Fighting & Women

I spend a lot of my time thinking about fighting, and a lot of my time thinking about the women in my life, so it is only natural that every now and again these two themes combine and I begin thinking about women and fighting.

Most women are not attracted to the martial arts, and they are especially not attracted to what I refer to as "functional" martial arts. Functional arts being those that require you to sweat, get hit, and generally learn to fight. I'd love to think that one day women will learn to fight the same as their male counterparts and we will somehow shed this perception that women are weaker, frailer beings and shouldn't know how to fight, shouldn't have to fight.

I train in Judo and Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, both functional arts, both require me to sweat, struggle, fight. There are two women in my Judo club, none in my BJJ club. Why? Because women almost as a rule do not think about fighting. One day, or a couple hour long, "self defense" classes are rampant spreading a false sense of security and doing little to keep those that take them safe.

I love watching a woman fight. I love watching the speed and agility that women seem to have naturally and I love knowing that at least there is one woman who knows how to defend herself if the need should arise.

I know I've said it before, and I know I'll say it again, but women need to get hit. Women need to know what it's like to have a larger, stronger, resisting opponent doing his or her best to cause them harm and once they know what it's like they need to know what to do about it, and hopefully how to prevent it.