hey first off let me say this is a great discussion, some good points raised so here is my two cents. First off I get offended if they take it easy on me because I am a girl I know I am not very big Iam 110 pounds but that don't mean I can't take a hit . If I do I say good hit and keep going , my teachers will have a couple minutes of sparring then he will have us change partners which I like because I like sparring with different people with various belt levels. I was sparring with one guy and I asked why is he hitting me harder he said he don't want to hurt me lol I said I be more concerned on what I am gonna do to you , from then on we sparred on an equal level.