Resistance and self-empowerment

Feminist self-defence as a response to femicidal violence

Abstract

This work examines feminist self-defence as a strategy for countering and responding to femicidal violence. The starting point is the persistent gender-based violence against women and feminised bodies, which manifests in various forms up to femicide and is entrenched by patriarchal social structures. Building on theoretical concepts by Diana Russell and Marcela Lagarde y de los Ríos, femicide and femicidal violence are analysed as expressions of systemic patriarchal power relations – while critically questioning why despite growing attention, no fundamental changes to these power relations have yet been achieved.

In this context, the focus shifts to the question of concrete strategies for countering and combating this violence. Amidst the tension between political stagnation, societal backlash and feminist resistance, feminist self-defence is gaining in importance.

Using constructivist grounded theory based on guided interviews with practitioners of feminist self-defence, the meanings, practices and effects of this form of resistance are reconstructed. The analysis shows that feminist self-defence is more than a physical technique. It functions as a practice of self-empowerment, consciousness-raising and collective resistance. The key categories of resistance and self-empowerment illustrate that feminist self-defence both strengthens individual agency and enables collective transformation by challenging social norms and fostering solidarity.

At the same time, the study clearly outlines its limitations: feminist self-defence cannot, on its own, dismantle structural power relations; it often remains confined to the level of individual action, and it is dependent on social, economic and institutional power structures. Without a comprehensive political, social and legal transformation, it runs the risk of obstructing political change by shifting responsibility onto the individual.

The conclusion therefore argues that feminist self-defence should be understood as a political practice that not only addresses but actively challenges patriarchal power relations, and which, in conjunction with collective struggles, educational work and structural change, can bring about lasting change.