Combat sport to regain self-esteem? Swordsmanship to heal wounds? Salvation after the assault to celebrate the moral values of respect and courage?
This Saturday afternoon, at the Curial municipal gymnasium, rue Curial (19th arrondissement), François Dagnaud, the mayor (PS) of the 19th arrondissement, launched, with institutional and associative partners, the "Fencing Yourself" program aimed at helping, through the practice of this sport, people who are victims of violence. "A sport adapted to a wide audience, regardless of the trauma: domestic violence, harassment of all kinds, early or forced marriage, mutilation, trafficking... ", say the organisers.
The project will be operational from 11 January, six months before the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. "Fencing," explains François Dagnaud, "is a way to reclaim one's body."
At the helm of the project is Joséphine Jacques-André-Coquin. The fencer, aged 33 and member of the France team, in the qualification phase for the Olympic Games, is also an agent of the City of Paris, at the Department of Public Health. The high-level athlete, who grew up in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, says she is "particularly sensitive to vulnerable groups".
An experimental program
She will supervise, with sports educators, women and men who have suffered sexual and gender-based violence, "but not only," says the champion. We could also take in victims of harassment. We are open to all types of violence. »
To come and wield the sword at the gymnasium, "a place of sharing, with other people in the same situation", the "candidates" must be of legal age. The program, which is free, will take place over ten sessions, accessible with a medical prescription, at a rate of one session per week. Victims referred to this program will receive psychological, social, medical and legal support.
This operation launched this Saturday, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, is there to remind us that in France, a femicide takes place every three days. In 2021 alone, nearly 4,300 incidents of domestic violence were recorded in Paris.
"Fencing Yourself" was initially initiated on an experimental basis. "If it is conclusive," says the city, "it is intended to be extended to other sports and physical activities."