"Self-defense for women only--" my response

incredibletulkas writes "In response to the article "The Attack on Women's Sports" which complained against the sexes treating equally in school programs, I was incensed regarding a more serious issue which has been of concern to me for some time. As a result, I used the information in the article to write the following letter to Education Secretary Rod Paige at customerservice@inet.ed.gov :

"Hello;
I wish to contact Education Secretary Rod Paige regarding a serious and widespread violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which requires schools to treat the two sexes equally; this violation has been going on for a number of years with no protest from the Department of Education.

Specifically, these violations take place in the form of certain self-defense courses, often known as "RAID," which are offered exlusively to women-- at school expense-- and which specifically prohibit men from attending at any time, and in fact ban even male attendance or observation under any circumstances, except for the course instructors.

Furthermore, these courses are often open to female non-students in the community, while likewise barring even male students of the school from participation.
This sexism was rationalized dismissed by simply claiming men had the option to fend for themselves, or in terms of finding--and funding-- other self-defense courses "elsewhere," despite claiming them to be of inferior quality in adequately preparing a person to defend against an actual attack, as well as being more difficult to learn in terms of time, trouble, expense and safety.

Since statistics regarding violent criminal assaults apply at least equally to men as to women in terms of frequency and severity-- and in any event do not indicate men to be inviolate-- then there is no evidence, conclusive or otherwise, that men would not benefit from such a program.

As such, this sexist double-standard is an outright violation of Title IX, and I would like to see this issue addressed immediately; either schools must immediate cease and desist from offering such courses-- either in terms or providing funding or facilities for them-- or else they must offer them to male students or participants on equal terms.""

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