Beaten by woman

[Sunrunner]

I may be in the minority in this but the majority of my instructors have been women. There have always been at least two on the testing boards, and the head instructor of my academy is a woman I've been learning under for the last who knows how many years. It seems to me that martial arts organizations are becoming more egaltarian, more quickly than a lot of other institutions.

[Quest33]

I must say that the one woman that I actually think would possibly beat the crap out of me is Shellie Blanks. I saw her ability when I visited LA and I must say that she can hold her own.. though she is probably 110 lbs and 5'2".

 

Unless a woman is absolutely good at the martial arts I would not want to give them a false sense of security. The honost question is whether or not she could handle someone on the street. Could she fend off an attacker who has a knife? Could she take him on one on one until he is down? I teach women in self defense to hit hard, hit fast and play dirty.. then break away making lots of noise.

 

I taught a girl recently to punch for the throat for a rapist/mugger/perp she practiced this and I must say that it was effective. I am pretty big and muscular and I quickly realize that if she successfully landed a blow to my throat that I would be on my knees attempting to figure out how I would be taking my next breath. This girl is a small and petite type too. It takes technique and it takes cool thought. A woman needs to know how to use the flush of adreneline for her advantage. She should do what she can to disable the attacker and get away.

 

It is not arrogance or macho stupidity that I say this but I have yet to find a woman who can handle an onslaught from me. I use this as a teaching opportunity for the women I teach to show them how to decieve me and to land effective blows that I would not be ready for on the street if I were criminal.

 

So to say it one last way; A woman should be absolutely good before she should feel confident to "take a man down" in a real life situation. The dojo is much different, even though she may be good there. Giving a false sense of security could be absolutely devastating.

[delta1]

Quest33, what you say is true, and in reality situations it pretty much goes for all of us- not just the women. But sometimes they may not be studying for self defense. Some people just want sport or self improvment, which is fine. I've allways said though, man or woman, don't delude yourself that what you do will work for real if you don't practice it realistically. It might, but I wouldn't want to depend on it.

[sAtelitte]

My first experience with women and MA:

 

During a training i had to pair up with a girl (who was new to the scene and struck me as someone who was afraid to brake a nail). We had to do an excercise where we had to hit each other hard on the arms in order to strenghten them. So naturaly i was annoyed cause i thought that she was barely going to hurt me. After 10 minutes both my arms really hurt and were quite bruised

 

Learnt my lesson there not to underestimate the female martial artists, not even the beginners

[Fenris-wolf]

I dunno, but all the women I've seen fight have gotten to the point where there's almost no technique. They get so worked up and take it very personal if they're losing, sometimes, you can just tell they wish they could go for the hair. And cheap shots, oh there's plenty of those, we've all seen the video of the lady aiming a high kick at the man and then with all her strength kick as if she were kicking a field goal. Other than stretching and forms......mmmh, let's not get into that.

 

Alright, for a start... I know where you're coming from. The first couple of kickboxing fights I went to I was just cringing at the lack of skill from the women I saw.

 

But you're being stupid and offensive if you think seeing some bad fights from women means no women can fight well. Moreover, the comment about "just wishing they could go for the hair" really P*SSES ME OFF.

 

I am a woman (wow, scary huh?), and I'll tell you what, I haven't pulled anybody's hair since I was ten and one of the boys in my class pulled my hair. I have had only one fight, but I'll tell you what, I won by punching her, punching her some more and then kneeing the cr*p out of her. And I was tidy. So don't you dare make patronising generalisations just because you were lucky enough to grow up as a male!!

 

And just to extend my rant a little... I do think a lot of the time (within my experience) women are let in the ring too early, possibly because their instructors don't take womens fights as seriously? (This is only some clubs) Also, some clubs don't have women sparring men. I think this seriously impedes your skill. But then I do a full contact MA.

 

Well, back to the topic...

 

I've never actually seen any sparring or fights where a woman is obviously kicking some male posterior , but the other day I was sparring with one of the guys in my class who has a tendency to start hitting harder when he's losing rather than using skill. Being taller and with more reach and power it kinda started to get on my nerves. So I baisically responded in kind, throwing back two straights, a hook and a left head cut kick in the smoothest, fastest fashion I have ever achieved (I was so happy!), putting him on the back foot. Before it could go any further though our instructor calls a time. Yay me.

 

BTW, there was no hard feelings, he congratulated me on how good it was - he's certainly no stranger to being hit hard.

[Fenris-wolf]

P.S. (Wow, I'm feeling verbose today!) I really appreciate your point Quest33, I think that is really important too.

 

Too many girls go to a self defence course and then think they can fend off an attacker - I also think it is very important woman learn how to take a hit. You know how it is when you first start full contact sparring (maybe) and you just don't know how to react to being punched in the face. If someone hit me, I would hit them straight back. The advantage the attacker has is that moment of shock and confusion, and considering a lot of rapists etc. are pretty much bullies, having someone look straight back at them and attack is going to take away a lot of their power.

 

OK, I'm spent!

[ramymensa]

Self confidence goes the same for both sexes. Men and women should study diligently and not feel super human from the moment they've entered MA classes. In a street situation they both must have good reactions and a good technique base ... so let's not put only women in this matter.

[Fenris-wolf]

You know what? I fully agree. It is more predominant in women, but men can be in equally bad situations and what is worse they do not get the sympathy a woman gets.

[Beka]

yeah, but a woman has to deal with blame. If a man is jumped it's like 'dang, that sucks'. Not totally sympathetic, but not insulting, either. If a woman is raped we're faced with "well what the hell were you doing there at that place at that time in that skirt!?!?!"

 

That's not *every* time, sure, but it's a clear double standard. One that makes me want to get all karate on people's rear ends...

[Quest33]

Beka, there are situations that yeah I think "what on earth was she doing there dressed like that?!". But most of my time my reaction goes something like this "GRRRRRR, that scumbucket. I need help women how to protect themselves!!"

 

I rarely blame the woman, she by all rights should freaken feel free to jog down a park path if she feels like it! Unfortunately we live in a world with evil men it and she can't. It is not her fault, the blame rests fully on the perp. The woman should always assume the possibility of danger and take precautions.

 

Fenris, yes both men and women need to learn how to take a hit and drive on. I have met a lot of MEN who whimper when they get hit in sparring.... shame, shame.