About us
Lowkick e.V. Self defense and Thai/Kickboxing for Women and Girls
Lowkick was formed on the 6th of September 2009 with an initial membership of 14 women. Now we have our own training rooms built for combat sports and self defense. We are a non profit association and have connections to the Landessportbund.
Feminist Sport and Self Defense for Women (1) and Girls in Berlin-Kreuzberg
Our trainings are aimed at Girls, Women, Trans- and Interpeople who experience society as female. We use the pronoun „she“ for all who train with us.
Lowkick is a feminist project that also takes part in the fight against racist, fascist, sexist and capitalist politics. Interculturalism is an important cause for us.
We see ourselves as part of the feminist sports movement that took off in the 80s. Some of our trainers have been involved in feminist self defense for more than 25 years. We know about the source, appearance and consequences of violence against women. Both despite and because of own experiences with violence, we want to enable women to train and defend themselves and to give them a possible controlled outlet for aggression.
Respectful interactions with one another is key. We strive to be a safe space and a space where women are able to uninhibitedly develop themselves.
Our rooms give women a place for solidarity with one another where we can develop and grow free of the omnipresent reference to men. At Lowkick, women are given a chance to experience themselves without being filtered through the male perspective. Despite years of emancipatory efforts, society still has a male dominated view on women and we try to keep this view out of our trainings.
We depend on Diversity and Consideration for one another – you are welcome with all your
Strengths and Weaknesses.
We want as many diverse women as possible training together at Lowkick. Our Rooms are
accessible for wheelchairs, strollers, etc through an elevator. We have a great interest in working
with women affected by different abilities and disabilities.
Talk to us if you have childcare needs. We can work with you to provide childcare accommodations for boys up to the age of six and girls of all ages.
The language of all our trainings is German but we have always found ways to communicate with women speaking other languages.
Our Target Group
We put a lot of thought into the target group definition of Lowkick.
Thai/Kickboxing/Wendo trainings are at times very physically close. We practice violent techniques in a controlled way. For us it is important to provide a safe space for simulated violence.
At Lowkick, we want to build a space for women, including women who have experienced violence by men, in trainings that feel empowering to all involved. This is one reason we do not
train men, Lowkick excludes any form of masculinity.
Since there is no explicit definition for „woman“ that includes every individual way femininity can be expressed, if we are unsure of someone’s gender identity, we will ask that person. Women can and should look diverse and femininity can be expressed in countless ways. As such, we would appreciate it if anyone who is not sure if Lowkick is the right place for them contact us about it. In this way, we enable a considerate atmosphere free from distrust and insecurity.
Our target group definition applies to all our trainings.
Lowkick’s approach to sport promotes trainings where every woman can freely change the class she is attending depending on her current ambitions. (combat sports-health sports-self defense-condition training)
We are aware that people who do not fit into our target group definition are affected by sexist violence and still want to train self defense or combat sports in a safe and friendly space. Therefore we would like to refer you to these Links where you can find other clubs where it‘s possible for you to learn self defense and combat sports.
Thaiboxing and Kickboxing from Women for Women – Why the category Women?
We are aware of the discussion among feminists surrounding the importance of a deconstruction concerning the gender categories. We are also aware of the critiques concerning the category ‘Woman’. Especially in Berlin there are many people who identify outside of the gender binary or are in transition, but relate to the women/lesbian movement and would rather train with us than in mixed groups.
We know there is no space free of discrimination. The establishing of our target group policy is the decision for something.
When we founded Lowkick in 2009, we made the decision to only allow women and girls in our association. As feminists with a wish to push for societal change, we followed the academic
discussions about the borders of gender categories and practical initiatives for WomenLesbianTransInter-Organisations. Non-Male Trans and Inter people have always been
welcome at Lowkick, and are very welcome today. But we are explicitly not a Queer Space. We are a Feminist Space. As a feminist association, we provide a safe space for women and girls. We consider it important (still today) to explicitly name ourselves women and be present in a shared space as women. We value the diversity of what it means to be female to different women, while we also search for our shared identity in as women. Our work is about fighting the violent discrimination of women as women. We want our club to be present as women. We are explicitly not associated with men or masculinity. At the same time we want ‘Woman’ to be understood as a category with lots of space for different forms of expression.
We advocate for a proactivet approach to the political concept of „Woman“. We want a political concept of Womanhood that can also assert itself in current socio-political discourse. We know it is hard to explicitly define the term „Woman“, therefore everyone who experiences life and society as a women is welcome to train with us.
(1) in the following we will only use the term „Woman“. See paragraph directly above this sentence. „Thaiboxing and Kickboxing from Women for Women – Why the category
Women?“