SHADOW SISTXRS: HOW I’M LEARNING TO PROTECT MY OWN SOUL
Britain is becoming less safe for women. According to Sisters Uncut, UK funding cuts now mean four in five BME survivors who approach domestic violence refuges for help are being turned away. A report published by the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee last November reveals that, while reports of violence against women and girls in the capital have been increasing over the past four years – with an 11 percent year on year increase in reported rapes and sexual offences – infuriatingly, the “extra pressure” on police forces (all too apparent in light of government cuts to the Metropolitan Police) means fewer reports have lead to individuals being charged.
“It became clear to us that there was an urgent need for women to take their safety into their own hands”
After a spate of intermittent nighttime attacks on the streets surrounding Haringey’s Warehouse District (the most horrifying involving two male attackers forcibly dragging a resident towards their car on her homeward path) a hotline was set up especially for women in the area to report to. Such disturbing anecdotes, unknown to the press and circulated only within a localised Facebook group, became alarming common knowledge to residents in the community – myself included. It became clear to us that there was an urgent need for women to take their safety into their own hands and shortly after, Ayesha Tan-Jones responded to this call and co-founded Shadow Sistxrs Fight Club as a self defence class for women, non binary folk, and QTIPOC witches.
Uniquely, SSFC is a defence group that pays homage to combative women of colour role models such as Sarraounia Mangou, animist chief and priestess of the Hausan Azna tribe who defeated French colonists at the Battle of Lougou (1899) in present-day Niger,Keiko Fukuda, pioneer of women’s judo and highest ranked judoka in history and Tura Satana, gang rape survivor, martial-artist, exotic dancer and B-movie legend.variably enshrined in myth, history and popular culture.
Just like Satana, a younger me tried to reappropriate my East Asian martial arts heritage from its quasi-stereotypical connotations and studied Karate, later taking a one-day intensive training introduction to Wing Chun Wushu at an academy for potential Shaolin monks. SSFC took that latent romanticism of mine even further. Its handbook contains a rousing manifesto that claims,
“We fight for our safety
We could punch a fascist in the face in our sleep
We exorcise neoliberal, patriarchal, radical rightwing ideologies and exercise our rights to freedom
We fight for Sarah Reed, Sandra Bland […] and all other women and men who have died in police custody
We will take every drop of moon juice and smother it on the faces of our enemies
And the blood, OH! the blood! we will feed it to the trees”
Of course, the group is also a coven. Remarking on their fundamental principles when setting up the club, Tan-Jones states that “a connection back to our higher selves through the aid of earth’s herbal gifts and through sacred ritual is important for our healing. Combining useful self-defence techniques allows us to build our confidence when out on the streets, and gives us a deeper connection to our physical bodies. We treat our classes like a ritual, we dedicate ourselves in those hours to this learning, and set our intentions accordingly.”
Unlike conventional self-defence clubs, Shadow Sistxrs puts an emphasis on teaching both physical and metaphysical self defence. As a self-professed novice-witch, this fusion between the practical and esoteric totally captivated me and piqued my investment in the series. Each session focusses on one of the seven chakras, and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu taught complements and harnesses the energies associated with each of these spiritual loci.
To read more of Beau Xu's article for Gal-Dem click here.