To get the public involved in a discussion of the issue of violence and to attract women’s attention to the issue of their self-protection, it was decided to tell women that an effective means to enhance their morale and physique is sports exercises and combat sports classes. However, most women usually associate sports club membership with tiresome exercises and traumas, rudeness and cruelty.

An unusual solution was proposed. For many young women today, a selfie stick is a typical accessory, as selfies are captured almost anytime, anywhere, and a selfie stick is always at hand. Considering the selfie stick’s popularity, the idea was to teach to use it as a self-defense weapon. So, a special class in self-defense with a selfie stick was launched at a combat sports centre, aimed to draw young women’s attention and show them easy ways to resist assault and champion their confidence.

Based on the creative idea for the social action, best combat sports professionals were invited to develop easy and effective technique of self-defense with a selfie stick. The launch of the training course attracted attention of Russian and international public to the issue of violence against women and their self-protection.

Timeline 30/10-2015 – 9/2/2016

Placement M-PROFI Combat Sports Centre, Moscow

Scale: Whole Russian Federation, Russian and international media, including ZDN, BBC, Daily Mail, Mirror, Quartz, METRO, Izvestiya, Gazeta.ru, First TV channel, TV Rain, Friday TV channel, Fifth TV channel and many more

Thanks to the social action and the self-defence monopod-fighting class, the general public was involved in a lively discussion of the issue of violence against women and their self-protection. In Russia, the story about the self-defense class appeared on most-watched TV channels: The First, Rossiya, The Fifth, TV Rain, Pyatnitsa, Mir 24, Podmoskoviye 360, Moskva-24, Ren TV, Yu, Lifenews, Russia Today and Euro news TV with live reports from the presentation show. Channels covered the initiative. The leading radio stations – Sport FM, Govorit Moskva, Vesti FM, Nashe Radio – gave special spots; Russian and international news agencies, Interfax, Reuters, BBC, and international periodicals, Metro News, The Daily Mail, The Mirror gave their reports; hundreds of comments and reposts appeared on VK.com and Facebook, the video gained thousands of views on youtube.com.

Bloggers proposed their versions of practical self-defence tools, while advising to practice combat sports by a more advanced program.