Following the rape and murder of local singer Mia Zapata in 1993, a number of artists and musicians within Seattle began to meet and discuss the problems of violence within the community, and the lack of available resources such as self-defense classes, which were considered impractical and somewhat unaffordable. The birth of this organization was informal, with meetings originating as heated discussions in the living rooms of concerned women from the scene. However the group had trouble deciding how to organize and agreeing on the best methods of self-defense training to teach, so they chose to bring in teachers to help direct the course of their learning.