Bowman, Paul  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2264-7596
2025.
Self-defence as ideology: myth, masculinity, and the epistemology of ignorance.
Martial Arts Studies
18
, pp. 65-77.
10.18573/mas.284
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Abstract
This article poses the question of the relationship between self-defence and ideology. It situates self-defence in relation to several vignettes that seek to evoke salient aspects of contemporary masculinist ideology. In dialogue with Peter Katz’s recent work (especially his article published in this issue), I entertain Katz’s proposition that self-defence discourse may rest on an ‘epistemology of ignorance’ and may (like certain martial arts) tend towards fascism. Picking up this theme, I discuss two Hollywood ‘self-defence’ films, and propose that the proliferation of certain 'messages' about masculinity and self-defence constitutes a seam of ‘coercive mimeticism’, i.e., reiterated social ‘nudges’ that ‘tell us’ what we should ‘be like’. Connecting this back to Katz’s critique of the ever-present risk of emergent fascism, I problematise some of his worries, but conclude by reaffirming the need for critical vigilance about the ethics and politics that can emerge from (or ‘stick’ to) our practices.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Published Online |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Journalism, Media and Culture |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GT Manners and customs |
| Publisher: | Cardiff University Press |
| ISSN: | 2057-5696 |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 23 September 2025 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 17 September 2025 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Oct 2025 12:45 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181296 |
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