A: No. The physical techniques and scenarios we teach are a combination of tried and tested ‘street defence’ tactics developed over the last 40 years. There is a huge focus on preventing violence and aggression before it becomes physical through situational awareness, risk assessment, boundary setting and de-escalation as well as realistic survival strategies.

A: Our classes are designed to be fun and engaging even though we deal with serious topics. All the games, exercises, drills and discussions are voluntary and you will not be asked to do anything you are not comfortable with.

During the assertiveness / empowerment section there will be a combination of short lectures, interactive exercises, and group discussions that will help you to develop your verbal self-defence skills and boundary setting, your awareness and intuition, and your understanding of the underlying causes of violence against women.

During the physical skills section, you will practice physical self-defence skills alone and with a partner. We encourage you to wear clothes that are easy to move in, but no special preparation is necessary. You do not need any prior experience or special skills to take our classes.

A: Not at all! The perpetrator is ALWAYS to blame for the violence they commit and ESD classes explicitly attribute responsibility for assault to perpetrators. Empowerment Self Defence is simply one of the tools available to help combat violence against women and just because a woman is capable of defending herself, does not mean that she is responsible for doing so.

There are already other tools being employed such as violence education and bystander intervention programs. However, systemic changes such as these often take generations to become part of mainstream society and in the meantime perpetrators will still be committing sexual assault. We are committed to teaching people about the nature of violence and giving them the tools to navigate those situations successfully.

When we tell a driver to wear a seatbelt in case they are in an accident we are not victim blaming, we are simply trying to employ every means possible to keep them safe.

A: Yes. Research has shown that empowerment-based self-defence classes can be empowering and healing for sexual assault survivors. We aim to create a survivor-centred, trauma-informed classroom. However, we encourage you to be aware of where you are in your healing process, and to consult with a therapist or other advisor if you are not certain whether you are ready to take the class. None of the exercises in our courses are mandatory and you can opt-out of anything you are uncomfortable with.

A: Yes! As long as you identify as a woman (however you define it), you are welcome in this class. We are trans-friendly, queer-friendly, Greek-friendly, geek-friendly… We’re just friendly.

A: Yes. We never want money to be the reason a person doesn’t get this potentially life-saving training. We always make free scholarship places available for every training we do. Please contact us if you would like to apply for a scholarship for one of our workshops.