Uechi-Ryu.com

Im sure you all noticed that very few woman tend to be in MA.


Probably due to cultural 'conditioning'.


And those that are in MA tend to be in dojos that play with little contact.


How would one go about makng ''hard'' or ''alive'' training more appealing to woman?

That's a billion dollar question.

There are all women dojo - and a higher concentration of them in the western parts of the US. I've actually never visited one. Perhaps someday I should.

Has anyone here?

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Did you show compassion today?

Nope but it sounds like fun

Isnt the issue just having the support and skill to help women do this if they want to .

Maybe it`s nature , maybe just more guys prefer the physical confrontation .

By all means it should be there , but are we being realistic to expect as much interest from women ?

Is a good question , Seem to me the good women fighters I`ve meet are the exceptional(as opposed to just martial artists)

do they just get frustrated with the guys , or is a lack of interest in that aspect .

I`d suspect both , but the latter mostly .

lots of men and women are more comfortable with unrelistic training in terms of contact and aliveness , i suspect it may be more so with women .

I expect to called sexist for voiceing these comments

sexist.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

But honestly - I mean there simply aren't as many women in some places as there are in others. And honestly - this isn't something that I think needs to be "fixed" I think it just is.

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Just thinking about it I've met women who joined for self defense, but in a way they were faced with having to submit themselves to the very thing that they were afraid of even if it was only just training. Could be tough to get over.



I wish the gal who cracked my rib was one of those.

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I was dreaming of the past...

Lets face it heaps of men never get over it either



as long as theres not an attitude of you can do this , or you have to do it as well/quickly as the boys ... then I agree .

but I think training should be martial , and pushing your comfort zone is essential for real growth .

Stryke - could you explain that a little bit more?

Should men and women be held to different standards?

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Everyone should be held to different standards .

people should be pushed just as hard as there limitations allow .

If women are put in a position of being judged against men when(at this stage) they are finding things perhaps more difficult , then I beleive thats detrimental to there training .

A mindset of perhaps women arent suited to certain aspects physically etc shouldnt exist . If it takes more time to get there that should be encouraged not disparaged . Same thing for men .

Basically I mean there should not be a culture of the bangers in the club get to do the full contact etc , and the rest can go play dance karate .

this IMHO could easily stray into men can vs women cant if there is the wrong culture .

People need to be judged on there own ability , and improvement , and yes sex is a factor . But not a negative just something different .

Of course this comes entirely form my beleif that everyone primarily should be becoming a better fighter , and that training should be predominantly martial .

violence does not discriminate , neither will I .

the goal is keep them moving as fast as possible/comfortable towards that improvement .

generalites are difficult to discuss as it always sounds so absolute . But I beleive a good teacher must be prepared to adapt and keep the positive vibe of the training place intact , people always striving .

That's a great post. I'm actually doing a program for educators right now on differentiated instruction (DI.) it is basically the philosophy you just wrote.

Every student can learn
Teaching should be respectful of the student's need
Students have different learning styles
Students have a different level of readiness to learn certain material
All students from time to time will need remediation, reinforcement, or enrichment based on their own individual progress

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Did you show compassion today?

I've just started a thread on Bill's forum about Sanjuro....I think that type of activity would be much more appealing to women
I don't think that women like the "culture" of martial arts I think that they see it in a negative light, and also the men who do it .whereas they seem to like things like aerobics which has a more positive image, and they don't seem to like lifting weights because that again seems negative.i.e. it appears to build bulk and not shape and define

thanks Dana , glad I managed to sort of articulate what I meant , great list of points , I`ll be sure to copy them .

I`m now reassured that theres nothing worng with being a sexist .