Self-defence classes focus on safety, confidence, community for Toronto sex workers

At a small Toronto boxing gym, people punch, jump, duck, and laugh. Working up a sweat is just one goal for those who are there. 

All the participants in this class are sex workers — and they're there to learn self-defence. 

"As part of my work, obviously safety is always a concern," said a sex worker who uses the name Selene.

"Hopefully I won't have to use it, but it's better to be prepared." 

CBC Toronto has agreed to use the working names of sex workers interviewed for this story.

The classes are organized by the Maggie's Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, in response to an uptick in members reporting incidents of violence and harassment. 

Maggie's executive director Ellie Ade Kur said the ask for self-defence classes came directly from members. 

"One of the things we hear a lot from sex workers is the issue around facing direct violence. Often not being able to necessarily defend or report that violence or be taken seriously," Ade Kur said. 

The group received a $50,000 grant from Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to fund the classes, and Maggie's partnered with local boxing coach Frederic Montaricout to teach them. All 30 spots were filled within 24 hours, and within a week there were another 50 on the wait list. 

"It grew a lot faster than any of us were really expecting it to, the level of demand and excitement for it," Ade Kur said. 

The classes began in March, and will run until the end of June. After more than two months, there's clear progress, Montaricout said. 

"I think everybody changed like differently … physically and mentally." 

For Alexia Woodroe, the biggest takeaway from the classes has been confidence. 

"The confidence in certain moves, the confidence in how I walk, the confidence in that if something were to happen, I have some idea of what to do, if at least just to get out of the situation," Woodroe said.