric Whitley, assistant in crime prevention, said self defense classes can provide much-needed healing for past victims of abuse.

“A lot of (women) just don’t think things will happen to them … but you just never know. This class will hopefully give them the ability to defend themselves as well as teach others.

“We’ve had past survivors that have been sexually assaulted. They relive that experience through this, but it comes back in such a positive light that you really get to see some really strong emotions in a positive way … you’re part of the healing process by giving them the tools that they want so it’ll never happen again.”

Whitley said that when asked to describe the experience in one word, most participants said “empowering.”

The program is a step in learning how to prevent violence and defend oneself, but Donald J. Tyrell, jujitsu instructor, warns that one cannot learn to fully defend oneself in such a short time.

“It takes at least a year to learn to really adequately defend yourself. I think it’s a good start if it encourages you to go further. (In the jujitsu classes) you learn how to defend yourself. It’s not trying to get stronger than the other person, it’s being able to use the other person’s strength against him, so what he does defeats himself and protects the individual.”

The UT Martial Arts Club offers classes in four different types of martial arts. Tyrell said jujitsu is the most focused toward self-defense. Students, faculty and staff can simply show up to a class in loose clothing and try a couple of classes, and if they like it, it’s $30 to join the club and continue participation for the semester.

For more information about the self-defense classes visit http://www.utpolice.org or http://web.utk.edu/~utmaclub/.