Any other gals out there?

[mindsedgeblade]

You know, there were more women in my karate school than all of my engineering and math classes for a given year combined...

I know this was meant as a hooray for karate, but it still makes me really sad how unequal academia is. ;_;

Go female entomologists!

How many women are in BUG science?!

[Shizentai]

How many women are in BUG science?!

Actually, my department only has one man (lol, poor guy!). In general it's a male dominated field, but I don't see it so much these days.

[mindsedgeblade]

How many women are in BUG science?!

Actually, my department only has one man (lol, poor guy!). In general it's a male dominated field, but I don't see it so much these days.

Is it a department of two by any chance?

[Shizentai]

Actually, my department only has one man (lol, poor guy!). In general it's a male dominated field, but I don't see it so much these days.

Is it a department of two by any chance?

Eleven

[evergrey]

Hey Shizentai!

I read your webcomic. :}

I like to share the joy for martial arts with my mate, but I do see that it could get quite challenging. Have to be careful

There are a number of women at the dojo sensei and I are training at now (under his sensei, now shihan) and it's nice to see- I met a female shodan on Thrusday, and we discussed starting a women's true full contact club someday, if I survive long enough to read brown belt! That's when I can start training full contact, according to Shihan.

I asked Shihan why there wasn't any full contact for women in the area. He said that World Oyama had it, but I said "with no padding?"

"Well, no, they make you wear padding, which I don't agree with but it's not my tournament. You don't want to do full contact anyway- your punches are too weak, and your wrists couldn't handle it yet."

"Oh no, I meant LATER, when I am more experienced."

"Well then, when you are a brown belt you can start your training for it, not before."

I really liked that he did NOT tell me I couldn't ever do it just because I was a girl. There are plenty of people who would...

I think there must be other women who want to do bare knuckle full contact in the area!

[Shizentai]

Hey Shizentai!

I read your webcomic. :}

Yay! Thank you so much!

I really liked that he did NOT tell me I couldn't ever do it just because I was a girl. There are plenty of people who would...

This is something I've thought about a lot. In fact, it's kind of what hooked me on training karate for the long haul. When I first began training I was rather small and weak health-wise (though admittedly, I still sorta am ). Add to that my being a 14-year-old girl at the time, and pretty much no soccer coach or dance instructor would let me do much, or expect much of me for that matter. When I tried karate for the first time I was amazed to see that my sensei had the same high expectations of me that he did of his other students. That simple feeling of equality, that in the dojo, the world is as it should be... that is something that I appreciate a lot.

[evergrey]

Yes! EXACTLY!

I have learned a lot about myself in the dojo... I was very badly injured a few years back, and I didn't realize until recently just how much I have been holding myself back...

"I CAN'T do that, are you serious? I could NEVER do that!"

I kept seeing myself as a girl with a broken body in a hospital bed, unable to sit up or roll on her side unassisted.

The change started with my horsemanship mentor (a 4th dan in Aikido, haha!) and continued with my sensei... then we started training at the dojo of his shihan, and he tells me to do all kinds of things that my brain automatically screams "you CAN'T do that" at!

But he expects me to do it and I do... I probably have a look of shock on my face a lot in the dojo.

Like the first time I tried falls, and then carefully got up using my hands and my knees.

"We don't use hands and knees to get up here!" he said to me.

I looked over at the shodan who was training me in the falls and said "uhm, excuse me but may I ask a question? How do I get up without my hands and knees?"

So he showed me, rocking back and then springing up on his toes.

I thought, "no way can I do that!"

But I tried it. The first time, I got up on my toes but then fell on my side. The second time, I got up on my toes and stayed there.

Shihan bellowed from across the dojo "SEE? MUCH BETTER!"

A little part of me was thinking "but I shouldn't be able to do this!" But another part of me was saying "wow! I did it! I CAN do it!"

I think that's a part of why his students clearly love him so much. He believes in them, and expects them to do things they don't even realize they're capable of. But because he believes it, they try, and when they succeed, they gain confidence they wouldn't have found, otherwise.

[sensei8]

Ev,

OSU!! I'm so proud of you!!

[evergrey]

OSU,

Thank you, sensei8!

Tomorrow is another class day. I'm always so nervous beforehand, and so happy and excited (and exhausted, haha!) after...

[dragonwarrior_keltyr]

Another girl checking in.