Can't be Batman

I sometimes ponder things that have no clear answer. One of these is; why do so few women do Jiu-Jitsu?

Not many walk in the door to even give it a try, and even less stick with it.

I never really had a good answer. The best I could come up with is that women must not like the idea rolling around on the floor with a bunch of men. Either that, or that women don't want to roll around with anybody, regardless of gender.

Right now at our school we have perhaps 20 active members. Of these, exactly two are female, which means the place is 90% male.

In martial arts like Karate, which doesn't have any sort of wrestling component, the ratio is usually about 70% male. They have three times as many females.

But then that raises the question; why does Karate also have so few?

We have a self-defence class for women that is always well attended. It is all based on grappling techniques, or escaping from them. The women who take this class seem quite willing to roll around with one another.

Why are so many attending those sessions, but not the main class which teaches a more comprehensive curriculum?

I recently read a blog post by a women who grew up over the last 30 years in a world with no rough-and-tumble female action heroes. She was profoundly moved by a scene in the recent Ghostbusters remake where one of the female heroes goes all Rambo and seriously kicks ass. This blogger said it was the first time that she'd ever seen a non-sexualized and non-trivialized hero of her gender do this.

That made me try and think of all the female action heroes I could come up with. I pretty soon gave up on my list. Wonder Woman; revealing costume with heels. Supergirl; a perky hair-do and a cute short skirt. Xena warrior princess; same kind of thing. If you can think of someone who isn't treated in this fashion, try seeing if she exists as subordinate to male characters. Is she the one on the team who needs rescue, or is a love interest?

Anyhow, it must be hard to grow up in a culture full of fictional heroes, and to not be reflected in that at all, or at least very rarely.

A woman can't be Batman.

Then look at most of the men in martial arts. The idea of being able to train, and then to be a potential hero of sorts is no issue. They know they can be truly kick-ass if they put in the time.

Most women do not have that kind of validation. Even the ones who attend the self-defence class might be there in part due to the phenomenon. They are learning how to defeat male attackers with a number of “tricks” that will allow them to survive very specific attacks. Few join the main class in order to become well-rounded, tough, fighting machines. They are not trying to become Batman, as our culture says that such a thing just isn't going to happen.

If my theory is correct, it helps explain why so few women train in any martial art. Most likely there are other factors as well, but it still sucks.

If any one group needs Jiu-Jitsu more than any other, it is that of the smaller and less physically powerful members of society, regardless of gender.