Supporting Diversity in HEMA
By Rachel Van Dyke
In order for HEMA to be for everyone, everyone must feel welcome and safe within HEMA spaces. No matter your position within your club, there are steps you can take to help people feel included and keep those members coming back. Studies show that diverse teams are more creative, better problem-solvers, and more likely to innovate, improving the experience for everyone involved.
Who Could Feel Excluded and Why?
In the US HEMA community, white cisgender men are the majority. That means most HEMA clubs and events are run for and by them. People who aren’t in the majority can feel excluded or “othered” because of their:
Gender
Race, ethnicity, or national origin
Socioeconomic class (a combination of education, income, and occupation)
Disability (mental or physical)
Sexual orientation
Religion, spirituality, or creed
When a person has to deal with social inequality and discrimination in their life, experiencing it within HEMA is both distracting and exhausting. Supporting people who are marginalized means limiting those distractions and creating a space for everyone to learn, train, and have fun together.
Bringing in Diversity
If your club doesn’t reflect the diversity in your local community, you might be missing something that would make your club more welcoming to potential members. Meeting up with a group of only white men can be a risk for people of certain identities, so it is important to openly demonstrate who is welcome at your club.
Not every newcomer is going to commit to being a member of your club, but if specific demographics are showing up but not sticking around, you should examine why. It only takes one person or one moment to give the impression that your club is not safe for them. They may have had to deal with:
An overly-flirtatious person who made them uncomfortable.
A member who hit them too hard in a drill, making them think they aren’t physically capable of participating.
A member telling “jokes” that were disparaging to identities within their family or friend groups, and current members just laughing along.
Everyone avoided eye contact and conversation with them, which they attributed to their visible disability.
In an ideal world, you would get some direct feedback about why people avoided your club or decided not to come back, but it’s easier and safer for most people to avoid confrontation and leave quietly. So it’s your responsibility to be proactive about diversity. There are many ways to show potential members that you are dedicated to keeping them safe and included regardless of who they are.
Build an Inclusive Club Culture
Do you want potential members to feel like visitors in your club, or like they are a valuable part of your community? No one likes to feel like an afterthought, and inclusion starts with the culture you build.
Be thoughtful about how you plan to address exclusionary behavior. If you receive feedback, how will you listen and respond to their concerns in a way that shows you take them seriously? It’s important to not minimize or disregard an issue just because you don’t understand it or didn’t witness it. If one person brought up an issue they had, there are probably another handful who felt the same but didn’t speak up about it. Ask yourself who is receiving your sympathy at the moment: is it the people harmed or the person who caused the harm?
If you witness or are told about exclusive or discriminatory behavior in your club, there are two main ways to address is:
Calling It Out - bringing public attention to the harmful words or behavior to demonstrate that it isn’t tolerated within your group.
Calling Them In - privately discussing the harmful words or behavior with the individual(s) and inviting them to question their biases.
Whether you choose to call in or out depends on the situation and people involved, and it isn’t always comfortable. But the more forethought you put into it and the more practice you get, the more inclusive your club culture will become. Here is a good resource going into more depth on Calling It Out and Calling Them in.
Consider First Impressions
Before people decide to show up to your club, they usually check out your web or social media pages. They will look for specific items to see if people like them will be accepted, including:
Code of Conduct [Link to Code of Conduct article]
Inclusive language on your pages and documents
Cost to join (equipment needed, plus info on discounts or scholarships)
Photos demonstrating diversity in membership
Diversity in leadership and instructors
If your club is new or small, you may not have these last two items yet, but you can host promotional classes for specific demographics. “Give a Girl a Sword” workshops have been held by many clubs across the globe. [Need a link to GAGAS, if possible.] For larger clubs with per-class fees, look into sliding-scale pricing [link to finances article] or offering scholarships to people who cannot afford the full price. Often, people from lower socioeconomic classes are also people who have multiple marginalized identities, so offsetting that cost can make a difference.
Choose a Location That’s Safe for Everyone
Once someone has decided they want to try out your club, location is the next step to making them feel safe.
Ask yourself:
Are there nearby (preferably gender-neutral) restrooms and a private space to change clothes?
If indoors, is the location clean and odor-free?
Is it accessible for people with disabilities?
Is it safe for everyone?
