Fourteen years ago my dad had the greatest idea. As a feminist, he would not accept any kind of abuse against his only daughter. He knew it was his job to set an example and give me the required tools to face abuse. So, he decided I needed to learn self-defense. I wasn’t going to become a victim. Therefore, I've trained in Taekwon-do ITF since I was nine years old. I got my black belt at fifteen and a bunch of medals with it, I was good. Training became the secret of my calmness. It kept me focused and gave me a better understanding of myself. As you know, there are a lot of benefits to martial arts for a person, just watch Bruce Lee. However, I never thought about the influence of martial arts in my position as a woman. I always thought that my strong inclination for equality and gender justice was genetic. It is a logical assumption when you have my dad as a role model. But lately, I understand why I don’t think of men as a standard of superiority, or why the women who need a strong male figure to assemble Ikea furniture get on my nerves. Largely, it’s because of my training.

As a woman in martial arts, I got to fight against men sometimes bigger than me. I got to do the same amount of push-ups as they did. I got to punch as strong as they punched. I got to endure a two-hour training on my period, which is a little more difficult than you think. I found myself doing all of these things, suddenly demanding my rights in front of a man does not seem so frightening. Protecting myself against abuse seems like a piece of cake and my position as a woman is on the same level as anyone’s position as a man, because you know, I can kick your ass. Yet, it is not only my physical strength that plays an important function. As a woman in martial arts, I understand my body a little bit better, plus I have come to love it in all its glory. I learned to remain calm under stressful situations and to think before speaking. I understand there are consequences to my actions. I learned to respect not only my friends but also my opponents. I learned to set limits to my tantrums and I understand that losing is part of life, as it is getting up and continuing the hard work. All these benefits for a woman living in a man's world make a huge difference in every aspect of life. I became somebody who looks at women and men as equals and I know that everything he can do, she can do, too.

All these years I have had the idea that martial arts are a big step in the fight against gender violence and gender inequality. Imagine transmitting all those benefits to vulnerable women.

To women who believe in their inferiority as a human, perhaps it's because that’s what they’ve been taught all their life. Imagine giving those women weapons to fight, the strength to endure a hard battle, and the right mentality to win. Imagine hearing them say, “I can do this”, after two grueling hours of training. Hearing them say, “I can do this”, after deciding they aren’t victims anymore.

I believe respect comes from within. If we, as women, don’t give ourselves the position we deserve, nobody is going to do it for us, so we fight. We fight with our conceptions of what we think we are. We remind ourselves of what we can achieve by achieving something we thought impossible, like fighting a man. We stop thinking of ourselves as the weak sex (physically and mentally). We start punching a wall until our knuckles become so hard that a knockout is inevitable. I dream in a world where women find themselves saying “Are you going to rescue me, baby? Please, I am a black belt. I am rescuing myself.”