I recently recorded an episode of the Conscious Combat Club podcast, which discusses trauma-informed martial arts and mental health. Founder Georgia Verry provides trauma-informed kickboxing programs in Australia, and through her podcast, she talks with women in martial arts, including academics and those with lived experience of violence.
This is the second time I’ve appeared on Georgia’s podcast. She first interviewed me in 2021 for what was then called The Fight Back Podcast. In that episode, we discussed my personal journey as a former Muay Thai fighter and survivor-advocate, including how and why I founded Under the Ropes, a Muay Thai workshop I held for survivors in Bangkok, and how I transitioned to powerlifting after I stopped fighting.
Since then, I’ve completed a master’s degree in Sports Ethics & Integrity and moved into the safeguarding in sports space as a consultant. Now, I specialise in safeguarding against sexual violence in Muay Thai and other combat sports. She invited me to record this episode in response to the latest disclosures of sexual abuse in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the online discourse that followed. Many gyms, athletes and content creators began posting about the importance of safeguarding in martial arts and combat sports. However, these conversations often lacked clarity on what safeguarding should look like, or even perpetuated misconceptions about what constitutes best practice, and what these measures can provide. For example, it became a trend for gyms to post declaring themselves ‘safe spaces’, sometimes citing basic requirements such as background checks or codes of conduct. I addressed this in an Instagram post, explaining why this isn’t the full picture, why gym owners should stop calling their gyms safe spaces and what they should do instead.
In this episode, Georgia and I discussed what safeguarding means, how grassroots coaches and gym owners can implement it in their communities, and where they can find free resources for safeguarding in sport to get started.
“Emma (she/her) is a safeguarding specialist in Muay Thai, a survivor-advocate, and founder of Under the Ropes, through which she’s been writing about gendered issues in Muay Thai, and advocating for gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence in the sport since 2013. She recently completed a master’s degree in Sports Ethics & Integrity, through which she conducted the world’s first study on women’s experiences of sexual harassment and abuse in Muay Thai. She’s a trustee board member at Safe Sport International, a UK-based charity working to advance safeguarding standards in sport globally. She’s also qualified as a safeguarding officer, and is currently undertaking the International Olympic Committee’s Safeguarding Officer in Sport programme. Now, she’s providing safeguarding consultancy services to help Muay Thai (and other combat sports) gyms implement safeguarding protocols, and for sports federations to advance survivor-centred approaches.”
Listen to the episode below, or on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
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