I was reading with interest recently about a court case that is going on in Florida that has the left the reputation of a local martial arts instructor there in tatters. The instructor in question is alleged to have molested and conducted sexual relationships with a number of underage girls that were students at his club. By all accounts his behavior was quite despicable, showing the girl’s porn at his club and having sex with them at a local movie theater, all under the unsuspecting nose of his wife. The instructor now faces over 300 criminal charges and is currently being tried in the Florida courts.
By all accounts this man was a fairly good martial artist. Some of his students have testified as much, claiming he is the victim of false accusations. Other of his students have testified otherwise, claiming the man to be overbearing and pretty hard-nosed as a teacher. Whatever the case may be his reputation is in ruins and it is doubtful he will ever be allowed to run another club of any description.
If the case has merit, it is the first time I have heard of any martial arts instructor conduct themselves in that way. It is natural for me to think that all martial arts instructors are of sound mind and character, incapable of such deviant and despicable behaviour. This is blatantly not the case however and to think otherwise would just be naive, not to mention dangerous.
Abuse of Power
Really it boils down to the position of power.
Anyone in any organization who has great influence and control over large groups of people, who are trusted by those people, are in a position to abuse that trust as they see fit.
You only have to look at the antics of certain members of the Catholic church, youth leaders, care home workers, doctors, school teachers, the list goes on. We see stories all the time in the media that detail how kids were abused by grown up authority figures. I just never thought I would hear of a supposedly reputable martial arts instructor doing the same thing. My learning of the case has been a bit of a wake up call to me. Martial arts instructors are supposed to be honorable people, only there to serve and teach their students, not abuse the trust of those students and violate their person.
A martial arts cub is a club like any other though. I guess it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. I doubt it will put people of from joining a martial arts club. I think people will see this as being an isolated case and that it is certainly not the norm in the martial arts world.
Vulnerability
I can’t help feeling just a little bit vulnerable now though. What’s to stop any of the girls in my club claiming they were molested by me or anyone else there? Nothing really. Despite the fact that when training you end up in very intimate positions, especially when grappling, you just take for granted that people understand that this is the nature of the training and there is nothing untoward about it. What if someone doesn’t realise this though and they decide to file a report saying they were touched in the wrong places? What would you do? The media would certainly get involved and even if the case was resolved, your reputation and your clubs reputation would be forever tarnished.
Personally speaking, I or my club have no safeguards in place to protect against this sort of thing. I’m not even sure if you can protect against this sort of thing. If any instructors reading this know of any such safeguards then please let me know about them. I’d be interested in hearing what they are, although to honest, once someone decides to go ahead and publicize their concerns, real or imagined, then the game is over. The damage has been done. There is only damage limitation after that.
Despite the fact that I have spent most of my life idolising and thinking of martial arts teachers as being of exemplary character, pillars of society, I still shouldn’t really be shocked by this case. All that’s happened here is that human nature, deviant or otherwise, has popped its head up to remind us that it’s always there and that it’s as indiscriminate and unpredictable as ever. The instructor at the centre of this case is a human being first and martial artist second, something we tend to forget when we consider our fellow martial artists, and as such he is open to the whole spectrum of human behaviour that goes along with being so.
Lessons to be Learned
I think there are two lessons to be learned here. Firstly, be aware that such things can happen in a club full of people and that certain aspects of your behavior could easily be misconstrued. Be mindful of how you conduct yourself, especially in front of newbies and if you’re a man, especially in front of women. I’m not saying you have to cripple yourself with self-consciousness and paranoia but just be gently mindful of your behavior and how you come across to your students. Treat everyone with the utmost respect and don’t be brutal in your methods. You can implement discipline without creating a mini-fascist state. Enforcing your ego on people, being unnecessarily cruel or overbearing, these are things that will loose you members and get you talked about in the wrong way. Just remember that your credibility is everything. Uphold the Bushido code.
Secondly, martial artists, high ranking instructors or otherwise, are only human at the end of the day. They are not saints and they think the same things and have the same preoccupations (sexual or otherwise) as the rest of society. Certainly admire and respect them for what they represent and what they have achieved within their field, but don’t put them on a pedestal and make the mistake of thinking that they are above human failings.
