Women's Self-Defense

My employer, which is a city, is offering a free women's self-defense class. Which they've offered at least one time before.

I've been trying to work out why it bugs the heck out of me. (Though I'm still thinking of signing up.)

I think it's the implication that A) Women need self-defense more than men. Which just perpetuates the impression that women are weaker and the climate of women being attacked and abused.

And B) That men somehow know more about self-defense than women.

I took a few karate lessons in Girl Scouts. As far as I'm aware, my brother never learned anything similar. But maybe I'm wrong. I should ask him. Maybe he got something in gym class I didn't. We had segregated gym classes, which I later learned was not universal!

Are men just supposed to instinctually know how to fight better? Use their big, strong muscles? They're not real men if they can't beat someone up without a lesson!

And maybe it bothers me more because it's the city offering this as a one-time thing. If it was a gym or a dojo that offered these every once in awhile, I don't think it would bother me as much. It'd just be one class in a suite of classes. Even if none of them were men's self-defense classes. Because I can understand that women who had been attacked in the past would most likely feel more comfortable and confident in a class of all women. I do get that.

I just don't like the city thinking all its female employees need self-defense, and the male ones don't.