Feminine And Powerful: This Self-Defense Instructor Is Showing People Femininity Is Not A Weakness

Self-defense instructor Jewel Cadet is out to show students everywhere that a person can be both feminine and powerful.

Jewel is the Program Manager for Youth & Community Empowerment at The Center for Anti-Violence Education. According to her profile, she is “a passionate social justice organizer for the rights of Women, Girls, Femmes and for the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community.”

“Femininity is so powerful,” she told Mic. “You can have a five-inch stiletto, your long hair, and like your lashes and your long nails, and still be a super bad *** femme.”

Cadet talked about how, when she walks into class, people usually don’t realize she’s the teacher — and she likes that:

“I’m very intentional about that because it’s really important to embody that femininity,” she said.

“Feminine” of course, is not something that refers entirely to cisgender women.

According to a statistic cited in the video, 28 transgender people were fatally shot or killed in 2017.  It should therefore come as no surprise that some of her students are transgender women.

However, while I admire what Jewel Cadet is trying to do, I have two questions for her:

1) What are her credentials? What ranks does she hold, and in what martial arts?

2) Does her class feature any type of sparring? While drilling against a cooperative opponent is certainly necessary, you can’t learn to defend yourself unless you are doing so up against a person who is actually trying to hurt you (to a limited degree, of course).

There are unfortunately many fake martial arts classes out there. In fact, Tech Insider’s fake “self-defense” classes recently made headlines inside and outside the martial arts media.

For that reason, I would encourage anyone thinking about taking Jewel’s classes to inquire into her knowledge of martial arts and her classes before taking them.

Of course, this is a good idea with all martial arts classes.

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