This week, I attended the 51st conference of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. I was selected as this year’s runner-up for their R. Scott Kretchmar Student Essay Award for my essay, ‘The Value of Combat Sports as a Healing Tool for Survivors of Sexual Violence’. I also had the privilege of receiving a student travel award, which funded my attendance at the conference. It sparked an enthusiastic Q&A session, and I look forward to using the feedback I received to develop the paper further.
Key Topics Included:
- A critique of existing arguments that combat sports are morally problematic
- A proposal that combat sports can be reframed, not as permitting violence, but as a healing opportunity for survivors.
- An explanation of the freeze response to sexual violence and its long-term impacts
- How combat sports can help survivors regain a sense of agency and feel safe in their bodies again.
- Powerful statements from survivors who have used fighting for healing, taken from empirical research on survivor-centred combat sports programmes
- An emphasis of the importance of trauma-informed sports coaching for creating safer and accessible sports environments for survivors
- A brief analysis of the moral permissibility of using ‘violent’ combat sports as a tool for personal healing
- Suggestions for how this idea could be further interrogated through a feminist lens in the broader context of rape culture
This paper began in my first semester of my master’s degree in Sports Ethics & Integrity. I submitted it as an assignment for my first-ever module on sports philosophy. This was the subject I was least confident about, and I was nervous about how I’d fare. Now, it’s a space I feel welcome in, and I’m excited about further applying my work in this way.
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