Going up against a woman...

[tkdcanada]

Ted,

Please remember to sign your full first and last name at every post as per the rules you agreed to when you registered. Welcome to Budoseek!

Akuma,

You do have a point and no one would have any reason to flame you, it's reality. I think that when you are much larger than your opponent (in a training situation where you aren't trying to flatten the other person but just make it challenging) that it is a good idea to use good judgement such as maybe using a little less force with some (but also realize which women can take it). When you get to know your training partners, you learn who can take what. In other situations it doesn't matter because you are either in competition where you are pretty evenly matched, or you are in a real fight where you WANT to flatten the other person.

[Uriko]

XP

Im a girl~

And if i were a man i would simply do my best~!
#1-so the girl will learn frm u
#2-so you prove to urself that *uhhh* u beat that girl (???)
#3-you are an impression *claps*
#4-uhh... an opponent is still an opponent, yeah

>>>If the girl says "That man is going against a woman! how dare he..."
Then that girl will never be a good fighter
Because if a she thinks is "The boys will give me way~"
Well, she'l never be the best, and she wil never bring honour to herself~!!!

[Oniw17]

I think one of the things to think about is what style of martial arts you are sparring in. For example, in TKD no one actually goes full force unless it's in a competition(at least not at my school), or if you know the person really well, so it's always the same, with everyone. Now in Judo, I think I would crush a lot of the girls(and guys) at the place where I go if I went full force on holds likeI do with the guy I spar with(5'10", 240lbs, been in Judo for 6 years). But then there's the other side of things, I probly wouldn't be half as good at this point if the guy that I spar with in Judo wasn't putting up more and more struggle everytime I sparred him. I guess that it's just control.

[rockatear]

Each person I sparr and fight is assessed individually regardless of gender. However, not regardless of rank unless they're upper belts and then it doesn't matter. Everybody's got weaknessess and everybody thinks differently when sparring. If they're bigger than my wits have got to be better and my legs are going to do be doing a lot of work. Does weight and size matter-gender or othewise...well yeah. Funny tonight we were sparring without any gear and doing some drills. My partner was a female black belt and in the drill I forgot to protect my face...so yeah I got knuckled in the left bottom eye. But it didn't happen again that night.

Size, weight and gender count, but I can't let any of them stop me just because they may be taller, heavier or male...an artist is an artist and frankly, if all else fails, I say run...run as fast as you can and don't look back .

[iron claw]

I think it would be disrespectful to hold back against anyone, however i would be quite apprehensive to choke a woman or put on an ankle lock or arm bar on the mat. Similarly i would be apprehensive at striking below the knee or to the thigh because size and strength are nearly all the time on my side. Now i'm not saying that i'm better than any female MA out there, i know that there are probably as many female MA as male MA that could literally hand my *** back to me.

[tkdclassicsgeek]

I've had problems with this sort of thing: guys who go easy on me just because I'm a girl. This seems to be extremely disrespectful in many ways. I know that many guys could probably beat me, as I might be able to beat some of them, but as long as they use good control, I'd prefer they not hold back that much because I will never improve if they do. So to all the guys out there - use good control of your techniques - but please don't go easy on us!

Adele

[spud]

When I was teaching TKD we always sparred like this, if you we sparring a lower belt regardless of age or gender it was the higher belts job to drop their technique level down just above the other persons so they were encouraged to chase you. In this way students were always just behind you nipping at your heels. They knew if they trained a little more they would be at the level you were sparring at. Sparring at BB level full on with a yellow belt is generally going to crush their will to learn or even return. There are a few exceptions (I was one of those mule headed students) but generally speaking it’s better to dangle a carrot just out of reach rather than prove it’s on the other side of the universe.

I had a 15yr girl training with me in HKD one day a friend of mine came to train for the night, he was an instructor in another style (I wont mention which one) which has a huge amount of rolling & throwing. Anyway when it came time for throwing practice he partnered up with the 15y old. He grabbed her & she throw his across the room injuring his shoulder (the throw was correct). He jumped up & stated her throw was wrong, I just said NO you landed incorrectly & coming from an instructor I could only conclude the main injury was to his ego.

I believe in teaching not beating to get the lesson across, some people male or female want or need the teaching to be as hard as possible for there own reasons which is fine as long as it’s made as safe as possible in the confines of what it is.

I only wish I had more female students their technical grasp seems to be better & quicker than the average male. I think I learnt why when I was building a house with my ex-wife, males tend to be the builders of the big picture while the women are concerned with all the little details, colours, tiles, taps, switches, etc. They can see all the small things that make the big picture whole (or maybe that’s just me).

[jailess]

The only reason you should hold back when training with someone is that you are very much better than them and if you go full whack all they'll learn is that you're better than them. Sparring should be a time to try out your techniques, improve your speed, learn to apply your blocking/throwing etc. Sex should not be a factor. Your partner's body size, strength, speed and technical level should all be a factor, and all of these are influenced by their sex. But whether or not they're female should matter.

Having said that, just as I wouldn't try to crush someone's testicles, I would try not to strike full-contact on a woman's pelvic/pubic area: there is a risk of causing damage to the reproductive system. And it hurts. Similarly I try not to hit a female partner square in the breasts.

I only wish I had more female students their technical grasp seems to be better & quicker than the average male.

