“…They are also evidence‐based, provide a comprehensive “toolbox” of strategies for the full continuum of assaults against women, explicitly hold perpetrators responsible for violence, transform understandings of women's bodies and gender more generally, and aim to empower rather than frighten or restrict women (National Women's Martial Arts Federation, n.d.; Hollander, ; ; Hollander, In press; Rentschler, ; Searles & Follansbee, ; Seith & Kelly, ; Taylor & Wanamaker, ; Telsey, ; Thompson, ; Wanamaker, ). ESD courses thus go far beyond the physical training that most people associate with the term “self‐defense.” Although research on ESD training is fairly new, we now have a growing body of rigorously conducted work that demonstrates its effectiveness (Hollander, ; Sarnquist et al, ; Senn et al, ; Senn et al, ; Sinclair et al, ). Nonetheless, there continues to be misunderstanding about both what women's self‐defense is and the differences among the various types of self‐defense training; this confusion has kept ESD classes from becoming an integral part of the antiviolence movement (Thompson, ).…”