‘We feel unsafe in our own homes’: women in Brazil’s favelas learn to fight back amid rising violence

Demand for martial arts classes grows as women face increase in gender-based attacks In a martial arts studio at the entrance to one of Rio de Janeiro’s beachside favelas, a muay thai instructor teaches a group of young women how to avoid blows, protect their head while falling and break free from an arm grab. “Women are vulnerable,” Ana Paula Lima tells them, “but we don’t have to be helpless.” Sabrina Fortunato, a law student, is one of the 30 women who turned up for this free self-defence ...

By Constance Malleret in Rio de Janeiro