Martial artists say this all the time, but I'd argue against it. Initially I do think women use less force and graps the technique better, depending on the martial art. But I think after a few years males tend to get over "You must use strength" mentality, and concentrate on the technique and underlying principles (if they're any good at the martial art). So over time it balances out. Saying 'women are technically better than men' is just as sexist as 'men should hold back when sparring with women'.

[spud]

Sorry I've double posted here, still learning my way around.

[spud]

[I only wish I had more female students their technical grasp seems to be better & quicker than the average male.]

As I also said “Quicker” so we agree, in the long run it all depends in the individual regardless of gender. I also agree that it depends on the style in HKD non strength during learning techniques gives a person a huge head start. But I’ve found & this is only from my merger experience that women just have that important eye for the subtle details that make all the difference. What they do with it from then on is up to them as it is for everyone else.

Oh & by the way I meant no offence, sexist or otherwise one way or the other, I was just offering a little from what I’ve seen first hand.

If you've taken offence to anything I've said, well I'm sorry but its almost impossible to say anything in a large group without being taken to task by someone.

[jailess]

Oh & by the way I meant no offence, sexist or otherwise one way or the other, I was just offering a little from what I’ve seen first hand.

Oh, now you're making me feel all bad!

No offense taken; this is a discussion forum, not an agreement forum.

Having said that...

All of you Stop using "Gender" when you're talking about SEX!
Gender is a grammatical term that, in english but not some other languages, equates with 'he' and 'she'. If you're talking about Male and Female, you're talking about SEX.
Don't believe me? Take it from the Oxford English Dictionary:
Gender (n): Each of the three (or in some languages two) grammatical ‘kinds’, corresponding more or less to distinctions of sex (and absence of sex) in the objects denoted, into which substantives are discriminated according to the nature of the modification they require in words syntactically associated with them.
Sex (n): Either of the two divisions of organic beings distinguished as male and female respectively; the males or the females (of a species, etc., esp. of the human race) viewed collectively.

And those boys at Oxford are never wrong...

[dao]

And those boys at Oxford are never wrong...

Yah, I'll have to remember that....

Welcome to Budoseek!

[jailess]

And those boys at Oxford are never wrong...

Sorry, I meant "People".

[rgoad]

Don't want to engender conflict, but 'gender' comes from the Latin root as 'genre' and 'genus'. It means 'kind' and is used to refer to sex as a noun, not the wonderful verb.

[Eliz]

Don't want to engender conflict, but 'gender' comes from the Latin root as 'genre' and 'genus'. It means 'kind' and is used to refer to sex as a noun, not the wonderful verb.

lol. Guess those Oxford kids don't know everything. Actually, word origins have never been my forte - you both sounded most impressive!

Maybe someone can tell me the origin of THREAD DRIFT!

[jailess]

Don't want to engender conflict, but 'gender' comes from the Latin root as 'genre' and 'genus'. It means 'kind' and is used to refer to sex as a noun, not the wonderful verb.

You have made an ENEMY OF ME!!!

Thread Drift: "Something that is associated when jailess posts".

Huh. Guess those OED boys really are never wrong...

[rgoad]

So, another Scot is kicking my behind. I should be used to THAT by now.

If you would wear a dress when we fight that would put the thread back on track, I think.

Oh, sorry, that's a kilt....

[DragonMind]

All of you Stop using "Gender" when you're talking about SEX!
Gender is a grammatical term that, in english but not some other languages, equates with 'he' and 'she'. If you're talking about Male and Female, you're talking about SEX.
Don't believe me? Take it from the Oxford English Dictionary:
Gender (n): Each of the three (or in some languages two) grammatical ‘kinds’, corresponding more or less to distinctions of sex (and absence of sex) in the objects denoted, into which substantives are discriminated according to the nature of the modification they require in words syntactically associated with them.
Sex (n): Either of the two divisions of organic beings distinguished as male and female respectively; the males or the females (of a species, etc., esp. of the human race) viewed collectively.

And those boys at Oxford are never wrong...

From the OED:

gender

• noun 1 Grammar a class (usually masculine, feminine, common, or neuter) into which nouns and pronouns are placed in some languages. 2 the state of being male or female (with reference to social or cultural differences). 3 the members of one or other sex.

— DERIVATIVES gendered adjective.

— USAGE The words gender and sex both have the sense ‘the state of being male or female’, but they are typically used in slightly different ways: sex tends to refer to biological differences, while gender tends to refer to cultural or social ones.

— ORIGIN Old French gendre, from Latin genus ‘birth, family, nation’.

Note definitions 2 and 3. Gender is the appropriate term.

Also:

sex

• noun 1 either of the two main categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions. 2 the fact of belonging to one of these categories. 3 the group of all members of either sex. 4 sexual activity, specifically sexual intercourse.

• verb determine the sex of.

— DERIVATIVES sexer noun.

— ORIGIN Latin sexus.

As you can see from the first three definitions here, the nouns sex and gender are fundamentally synonyms and interchangeable. When standing alone, gender is preferred since it can only be a noun and thus unambiguous. Also, note that sex as a verb by itself does not refer to intercourse (aka The Happy Dance); although it is used as such in colloquial speech.

[rgoad]

Far be it from me to disgree with man who quotes Wilde. It is interesting how the meaning of this thread "Going up against a woman" lends itself to the same sort of naughty misunderstanding as "sex" or "Gender". This is a zeugma. Andrew Simonsen, take note. You can use it in your English class.

However, to get this thread back on course, I think J. McCrae (jailess) might quote his countryman:

First, in the Sexes' intermix'd connection,
One sacred Right of Woman is, protection.