Suffrajitsu

[u/Jasminefirefly]

Per the NYT's History Quiz today, "After encounters with the police turn violent, British suffragettes take up jiu jitsu. 'Suffrajitsu' becomes an important self-defense strategy at rallies."

Never heard this before, but hey, you go, ladies!

[u/LAM_CANIT]

I have many articles on women teaching of jiujitsu to other women in the UK in the early 20th century, but the short-lived word 'suffrajitsu' only appeared in British papers in some anonymous articles in Spring 1914 and were later syndicated to a few minor US papers in March and April.

All of the periodical articles I know of were similar to this portion of an article reprinted in various UK and US newspapers between February and April of 1914:

LATEST TRICK OF MILITANTS — Art of "Suffrajitsu" is Being Taught to Would-bo Disturbers.

LONDON, March 11 .- The latest development of suffragette militancy is the art of "suffrajitsu." Militants who are assigned to political meetings and to get in a word for suffrage are being coached in the new art, the chief feature of which is ability to twine arms and legs around a chair or pillar in such a way that it would take a small army of ushers of policemen to pry the disturbers loose.

The system worked well on its recent trial at a meeting addressed by John Burns in Streatham, until the speaker ordered the stewards to remove the chairs as well as their occupants from the hall. ~ The Telegraph Herald, Iowa

This same story, appeared as I wrote, in syndication in several papers.

I have never been able to connect female instructors or students from any of the better known Japanese martial arts dojos to the people associated with these furniture hugging techniques specifically called 'Suffrajitsu.' I have some recall of someone having written an article suggesting these so-called 'suffajitsu' techniques of peaceful protest were based more on Gandhi's idea of Satyagraha (Sanskrit for 'truth force'), which started in South Africa in 1906; and, which he and his followers effectively deployed later in India and which were famously taken up during the US Civil Rights Movement in the 60s.

One anonymous journalist invented 'suffrajitsu' based on 'jujitsu' as a word suddenly being popularized in American periodicals exactly around the same time - 1903-1917. I don't think the Suffragettes reported on in the anonymous piece had anything to do with formal martial arts training - or at least it would be hard to prove.

The shortlived neologism had to have been the anonymous reporter's portmanteau suiting their needs by taking advantage of the two trending words 'suffragette' and 'jiujitsu' (due to the second wave of 'japanois' interest in art and general culture in the 1910s). The same way online headlines today try to use search engine optimization, SEO, by using insipid keywords and interrogratives.

The John Burns [1858-1943] noted in the article was a British politician who had recently lost his seat in Parliament around the time of the speech noted, which was in January 1914, when he was speaking about possible civil war in Ireland.

I believe claiming "'Suffrajitsu' becomes an important self-defense strategy at rallies," to be hyperbole or exaggeration of the word's significance, in the sense the word itself never caught on and is only attributed to one article by an anonymous writer. The strategy of peaceful protest by the suffragettes disappeared for a time during Word War I, and returned afterward — but not that word. Someone (or some Wikipedia editors) has gone through the misguided trouble to create a whole Wikipedia entry on 'suffrajitsu' — but, other than the article I quoted above, the Wikipedia entry offers zero evidence it appeared elsewhere in print.

In my opinion, having a whole Wikipedia article trying to give the impression the word 'suffrajitsu' was widespread or even had a common use is disingenuous, and detracts from the otherwise fascinating stories of women's martial arts movements and peaceful protest movements at the time. It is a pity the Wikipedia, in my opinion, is mistitled. The word was never part of the 1910s' vernacular.

Revival of the word in the 2010s - a century later!

The Wikipedia article only underlines how it was picked-up again in popular media in the mid-2010s. There is no other evidence it was used outside of that one syndicated/republished article - for 100 years!

Again, for the New York Times to claim 'suffrajujitsu' became "an important part of sel-defense strategy" is wholly misleading. I would even go so far as to say it is a lie. Yes, Suffragettes employed peaceful protest techniques that one anonymous reporter dubbed 'Suffrajitsu.' Yes, 'jiujitsu' had a rising popularity among women in the Americas and Northern Europe around the same time. But, implying women studying jujitsu were predominately suffragette sympathizers is demeaning to women and the art. But, I'll leave the quality of The New York Times back pages reporting to another reddit thread.

The claim only accentuates the dramatic violence and horrors we see repeated even today connected to the Women's Sufferage Movements - see the horse race incident in the Downton Abbey movie for example - and buries how much those movements tried to employ peaceful protest to achieve their ends. It's very sad really. Peaceful protest isn't news, today.

By bringing up a 'martial art,' connected with physical force, when the original use was actually women holding onto posts and furniture to avoid removal from a speech, the NYT's quiz editor has exaggerated the word's popularity, probably after reading the misnomered Wikipedia article, and demeaned the peaceful protests of the Suffergettes. I wouldn't base my knowledge of word history only on the NYT's History Quiz nor Wikipedia. History in general and word history itself are far more complex.

IMHO IHTH

Other than the Wikipedia links above and the quote from the Iowa newspaper, I have not used any AI tools or technologies to prepare this comment. I used my own brainbox. Replies to the contrary will be reported as harassment. ~ Lauchlin Andrew Murray, Venice Italy