Kitty Marion was born Katherina Maria Schäfer in Germany. She immigrated to London in 1886 when she was fifteen, and she grew to minor prominence when she sang in music halls throughout the United Kingdom during the late 19th century. She became known in the field for standing up for female performers against agents, corruption, and for better working conditions. She joined the Women's Social and Political Union in 1908, engaged in selling their newspaper Votes for Women and became a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom for her participation in civil unrest protests including riots and arson. As a result, Marion was arrested many times and is known for having endured 232 force-feedings while on hunger strike in prison. She is quoted as saying “there are no words to describe the horrible revolting sensation.” When World War I started she emigrated to the United States, and there she joined the team on Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Review. Although she used her tenacity and loud voice to get people to pay attention to her cause, she did not use violence as much as she had in the United Kingdom, although she was still arrested many times for advocating birth control.