November 25th is the Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. This day honors the Mirabel Sisters (Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa), who were assassinated by the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic because of their identity as women and activists.
They were assassinated on 25 November 1960.
The assassinations turned the Mirabal sisters into “symbols of both popular and feminist resistance”. In 1999, in their honor, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
According to the UN, a woman is intentionally killed every 10 minutes, all around the world. We’ve seen violence against women increase over the past four years especially, from a rise in domestic violence during pandemic lockdowns to the oppresssion of Afghan and Iranian women to the killing of environmental defenders.
Violence against women and gender-based violence have strong links to women’s education, economic empowerment and reproductive rights: in societies where access to education, jobs and financial independence, and reproductive rights are limited or denied, the frequency of violence against women and femicide is higher. This list of ways to help stop the cycle of violence from the International Rescue Committee makes similar points:
What’s glaringly missing from this list is body literacy and basic self defense.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked in my work is “why should women learn self defense? Why can’t men just stop hurting women?”
My response to that is: that’s not how the cycle of violence works.
How is Pretty Deadly Self Defense committed to ending violence against women?
Our goal at Pretty Deadly is to disrupt violence as it happens with simple, accessible self defense techniques, giving agency to the victim and reducing the risk of long-term trauma.
Trauma produces adaptive behaviors that have worked to help someone survive trauma they experience, but can persist beyond the context of the specific trauma and evolve into coping mechanisms that are passed on to next generations. Without the context of the trauma, those coping mechanisms become toxic and/or violent responses to everyday situations, thereby repeating the cycle of violence.
Pretty Deadly Self Defense is committed to breaking the cycle of violence by teaching simple, accessible techniques that make learning basic self defense a part of self care.
Susie Kahlich is the founder and Managing Director of Pretty Deadly Self Defense, and writes about gender-based violence, society and politics.
