Brighton Self Defence

for women

‘’ The Systems in place to reduce violence and harassment ARE NOT WORKING’’ (UN Women UK, 2021) linked here

National policy needs to change, and bystanders to learn how to intervene apparently, cultural needs have to shift and public spaces need to improve.

While we wait for all of these changes to reduce the epidemic of violence towards women and girls.

At BWSD we believe in learning self defence techniques to build strength and confidence will make you more equipped to dill with unforeseen threats to your safety.

We believe that empowerment through
self defence can help combat statices like this

‘‘92% of all violent attacks towards women are by a guy, who they know’’ (UN Women UK, 2021)

Our Next Start Dates

  • For all start dates please contact us via email or WhatsApp

  • Weekly classes

  • Join the Kickstarter and get 25% off

  • 1 Day Courses: Intensives

  • The number one reason we create our programmes is NOT (believe it or not) for ‘learning self defence’

    The number one reason was to empower strength

    Because we believe that self defence starts with empowerment, finding your strengths and improving on your weaknesses can do more for you than learning a set of situational skills that can only be used in a set of specific situations

    Womens self defence is anything but a set of specific situations

    We want our programmes to positively affect all aspects of your life through skills and principles that can be adapted to your needs and requirements and ultimately empower you in ways you in all aspects of your life

  • For us, safety doesn't just mean learning self defence and being an all around badass… of course, that can help

    However, by safety we mean, in the training room as well as the content we deliver and how we deliver it

    We have put in place several processes and additional steps to learning self defence that no one else has considered or seems to practise

    Witch means you can relax and learn, in a friendly involvement, and fun and know that the content is being delivered with your best interest at heart.

  • We are all too aware that confidence comes in all shapes and sizes

    We want to build your confidence through learning self defence skills

    Whether you want more confidence for work, feel like you are a little safer or your personal life or you just want to know that you ‘COULD’ pull off a Buffy the Vampire Slayer style moves during battle

    Whatever your reason for building conferences Brighton Women’s Self Defence has a wonderful way of helping you reach it.

  • Our courses and programmes were created to help you learn the complex world of self defence. It's for the compleat beginner in mind

    As we all know that the stages and variety that women face in regards to self defence are far more complex than men (in general)

    So we have put together two key elements to make sure we tackle everything necessary for you

    1.

    We have divided the content up into ‘Rounds’ which is a 4 week block. And a Bout, which is a 6 month block, you can read more about that here

    2.

    When we deliver the content we take each skill and break it down into the 4 primary phases that you may have to deal with when in a women's self defence situation.

  • We try to be as personable and professional as possible

    We do this by tailoring all the content to each individual and their needs

    So even in a class structure, our courses are still individualized

    Before the next Round we always ask the people that have attended the previous block to request the content they want to see in the next Round

    We also ask for feedback regularly to make sure we are delivering content you find useful etc.

  • As we mentioned early we had broken down the learning into two areas

    The first was how we structure the content to allow for quick and ongoing learning and development and the second filter the content to target the four primary areas that women's self defence needs to be applied

    The 4 phases that women self defence encounters

    derive directly from this statistic from the Unwomen's website

    ''92% of all violent attacks towards women are by a guy who they know''

    to add to this statistic

    Globally 81,000 women and girls were killed in 2020, around 47,000 of them (58 per cent) died at the hands of an intimate partner or a family member, which equals to a woman or girl being killed every 11 minutes in their home. In 58 per cent of all killings perpetrated by intimate partners or other family members, the victim was a woman or girl

    the ‘who they know' is a pretty important aspect, its often overlooked or just shoved into the (what to do once the sh.t has hit the fan) box

    which is far too late

    Like how is any person regardless of gender able to defend them selfs agast a bigger, stronger, more aggressive and more knowable attacker in full flight of their destruction?

    This is where most women's self defence programmes focus their attention (Because its the scary bit, and scary sells, unfortunately)

    So we have derived 4 phases for pretty much every technique to help you understand which phase you are in and what you can do about it.

Our Beliefs

Elle Davis ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I joined BWSD after a really difficult start to my year and not feeling very safe in Brighton. I felt welcome as soon as I got there. The classes were really inclusive and encouraging, perfect for complete beginners but with enough flexibility so those with some previous experience can also learn and perfect what they want.”

