On this page you can find information about our upcoming events and classes, and how to book them.
| What | When | Where | Book tickets/more info |
| Beginners boxing & muay thai | Saturdays, 3pm | KO Community Projects, Bethnal Green | Book here |
| Intermediate muay thai | Tuesdays, 7pm | Dalston – more info on booking | Book here Tickets are released every month – follow Bender Defenders on Outsavvy for updates |
Lots of people are very nervous about coming to their first Bender Defenders class. The best advice we can give you is to take a deep breath and come! You’re more than welcome to bring a friend, and lots of people come on their own too.
We welcome queers of all abilities, particularly those who don’t feel at home in mainstream gyms. Our Saturday classes are designed to be beginner-friendly, although people of all abilities are welcome to attend and we always encourage people to push themselves (if they want to!). Our Tuesday classes are at a more intermediate level and include sparring.
Our classes are light-hearted, fun and playful. We don’t subscribe to mainstream fitness culture or diet culture. We don’t tolerate transphobia, fatphobia, ableism, racism or fascism. DM us on Instagram if you’d like to talk to a person before coming.
CAN I ATTEND A SELF-DEFENCE TRAINING, OR HIRE YOU TO RUN ONE?
We provide on-demand self-defence workshops for queer and trans community groups.
We approach self-defence from a compassionate, trauma-informed and community-led perspective. We teach participants simple, effective strategies for using physical force to keep themselves safe. We use physical movement as a way to release anxiety, anger and fear and to help participants connect with their bodies and their power. We believe that queer and trans people already have a wide range of self-defence skills to draw upon, and we encourage participants to collaborate with trainers in sharing these skills, enabling them to feel more confident and empowered when they use them. We also take a holistic view of self-defence, remembering that keeping people safe means more than avoiding danger in the moment – it means creating community systems to heal from the harm hate crime causes in the long term.
Our workshops are 2 hours long. In this time, you will learn about the legal meaning of self-defence, the importance and power of de-escalation,and some physical self defence techniques you can use, from experienced and knowledgeable queers. Email the.bender.defenders@gmail.com to enquire. And if you want self defence training, you should definitely come to our classes!!
We also deliver self-defence workshops for LGBT+ organisations and community groups on request – to hire us, or find out more about what we offer, email the.bender.defenders@gmail.com.
BENDER DEFENDERS 