Ladies of the MA

[KarateK]

I dont think I am treated too differently as I feel I have proved myself against many of the men in the club. I do however sometimes get frustrated with some of the slightly less agressive and committed women in the dojo - I understand they use karat purely as either a workout or self defence and this is all fine (oays the bills) however I worked hard to get the respect i have in the dojo and I wouldnt like to think that men lump all the women in together.

On the same note I see some rather weak men also, I dont generalise and say all of the men are weak so I hope the same isnt done to us. Rant over

[JoeDeezy]

We have men and women in our school. And I give whatever I know my opponent can take, regardless of sex, age, size. You must practice self control at all times. It does no good to hurt anyone who is not, at the time, a mortal enemy.

[bbk2132]

at my dojo, there is a saying. "There are no women or men here. Just Goju people."

Thats the way people treat it. We are all equal as people, but our skills and ranks are different. We judge by abillity not gender.

It used to be guys lower rank than me wouldn't train with me because i am a very scrawny girl...so theirfor i must be weak and not worth training with... that made me angry as well as one of my senseis (the girl sensei of course XP) and she lectured them. hehe, now i fight with the big boys.

I think, i get respect because i work hard and i am a black belt. I take hits, hard hits, without complaint. I've never felt that i had to prove myself because i was a girl. I felt need to prove myself because i am a teenager and so many are younger and bigger than me if anything at all.

So i guess the answer is it is just forgotten when i bow into my dojo, and i become a "goju person"

[Tef]

For the most part, there aren't any differences how boys and girls are treated in dojo, but sometimes girls will question techniques with groin-strikes in them with the enivitable "what if my attackers a girl/woman?"

In my point-break sparring class, there isn't a problem of the actual contact, but with partnering up. In my class, we have to partner up by age and size. The person who is my size and age almost excatly is a girl named "Brit" (not her real name). The problem arises when I choose her because of our physical compatability in sparring. the head instructor will come over after sparring group and ask me "Look, we really can't have any relationships inside dojo." I find it crazy b/c she's not my type. On the flip side, when she chooses me, she is commended for taking the "challenge" of partnering up with someone faster than she is.

Other than that, it's all good at dojo.

One,

Tef

[gzk]

My instructor tries to eliminate gender differences in training as much as possible, a good example being "There are no 'girl push-ups' in my school. You fought for equality, you got it!", but we do have some slight modifications for things like pressing against the chest to spin for an armbar when we grapple; the female puts her other arm over her chest and the male pushes off of that. For striking, it's basically no different. We start off light and get heavier if our partner can take it, regardless of sex or size.

Having said that, he did also mention, as part of a short talk about respect and looking after our partners, that we can't imagine what it could be like for a rape victim who has joined up to learn self-defence, and is immediately mounted, has someone in her guard etc, so the only thing we can do is make everyone as comfortable as possible. It's something I personally am mindful of when I train, and I think pretty much everyone I train with is the same that way. Of course, it applies in some way to males who have been beaten in the street too, though obviously it's not the same.

As for my personal experience, I've grappled with one girl a couple of times, mounted her, had her in my guard and vice versa and there were no apparent problems with that. When she held the pads for punching drills, I noticed she either couldn't or just wasn't providing much resistance and the pads gradually shifted. Of course that could happen with a male too, just sayin' what I saw...

[username8517]

For the most part, there aren't any differences how boys and girls are treated in dojo, but sometimes girls will question techniques with groin-strikes in them with the enivitable "what if my attackers a girl/woman?"

I love when I get this question. My reply is always, "Well there still is a large amount of nerves located there. If you hit them hard enough it will still hurt."

And as gzk mentioned, when I grappled with a female in the past in all the positions and guards I don't think there was ever any kind of issue other than okay, what do I need to do now between the two of us.

[bushido_man96]

For the most part, there aren't any differences how boys and girls are treated in dojo, but sometimes girls will question techniques with groin-strikes in them with the enivitable "what if my attackers a girl/woman?"

I love when I get this question. My reply is always, "Well there still is a large amount of nerves located there. If you hit them hard enough it will still hurt."

This is true. The area is still sensitive to strikes, even on women.

[marie curie]

I've had a kind of interesting situation- my club used to be pretty much all girls and my fiance, and now its pretty much all boys, me and another girl.

I'd say that we are treated differently a little, but mostly because we are higher ranks than most of the guys and they are scared of us ..ok, maybe not.. but they do mostly just treat us how they treat others of our rank.

[kikal0t]

First off i thort u were a girl as well obiswanbane (not from ur avatar cos thats jessica alba) but jus generally, i duno? sory mate!

back to the topic, the difference between men and women in MA.

In my club i dont see myself as different which is kinda weird cos wen other girls come an train they remind me that i am if that makes sense? an example, sensei got us doin push-ups and as we were doin them we had to pair up with a higher grade cos they were gonna provide resistance by pushing on our backs. this higher grade said, "u can use ur knees u know, ur a girl" i said thanks 4 the tip but to be honest i dont feel exceptions shud be made.

The other 2 areas of training are grappling and sparring, most of the guys are fine with grappling cos im not embarrased so that put them at ease cos grappling is just sparring on the floor, thats how i see it.

sparring itself is a rite laff! some girls tend to spar to get their technique right and dont go in there full-on to knock sum1 out. Some guys spar like pansys cos they think "oh its a girl i mite break her!" and ther are other guys who think, "its a girl finally sum1 i can beat up cos their smaller than me", an they get right in without any control.

I guess my point in general is that its not so much a gender issue (although it could be argued in broad terms) but its the state of mind of the individual and how they approach training from their point of view with regards to technique, control and respect.

either way men and women can excel in the MA equally but by their own unique physical and mental attributes.

[stejitsu]

Our sifus wife trains with us from time to time. She has great technique and us blokes know we have to be on our game when we train with her, or we get chinned LOL.