Young women are equipping one another with safety skills, confidence one strike at a time

A dozen young women clad in athletic clothes stand barefoot on the heavy black mats of the Delaware Dragon Martial Arts studio in Newark, their eyes focused ahead of them, the eyes of famous fighters gazing back through photographs.

As they observe the instructor demonstrating how to lunge, twist and strike, and watch the mirrored versions of themselves mimic her every move, the tone is light-hearted, with a few laughs as the women listen to one another fall with a thud and roll.

But the night is anything but funny.

These young women are learning about self-defense from Rebecca Evans, an assistant martial arts instructor at the studio, as part of a women’s safety club at their schools.

Girls Unite for Defense (GUD) was founded nearly two years ago at Newark Charter School when current seniors Sanjana Medisetty, 17, and Anusha Devisetty, 17, created the group after either hearing about or experiencing situations in which young women felt threatened but lacked the resources to protect themselves.

At the time the organization was founded, a relative of Medisetty had been assaulted and did not know whom to go to or where to seek help.

“Through me witnessing it, it had me feeling really helpless and almost alone,” Medisetty said. “The thing of not knowing what was next kind of disturbed me.”

Similarly, Devisetty knew someone close to her that faced cyber harassment and wished there were something she could have done to help them.

“It really opened my eyes to how younger generations are really experiencing new things with technology and the internet,” Devisetty said. “They really lack the resources and education to keep them safe.”

Young people lack access to self-defense training

The extra push for the founding of this group stemmed from the reality that most free or readily affordable self-defense offerings are available only for those ages 18 and over, and state laws limit the size and type of weapons individuals can carry for self-defense purposes.

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“Our main thing is to have a really good system in Delaware because this is our local community where we’ve been brought up,” Medisetty said. “We just don’t find it fair to have to pay for safety or self-defense lessons.”

Through GUD, the Newark Charter seniors have started a movement to empower women and make a difference in the community along the way, allowing them “to be more proactive instead of reactive in certain situations.”

As the commands of Evans echo around the room, reverberating off the hanging punching bags and MMA apparel-lined walls, the women soak up her advice while practicing each move again and again. Evading a wrist grab. Forcing themselves out of a chokehold.

This monthly self-defense class is one of several offerings GUD provides to educate women about safety and protecting their well-being, an issue many young women are concerned about.

Young women face crucial need for self-defense skills

Every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. On average, there are 463,634 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the U.S., according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

Younger people are at the highest risk of sexual violence as the majority of victims are under 30 years old. Individuals ages 12 to 34 are at the highest risk for rape and sexual assault, with 1 in 6 women in the U.S. being the victim of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. One in 33 are the odds for men, reported RAINN.

For young adults, the demographic of GUD, encounters with sexual violence are much grimmer.

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Females ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than the general population to be rape or sexual assault victims. Women ages 18 to 24, typically in college, are three times more likely to experience sexual violence than women in the general public. Women of the same age, who are not in college, are four times as likely. Eighty-two percent of juvenile victims, and 90% of adult rape victims are female, according to RAINN.

Extending outreach to more young women

Since Newark Charter’s GUD club began, it has expanded to include 60 women, increased opportunities for members and created chapters at other local high schools, including the Charter School of Wilmington and Smyrna High School. Information on GUD’s website shares instructions for how students can create a GUD club at their own school.

The club meets biweekly and discusses a range of safety issues women might face, with meeting information available online afterward.

GUD aims to make sure its members are educated about how they can get involved in various social efforts, Medisetty said.

The group partnered with an organization focused on gender equality to create a phone banking event in response to the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade last summer. Members learned about what the ruling meant and how it impacts women before creating templates for contacting local government officials to voice their opinions.

GUD has hosted sessions about safety in the workplace, including combatting hostility and the mental strain of inappropriate workplace conduct, and has worked with Devisetty’s Girl Scouts troop, along with other nonprofits, to host similar events focused on women’s issues.

GUD is reaching out now to more organizations for partnerships and hopes to increase programming to include mental health and first-aid information, and to collaborate with other school-based clubs, in Delaware and beyond, said Devisetty.

'You want something you can rely on'

Evans, who has been at the Delaware Dragon for nine and a half years, says self-defense can be learned at any stage and gets stronger the more you practice, an effort that “makes permanent,” not perfect, she stressed.

“I’m very passionate about self-defense. It’s something that I think is very important,” she said. “When you’re in the moment and you’re scared, you want something that you can rely on.”

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Throughout the night’s session, Evans emphasizes that routinely practicing self-defense helps combat the assumption most people make about attackers being bigger, stronger or faster, and gives you the confidence to stand up for yourself instead of feeling helpless.

Empowering younger people to protect themselves

Inspired by their own self-defense lessons, GUD founders have plans to implement a youth self-defense program this spring.

It will be a three-week, outdoor workshop for anyone in grades K-6 and will teach simple self-defense techniques, creating a “sustainable system where the [kids] can learn from us and teach others,” Medisetty said.

Paying the knowledge of self-defense forward is an aspect of GUD that Isheta Kulshreshtha, 16, is passionate about, and the group's offerings have her eager to continue learning.

“It feels so empowering to be part of a group that has a similar mindset when it comes to women’s defense on all platforms,” said Kulshreshtha, a member of the Charter School of Wilmington’s GUD chapter, of her first self-defense class. “I really liked the simplicity of it. She walked through everything really well and we were able to practice it with the group, so it was really nice.”

After an hour and a half, these young women have more tools to protect themselves from threats, the movements of their bodies a visual representation of the muscle memory blossoming and the newfound sense of safety — and confidence — taking shape within each of them.

“As a woman, hearing [about assaults] over and over again made me feel like I wanted to know how to protect myself,” Kulshreshtha said. “With more practice, I feel like I can defend myself if I ever am in that situation, so I definitely think this is very valuable.”

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware teenagers advocate for, teach women's self-defense