Self-Defense and its link to Menstruation
Raaji’s celebration of Menstrual Hygiene Day entailed insightful discussions spearheaded by Pakistani rural innovators, international speakers also enlightened us with their ideas.
One such session was of one of our partners, Susie Kahlich, who is the founder of Singe GMBH and Pretty Deadly Self Defense from Berlin, Germany. She said her self-defense program was created for her own experience as a violent crime survivor. She started her session on an empowering note, stating that women are more powerful than they are made to believe.
She dispelled pre-conceived notions created about self-defense by the media that suggest that self-defense involves big kicks and punches and is for frightening situations. Susie suggested that this hinders individuals from employing self-defense techniques.
Susie believes that self-defense is g thatsomething that we use in our daily lives, and it is not even limited to gender-based violence. She gave us very simple examples of self-defense, not eating food that has gone bad being one of them.
She added that looking at self-defense in a more holistic and biological way helps create a rather empowering structure, redefining spaces, and boosting confidence and mobility.
She introduced us to the link between menstruation and self-defense. There is a link between menstruation and sexual violence. Reports from disaster displacement camps, conflict displacement camps, and refugee centers suggested the need for menstrual hygiene management and physical safety, tying the two issues together. Since menstruation has stigma and shame attached to it, it is important to realize that when an individual is feeling shame is when the individual is vulnerable. Light was shed on the sexual exploitation of women in exchange for period products and specific cases were discussed, proving that it is a global issue that is rarely talked about.
Bullying in the form of period shaming was also mentioned, along with discourse about the approach that goes behind emergency shelter construction. Susie suggested that one way to address the disaster displacement issue is to build upon easily deployable solutions.
She even introduced us to the link between gender-based violence and climate change.
The session was concluded with a few words from Susie’s coworker Federica, who told us more about the work she is doing for women in vulnerable positions.