Sam Williams ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

''I had no background in anything like this before I started, and was surprised at how accessible it was from my very first session. There's always explanations as to why we're doing what we're doing, so you build your mental discipline as well as physical.''

UN WOMEN STATISTICS

  • ‘‘Over 70% of women in the UK say they have experienced sexual harassment in public’’

  • ‘‘ONLY 3% of women aged 18-24 told us they had not experienced any of the behaviours we asked about.’’

  • ‘‘This is a global issue – almost 9 in 10 women in some cities around the world feel unsafe in public spaces.’’

  • ‘‘Every 10 Minutes somewhere in the world an adolescent girl dies as a result of violence.’’

  • ‘‘Only 4% of women told Unwomen they reported the incidents of harassment to an official organisation – with 45% of women saying they didn’t believe reporting would help change anything.’‘

  • ‘‘92% of all violent attacks towards women are by a guy, who they know’’

  • ‘‘In the UN women UK data, 80% of all women said they had been sexually harassed in public spaces in the UK. This experience of sexual harassment appears to be a universal trait of womanhood across the country.’’

What Our Members Say

  • ''Me and my 11 year old daughter did a 121 session with Steve. He is a lovely guy, learnt lots and we really enjoyed it. Thoroughly recommend!''

    Tanlou Pat ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I joined BWSD after a really difficult start to my year and not feeling very safe in Brighton. I felt welcome as soon as I got there. The classes were really inclusive and encouraging, perfect for complete beginners''

    Elle Davis ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I had no background in anything like this before I started, and was surprised at how accessible it was from my very first session. There's always explanations as to why we're doing what we're doing, so you build your mental discipline as well as physical.''

    Sam Williams ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I am eternally grateful for everything Steve and the other girls in my group have done for me and would highly recommend these classes for anyone''

    Rita Laker ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I was a complete beginner to the discipline which made me nervous when I started, but Steve is very professional, friendly and patient and he will try to tailor the classes to people’s needs and interests as much as possible.''

    Rita Cimatti ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I’ve been looking for a while for a self-defence class and didn’t find any who would convince me to “come out of my comfort zone” and finally sign up for it, until I found out Brighton Women Self Defence which I choose to give it a go , and I must say I’m grateful I did.''

    Marlene Merella ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''Steve is very personable and happy to answer any questions you have or explain things you don't understand.''

    Gemma Heaton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I feel more empowered and safe in my body, whilst also understanding there's so much more still to learn!''

    Tasha Mansley ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''Good fun, lovely instructor and good value for money :)''

    Lilah McKim ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I feel so much more confident than I did when I started and that's all thanks to Steve and his friendly and experienced teaching. You'll also be surprised by how much you remember week on week.''

    Chloe McLaughlin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I already feel my confidence has improved and bits of progress are shining through !''

    Em Haxt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I decided to sign up for a self defense class because of professional requirements but I signed my daughter up (she is 15) because I believe that sadly this is a life skill necessary for all women to have. I was not disappointed with Steve's class!''

    Simona Wallace ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I've been attending these sessions since summer 2020 and they have given me so much confidence. Knowing what I've learnt from these classes empowers and reassures me whenever I am out somewhere by myself.''

    Hannah O'Brien ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • ''I was really nervous about starting a course as it’s completely out of my comfort zone or skill set but Steve is so personable he immediately put me at ease''

    Tamara Fletcher ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Have You Been Affected By Gener Base Valence?

We operate on a social enterprise model, so we can do more to help others

We offer people who have been affected by GBV the opportunity to build back their confidence and learn some pretty cool skills at the same time.

While our courses aren't strictly for people unfortunate enough to have been affected by GBV we do offer some help and will provide extra consideration

Contact us by clicking on Botton below and we would love to hear from you

Why not follow us on Instagram?

About Brighton
Women’s Self Defence

The Brighton Women's Self-Defence programme is a simple and effective self-defence system.
Giving you the tools to manage different levels of attackers and empower confidence.

Learn to use leverage to overpower someone who is bigger and stronger than you.
Designed to give you what you need as fast and as simply as possible in a friendly environment.