6 THE VOICE | THURSDAY, OCT. 25,2018 | EDITOR CAMERON THOMSON Viewpoints Teach her to fight Gees programs are a simple and underutilized strategy for combating vio- lence against women and provide an immediate solution to a cease- less threat at their door. And right now, women need an immediate solution. They can’t wait for historical norms to pro- gressively shift. Most _ social campaigns ad- dressing the issue focus on support for the victims. While the #MeToo move- ment’s successful wave in building public — aware- ness should be praised, it has not offered techniques to prevent attacks from occurring. Today, most deterrence strate- gies focus on educating men. But why does prevention have to appeal to the good behaviour of male aggressors? The message should be geared towards giving women agency. A University of Oregon study found women who participated in self-defence classes experienced significantly fewer sexual assaults than women who did not. The study found the partici- pants not only gained self-esteem and developed confidence in their physical abilities, but were also less likely to be attacked in the first place. ‘This suggests the control group had changed their behavioural and interactional patterns so they were more likely to deter potential at- tackers by assertively responding to even minor inappropriate ad- vances. Looking at the global numbers of reported assaults underscores the problem facing women. The World Health Organiza- tion reports that 35 per cent of all women have experienced physical or sexual violence by a man, and 30 per cent have experienced that violence at the hands of an intimate partner. Considering the numbers show a significant amount of violence against women is committed with- in a relationship, the implications of diminishing female vulnerabil- ity are profound. Equipping women with tools to recognize warning signs and cre- ate forceful responses to unwanted advances could prevent them from being trapped in defenceless envi- ronments. In the wake of Christine Blasey Ford’s largely dismissed testimony in front of the U.S. Senate Judicia- ry Committee, enabling women to seize power with their own hands OPINION PATRICK PENNER Teaching women self-defence gives them self-esteem and lowers the rate of sexual harassment and assault. RENA MEDOW ILLUSTRATION College soccer faces end occer at the college level is dying in B.C., and it may be time for Langara to just close the coffin. This isnt something that’s just popped up. The number of soccer teams in the Pacific Western Ath- letic Association has been steadily falling. In the 2008-2009 season, there were nine teams from B.C. col- leges and univer- sities competing. Over the past 10 years, that num- ber has been slowly _ falling. The first drop occurred in the 2013-2014 sea- OPINION AGAZY son, when teams MENGESHA __ from ‘Thompson Rivers Univer- sity, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and UBC Okanagan stopped participating in the PacWest division. Quest Uni- versity made the decision to pull out after the 2017-2018 basketball season. Only four teams are participat- ing this year: the Vancouver Island University Mariners, the Douglas College Royals, the Capilano Uni- versity Blues, and of course, the Langara Falcons. As a result of the abnormally low turnout, all four teams have automatically qualified for the provincials for the 2018- 2019 season. ‘The steady decline of participa- tion is due to a variety of reasons. In 2015, Kwantlen University ended its varsity athletics department due to a rearrangement of the program's budget. And just this year, Quest University also suspended its ath- letics program, with the university’s president George Iwama citing a $300,000 to $400,000 annual cost to operate the program, and a sepa- rate unrelated $20 million in debt for the private university. It appears that when budget problems come up for post-secondary institutions, sports are always the first thing to 0. 7 However, UBC Okanagan and ‘Thompson Rivers University ath- letic programs are still fully in- tact. Instead of PacWest, they're participating in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association, which they've both been members of since 2010. Thompson Rivers University moved its soccer team to the CWUAA and permanently withdrew its membership from PacWest, which shows a growing problem concerning the decline of PacWest’s membership. Year by year, the field of oppo- nents for the Langara Falcons soc- cer team is slowly shrinking. Sure, it made it easier for the Langara Fal- cons to get into the provincials, but that’s like winning a race because all of the competition decided to stay Playing for time: Langara Falcons soccer team at practice. K/RSTEN CLARKE PHOTO home. They only made it in because it was literally impossible for them to do otherwise. If UBC Okanagan decides to drop out of the PacWest soccer division like Thompson Riv- ers did, then the Langara Falcons would be playing with only three other teams — at best. It’s very likely that the Mariners and the Blues would follow suit and pull out as well. Unlike Kwantlen or Quest, it’s not a budgetary problem for Lan- gara, it’s a popularity issue. If there are fewer teams participating, at some point the college will just have to pull the plug. should he encouraged at all costs The Voice is pub- lished by Langara College’s joumalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. They may be edited for brevity. Your letter must in- clude your name and phone number. HOW TO DROP-IN REACH US Room A226 Langara College PHONE 604-323-5396 SNAIL MAIL The Voice E-MAIL 100 West 49th Ave. thevoice@langara. Vancouver, B.C. be.ca V5Y 226 WEBSITE MANAGING EDITOR langaravoice.ca Cameron Thomson PAGE EDITORS PAGE 7 PAGE 1 Desiree Garcia Nikitha Martins PAGE 8 PAGE 2 Lisa Steacy Neil Amsler PAGE 3 Cloe Logan MANAGING PAGE 4&5 WEBSITE Gabrielle Plonka EDITOR PAGE 6 Amanda Poole Cameron Thomson REPORTERS Adam Levi Darren Amner Rena Medow Joe Ayres Agazy Mengesha Kirsten Clarke Mandy Moon Mathilda de Villiers Patrick Penner Roxanne Egar-Elliott Kathryn Tindale Kelsea Franzke Alberto Tufano Nathan Gan Nathan Durec Katelynn Gardiner Taesa Hodel Shabnam Jessa Nick Laba CONTACT US Online at langaravoice.ca Twitter @LangaraVoice