How stuntwoman Amanda Giblin is helping to fight the real horror in Gold Coast homes

This Gold Coast stuntwoman is fighting a real-life horror show, empowering DV survivors and students with life-saving self-defence skills as terrifying new abuse trends emerge.

Stuntwoman Amanda Giblin, who is teaching women how to kick butt at Fierce Females. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

She barely escaped with her life.

When her partner was charged with her attempted murder, Kylie* thought she was safe.

Now he’s out on bail, awaiting trial, and Kylie is terrified she will become the next Tara Brown or Kelly Wilkinson.

She fears the system will fail her in the same way it has her Gold Coast sisters and that she will become the next deadly DV statistic.

But Amanda Giblin is helping Kylie literally take her life into her own two hands.

Though she prays it never comes to this, Ms Giblin is preparing Kylie to fight for her survival.

After decades working in the film industry as a professional stunt woman, as well as experiencing abuse herself, Ms Giblin founded Fierce Females to combine life-saving martial arts training with emotional and psychological support so that women like Kylie will use those skills when it matters.

“I have worked on Hollywood horror movies, they are nothing compared to what is happening in Gold Coast homes every week,” said Ms Giblin.

“The victims of crime and DV that I see are terrified, but even once they have the physical skills to fight back, there is still that social conditioning that means they hold back – sometimes until it is too late. It’s about giving them permission to yell, fight, kick, scream, it’s about giving them back their power.”

Amanda Giblin said the horror movies she had worked on were “nothing” compared to what is happening in many Gold Coast homes. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

After 15 years as the head of the stunt department at Warner Bros Movie World, and roles including acting as the stunt double for A-lister Emily Blunt in the Fall Guy film, Ms Giblin founded Fierce Females as a registered charity and not-for-profit organisation that offers self-defence programs, workshops, and one-on-one sessions that blend psychology and conflict resolution with hands-on mixed martial arts techniques.

Rather than training in a male-dominated gym with male coaches, every one of Ms Giblin’s trainers are women qualified in trauma-informed self-defence and the studio itself is a clean, bright and feminine space equipped with plenty of boxes of tissues.

Ms Giblin said Fierce Females worked with women’s refuges and shelters as well as with victims of crime, including high-risk referrals from the Queensland Police Service.

But no matter how successful her program, she can never meet demand for the service.

In fact, while she only has enough funding to train 18 female victims of crime each year, she said QPS currently wanted to refer 1500 women every single day to her service.

And the need doesn’t end there.

She said the Fierce Females self-defence prevention program that she ran in schools like All Saints Anglican School as well as the City of Gold Coast’s Active and Healthy program were not only popular, but the stories told by young girls were increasingly horrifying.

“The stories we hear are endless and consistent and escalating. Schools need to learn this is not bullying, this is abuse and violence,” she said.

“Where it used to be girls or women being slapped or hit, now there is strangulation, face-dragging and even torture – it shows a real hatred of women.

“The type of defence we teach has had to change as well, they practice climbing over the couch and saying ‘no, I don’t like it, stop’, because sometimes it’s hard to get those words out when you’ve been taught to be pretty, perfect and polite.

“We also have to show them how to get out of a chokehold. We’re really seeing the influence of torture porn and that is translating into sexual violence.

“Even the violence of girls against girls has changed. Years ago it was hair-pulling and shoving, now they are gutter-stomping. They are dragging girls across the concrete while they stamp on their head. This is not something only in lower socio-economic groups, these are privileged girls from privileged schools.”

Amanda Giblin with Emily Blunt during the shooting of Fall Guy.

Ms Giblin said she also heard stories of how the self-defence techniques helped save students.

She said while they were still horror stories, they were also proof of just how necessary the lessons were.

“I taught a group of girls how to get out of a wrist-grab, and they were sort of talking back, just being cheeky and acting like they knew it all, but they did listen,” she said.

“The next week, one of the girls ran up to me and said a boy at the bus stop had grabbed her and tried to drag her down the street, but she used the technique and got out and ran away.

“As she was talking, a few other girls said they knew who that boy was and that he had sexually assaulted other girls.”

Despite the Fierce Females name, Ms Giblin said the program also worked with boys.

She said while there were plenty of martial arts dojos that boys could join, her classes taught more than just physical lessons.

“I have male facilitators to work with the boys, and females for the girls - we’re teaching them the same content but through a different lens.

“In both cases, we’re helping kids understand that they can be accountable, they don’t have to let anyone tell them how to think or how to act and they don’t have to be afraid to speak up.

“Obviously there are big gaps between gender experiences, but what’s underneath is the same disempowerment and fear.”

Ms Giblin said it was her own experience with abuse that drew her to learn more about emotional, psychological and physical self-defence.

She said while she was never physically hurt, she was a victim of coercion, verbal and financial abuse.

“Working in a very male-dominated industry as one of the only girls, I was never scared of my physical safety,” she said.

“My former partner knew that if he ever laid a hand on me there would be severe consequences. He never touched me because I am a physical weapon, but he used my weaknesses – my desire to people-please – to manipulate and coerce me.

“When I later saw a psychologist, she said that was part of the cycle of violence – it’s not always physical. It was such a revelation to me, and then I thought about all of the women who don’t have the physical skills that I do and the abuse that they are in danger of.

“That’s when I thought, let’s address both sides and that’s when I started developing Fierce Females. It took years to get the money together to register it properly as a charity and now it is my full-time work, but supplemented by film stunt work because I have to pay the bills.”

Ms Giblin the stories told by young girls were increasingly horrifying. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

Ms Giblin said with demand for her program only growing, she dreamed of a day when she could finally meet the need.

She said her hope was that school and community programs could help fund the service for victims of crime – although donations were also always welcome.

“I would love to see the prevention program in every high school, for both genders. Ideally, it wouldn’t be a one-off, but something that continued throughout high school – similar to what we currently do at All Saints – because with every year, teens have new challenges.

“It goes from bullying within friend groups to a guy pinning a girl against a wall at a party, but if we have planted that seed at an early age and continue to water it, the girls feel empowered to say and do something. The key is that being assertive early stops later aggression.

“Similarly, teaching about gender equality and respect to boys and girls early on can prevent so much.

“The best thing is that the kids really love the martial arts training, it’s cool and it’s fun. Then we slip in the important emotional and psychological side alongside it. It’s like hiding healthy veggies in a tasty meal.

“If we can find a way so these prevention programs can help fund our critical lessons for DV victims and survivors, that’s a fantastic model that can really help change the world.

“And I know it will save so many lives.”