Women in Martial Arts

Discussion in 'Women's Self Defence' started by ICT, Mar 7, 2004.

  1. shotokanwarrior

    shotokanwarrior I am the One

    Yeah, I train with the senior lads at my school and they're fine with it, quite happy to ram me through the floorboards hard enough to leave contusions. Not that I find myself at a disadvantage - I kick the crap out of them too. Quite fun actually...I'm not sure that fullcontact fighting is quite so scary. I might take up MT or something when I'm old enough to get around:)
     
  2. wrydolphin

    wrydolphin Pirates... yaarrrr Supporter

    Don't worry about it Baubin, it took me two years to get my first tap. It also took a long time to get used to being the only girl, or rather, to get used to being the first person that the smelly, fat, hairy new guys always picked to roll with first. If nothing else you learn to sit through a good smushing.
    I have yet to find a group of guys who hasn't been cool about training grappling with a girl. I even went to a tournament by myself (no team) and once the guys realized I was going solo, they were awesome about coaching from the sidelines.
    Glad you like it and that we can add another to the "Grappling Girl" club. :)
     
  3. Kunoichi

    Kunoichi Valued Member

    I'm pretty new to groundfighting although I've been doing martial arts for a few years. I'm guessing the reason I started was because I used to always play fight with my big brother and have been determined for as long as I can remember to one day be able to beat him! He has the advantage of strength, hight, speed and technique so I'm still not quite there yet :p He has been a good teacher to me though (but I dont think he realises how much I learned from him).

    I'm yet to tap out anyone groundfighting but I get more determined every time. Like Baubin I was shown the ropes by a female but shes moved away due to work commitments so I'm now 1 of only 2 women there (but the other woman is not there often). Most guys are great but for a while there were 2 immature teen guys that made things akward. I try to avoid them as best I can but since we're working through the same syllabus its hard to. They have been getting better (at least at not giggling right at my face!).
    I know how it feels to be tapped all the time. The experienced guys are best to roll with as I learn most from them but they still don't quite let me get the submission. The new guys beat me with their weight advantage to squish me on the mat and their sheer determination to 'not get beat up by a girl'. All this just keeps pushing me to try harder next time and when I finally do get that submission, theres gonna be a party at my place :D
     
  4. Developing

    Developing Valued Member

    A lot of people I think are unaware of some key points. I will give just one. Take Bruce Lee for example. Probably the most popular and well recognized martial artist in recent years and can be credited with much of the popularity that martial arts now has. And if I'm not mistaken Bruce Lee's foundation for his arsenal was based off wing chung, taking the philosophy that if you get a strong foundation in something you can add on neccessary skills from other arts. Well I think no one would disagree that the foundation for anything is critical. Well Bruce's foundation comes from a woman. Wing Chung according to my studies was invented by a Buddhist nun named "Ng Mui." Her story says she was a very formidable fighter defeating several opponents including a man she did not want to marry.

    I personally am not in awe of any women who are proficient in the martial arts because they're women. I will always respect "you" (and by "you" I mean anyone I come in contact with) but I am not going to be in awe of you unless you impress upon me that your "skills" are just that good.
     
  5. shotokanwarrior

    shotokanwarrior I am the One

    Maybe this thread is not the place for it, but something that gets me extremely is the notion that if a male and a female are both as good can they can be, the female can never be as good as the male. If women are treated as equals, they will be equals. I train with heavier guys who wouldn't know the definition of the word control if you had them on a metal choke chain. Not a piece of cake. Do I complain? - no. Do I ask them to go easy? - nope, I get up without saying a word and give them the same treatment back.

    I don't mean to shake up this this discussion. But you hear a lot of crap about 'facing reality' and such, and it really isn't reality.
     
  6. Developing

    Developing Valued Member

    For the most part men are physically stronger than women but that says nothing of skill level in fighting. Size and strength in my opinion always make a difference but that doesn't mean a smaller more skillfull fighter cannot win, in fact that's usually what happens in a fight, the individual with the better technique is the victor. And also I think when a person is really strong this can sometimes work as a disadvantage. The men that the shotokan warrior has trained with are just some of the many examples of men who rely too much on strength and not enough on technique. And not to expose myself too much but I've been told by a lot of people that I am strong especially for my size. I'm not that big only about 6 feet between around 175lbs but I can lift weight that vastly exceeds my own body weight. And this has sometimes worked against me too. Because I was stronger than a lot of people who were bigger than me I tended to often rely on that and attempt to overpower people with my strength. That has proved detrimental against individuals with superior technique. The word "control" is something I've been hearing about very often over the last several years and its something that I've been working a lot on. Its been pointed out by different instructors both men and women so I agree with the comment that a woman can be just as good if not better than a man. I'll just reitirate the comment from my earlier post that you just have to impress upon me that your skills are just that good.
     
  7. shotokanwarrior

    shotokanwarrior I am the One

    I was training tonight and we were doing push ups and my sensei said the ladies could do them on their knees if they liked.

    I said VERY loudly (between effortless push ups:D) 'Balls to that!!!!' earning some smiles from the younger girls:D
     
  8. Developing

    Developing Valued Member

    Now see your the kind of person I like to train with.
     
  9. nForce

    nForce Banned Banned

    I dont want to cause any flame, and im glad women participate in martial arts and every other sports. But you have to face it that men are athletically superior to women.
     
  10. wrydolphin

    wrydolphin Pirates... yaarrrr Supporter

    What? All men are superior to all women?

    I think too many people put too much emphasis on that statement and read too much into it.
     
  11. nForce

    nForce Banned Banned

    I was talking about on average. Don't get me wrong i think women doing sports is great and think everyone should goto the gym, run, do sports, MA or whatever. But to say females want to be treated as equal as men in a fight is a bit unrealistic, no doubt theres alot of females who could pound my ass, i just think they need to realise how good they are and can be.
     
  12. wrydolphin

    wrydolphin Pirates... yaarrrr Supporter

    How about we say this, women wanted to be treated as equals in that, we wish to be treated the same as anyone with the same physical strength or skill level would be treated, regardless of sex?
    Better?
     
  13. nForce

    nForce Banned Banned

    Much better :)
     
  14. wrydolphin

    wrydolphin Pirates... yaarrrr Supporter

    Of course, does that mean you plan to go soft on all the smaller guys out there? There are, after all, just as many guys who are below average as there are girls who are above average for their sex.
     
  15. shotokanwarrior

    shotokanwarrior I am the One

    Good:D:love:
     
  16. oldshadow

    oldshadow Valued Member

    Anyone small/weaker/less skilled then you treat with respect. By that I mean just because you have the ability to pound someone to a pulp does not mean you need to ego trip and do it. You push any partner you work with to the best of their abilities. That’s what its all a bout.
     
  17. shotokanwarrior

    shotokanwarrior I am the One

    Agreed...but it should be the honest limit of their abilities and not just treating someone with kid gloves because they are supposedly weak.

    By the way, Developing, I meant 'good' that you approve of feminism
     
  18. Scarlet Mist

    Scarlet Mist Banned Banned

    How do you define feminism? I see it (from the so called "feminists" in these parts) as reverse sexism psuedo carp.
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2005
  19. shotokanwarrior

    shotokanwarrior I am the One

    No, I mean equality with men, not that sad 'all men are evil scum' mentality.
     
  20. Scarlet Mist

    Scarlet Mist Banned Banned

    Good, because people around here seem to confuse feminism with reverse sexism.
     

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