Gender issue

Martial Arts can be so sexist.

I suppose that's no secret.

My Karate club is pretty even. There are five of us who're fee paying members. Two are male and three are female. Other than dividing a person in half, I think we can call that 50-50.

The local Jiu-Jitsu instructor teaches a very non-sexist class, and there are a fair number of girls and women there, too.

So what's the problem? It's in the unavoidable details.

Looking at the new Jiu-Jitsu schedule for the fall the problem appears. Let's say someone is really keen, and wants to come to as many classes as possible.

Let's say he's a guy. If a White Belt, he can attend a total of 5 sessions a week. If a Blue Belt, he can come to 8.

Suppose she's not a guy. A White Belt will have 7 classes to attend, and a Blue Belt can have 10.

Why the difference?

The plan is that there will be a Women's Self-Defense class. This will be open to all the female members, as well as those that sign up for just that one course. This makes sense. It is also closed to all the male members. This also makes sense, for all the obvious reasons.

Perhaps some of the guys will sometimes be invited there to act specifically as training aids (evil male attackers, and punching bags), and the instructor is male.

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu also provides a course called Women's Empowerment, which is basically self-defense. It is also a women-only class. Upon successful completion, the participants can earn a Pink Belt. (I find that tacky, as do all our current female members)

The Pink Belt is the only one awarded by Gracie Jiu-Jitsu that is gender specific. I can never earn one.

That course is only ten classes long. The material looks interesting, and if it wouldn't make some of the female participants uncomfortable I'd probably take it. I've taught women's self-defense classes several times and like to keep up to date.

Of course, none of this is done to be deliberately unfair to male practitioners. It is just the realities of gender that necessitate the separation of people doing women's self-defense, and that make the course valuable at all.

Otherwise the pushing, pulling and sweating has nothing to do with gender at all.