On April 15^th, Marie Murphy, a junior at Dominion High School, held a self-defense class in honor of National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Over a dozen women gathered in the school cafeteria in order to learn new ways to protect themselves in the face of an attack.

Murphy, the President of Girls Learn International, a feminist organization, decided to host the class to raise awareness for violence against women. In a sport that mostly attracts men, Murphy is one of few women who participate in Muay Tai, the martial arts sport. Muay Tai teaches important self-defense skills that could be very useful if assaulted.

Eager to teach the skills she learned to other women in the community, Murphy looked to her Muay Tai instructor, Christopher Aboy for help. “I’m really involved in Muay Tai and my instructor was really optimistic when I asked him to help me organize the class,” Murphy said.

To bring attention to the class, Marie put up dozens of posters around school advertising the event. At just $10 a person, Marie and her instructor taught numerous skills to those in attendance. “My instructor came and talked about sexual violence, and we practiced what do if an attacker grabbed your wrist.”

The money made off of the class went towards a charitable cause. Murphy rose over $150 to donate to a school in Pakistan. “This money will help them by books and other school supplies.”

Aboy, Murphy’s instructor, understands how difficult it is for a woman to participate in a sport dominated by mostly men. “She is the perfect girl and anybody that trains at TAG, especially if they are female, they better know how to realistically protect themselves and understand their abilities and capabilities. She has shown not only women can do this brutal and effective sport, but there’s beauty with it as well.”

Almost 20 girls attended the self-defense class, including junior Donya Zargham. The attendees learned about different scenarios that could happen to young women, such as in the college and university setting.  Zargham explained how they “learned really basic stuff, like just scenarios that would happen to teenagers, for example, getting a guy off of you on a date.”

Ultimately, Zargham concurred that she would definitely attend another Muay Thai self-defense class. She learned many new skills that were “really useful” compared to the little information she knew about self-defense prior to taking the class.