In the late nineteenth century, American women were fighting for their right to vote and venturing out in cities by themselves for the first time—where they faced nonstop threats, stalking, and sex assault from “mashers,” a slang term for harasser.
It happened so often, progressives everywhere started to learn jiu-jitsu to defend themselves, and some of the earliest mentions of the art form can be found in newspaper articles about their violent struggles for equality.
All the articles in our latest zine are 100% real, and show that while Helio Gracie was still in diapers, women were resisting police brutality and fending off rapists with judo throws and armlocks.
And remember, mashers are still very much around—so let’s keep learning self-defense and let’s keep smashing the menace.