If you’re meeting outdoors at night, make sure it is a well-lit, populated area. Consider whether a woman would feel safe meeting with a group of unknown men at night. Make sure everyone can get home safely. For more on this topic, check out Finding a Place to Train.
Use Inclusive Language
The language you use can make a person feel included or excluded. In both your writing and speech, make a point to:
Use gender-neutral terms, like “everybody” instead of “ladies and gentlemen”.
Avoid able-ist language, for example by saying “disappointing” instead of “lame” (here's a list of further helpful substitutions)
Avoid large academic terms that newcomers may not understand, and clearly define those terms when they are necessary.
Speak to adults as adults. A disability or small stature doesn’t mean they are a child in need of simplified or slower language.
Members should hold each other accountable, even when people with marginalized identities are not present. For example, saying someone “hits like a girl” reinforces the stigma that women are weak, which damages women’s social reputation within your club, even if no women are present for the comment.
Make it Safe to Speak Up
Safety should be a priority. [link to safety article] People who are marginalized often feel social pressure to conform and not complain when they are uncomfortable, even when they may be hurt in the process. People in smaller bodies have voiced a pressure to continue taking hard hits during free sparring in order to not appear weak.
Everyone should be encouraged to not only voice their own boundaries but also respect their partner’s requested boundaries. Make it safe for people to speak up by establishing clear policies, multiple ways to report unwanted behavior, and following through on reports to show your members that you take their words seriously.
Invest in Inclusive Gear
If you have the funds, investing in extra gear can help include a broader range of people in your club. Loaner gear is a huge benefit for potential members who don’t have the money to invest in gear right away, expanding your ability to include those with limited financial means. People at both extreme ends of sizing have a difficult time finding gear that fits well enough for them to move properly, so having a range of gear to fit a variety of body types can unlock the hobby for a more diverse range of bodies. For more on this topic, check out Club Gear: Where to Start.
Building Up Diversity
Your job isn’t done just because you’ve been able to bring in more people. You will need to continue to deal with new issues as they arise and make adjustments to support diversity within your club.
Share Extra Tasks and Emotional Labor
No matter how well you plan, there will always be unexpected tasks during practice. Pay attention to members who take care of others before themselves:
Are they missing the warmup to help a new person with payment and paperwork?
Do they lend out their personal weapon if the group is short one?
Are they constantly paired with new people to the point that their own training has suffered?
This person has been taught to take care of the group. Women disproportionately do this, as well as those raised in a home where their community comes first. While this can be an asset to the club, make sure they have opportunities to achieve their personal goals in HEMA. Encourage everyone to share the burden so those who silently take on extra tasks and emotional labor can participate fully.
Invest in Diverse Leadership & Instructors
Diversity in leadership helps everyone. Even with the most diverse student body, a homogenous staff creates a glass ceiling between your club members and the people in charge. Diverse instructors offer a wider range of perspectives and can foster a sense of belonging for more participants. And when it comes to how your club responds to code of conduct issues, it is important to have different perspectives and to listen to those most affected by the issue at hand.
If you don’t have much diversity amongst your regular instructors, consider paying for an outside instructor to come out and teach a class or workshop for your members.
Be proactive in encouraging diverse members to pursue leadership opportunities that they might not otherwise know about or feel capable of, and use your resources to help clear any barriers in their way. If you think someone would be a good instructor, see if they want to add that to their goals. Give them the support and opportunities to reach that goal. Keep in mind that biases in other members can start to show when a person in authority has a marginalized identity, so that behavior should be watched for closely in order to allow the instructor to focus on the job. For more on building up instructors, check out Creating an Instructor Base.
Beyond the Club
So you’re doing what you can to make your club a better place for everyone, but what else can you do? There are many ways to become a better ally, such as:
Supporting diverse instructors and events
Educating yourself on issues others face
Listening to people with marginalized identities
There have been multiple women-centric HEMA events as well as LGBTQ+ events in the US. Other events put focus on having a diverse instructor list. Attend these types of events or volunteer as support staff to help boost their reach. Something as simple as an extra share on social media helps spread the word and give marginalized groups the support they need.
It is no one’s responsibility to educate you on the ways they are marginalized, so you’ll have to find ways to educate yourself. By reading this article, you’ve made a fantastic start. Continue learning through books, videos, podcasts, or just listening when others speak. It can be tough at times, but it will help broaden your perspective when it comes to other people’s experiences, and help make the wider HEMA community a safe place for everyone.