Introduction to my Senior Project

Ishita U -

Hi, my name is Ishita Upadhyay. I am a Basis Phoenix senior.  My project is “Designing an App Prototype to Educate Women on Self-Defense against Sex Crimes”. The goal of this project is to design an app prototype for games focusing on self-defense. These games would be a simulation with different attacks. Women should learn self-defense as they tend to be victims of almost all sex crimes. The purpose of this prototype should be to teach women basic self-defense thus if they are ever in a dangerous situation, they will know how to escape it. The biggest question I will need to answer is how I can make this prototype interactive enough, that women are confident enough to defend themselves. 

I have done taekwondo for more than 8 years of my life and one thing I noticed was how I was the only girl in a class. I always wondered why girls didn’t join my taekwondo class, and if they did, why they did not stick around. When I got my black belt in 2021, I realized the harsh truth. Women were treated as inferior to men. I was always put against the smaller boys during class, yet when it came to tournaments, I was put against the bigger and older men. I began to lose confidence in my abilities and thus eventually dropped out.  I know there are many girls just like me who were in a martial arts class, however, they felt neglected or lost confidence in themselves as time went on. 

My off-site advisor is Professor James Loop. He is a professor at Paradise Valley Community College who game development. He will be aiding me with the code of this prototype and will be overlooking my project making sure it is interactive and free of glitches. Please join me as I develop this prototype to become a helpful tool for women.

More Posts

Comments:

All viewpoints are welcome but profane, threatening, disrespectful, or harassing comments will not be tolerated and are subject to moderation up to, and including, full deletion.

    neel_v
    I love your personal connection to your topic Ishita! Are you going to get feedback from women during this project? It would be cool to see different opinions about what the app should include to make it more successful. Are you thinking about publishing this app after it's completed?
    arnab_m
    This project is so inspiring, using your personal passion to help women in their self-defense against sex crimes. I'm excited to see the development and use of your app!
    bethwake
    This is a great overview of your project. Your description here includes some focus on your taekwondo experience. What do you think causes this neglect for female martial arts students?
    ishita_u
    Hello Ms. Wake! I would say that martial arts for a very long time has been considered a manly sport. If you look back to the Roman times and further, men would tend to be the ones fighting in wars and other physical touch sports. Another reason is also the stereotype of women as not being violent. Martial arts is a violent sport and the stereotype of women not being strong or physically capable of defending themselves could also be a reason. These are just a couple, however, a lot boils down to martial arts being coined as a 'man sport' and the stereotypes around women overall.
    bethwake
    Thanks for the insightful answer! I can't wait to see this continue to develop. Nice work!
    Alana Rothschild
    This is such an interesting project! My sister-in-law was a nurse in the military, and she had to watch violent movies and games to not only desensitize to war related events but also to learn how to shoot guns. According to her, it definitely helped so I believe an app could be a very useful tool! Maybe one day you will eventually develop an app specifically for the military and their needs!!!
    Snigdha
    That's super interesting! What sort of work will you be doing at your on-site mentorship?

Leave a Reply