So the story goes "During down time, the Army was holding Friday Night Fights for any troops wanting to release some tension. This female soldier thought she could whoop any Infantry Marine and challenged one to a fight. It didn’t go so well for her." I don't agree with what happened and actually see this guy as being weak for beating up a girl but its tricky because this is a female soldier who issued a challenge but got handled like I thought she would before even watching the video. So I have trained with many women over the years and out of them all, have met 2 who were ring fighters and would stand and really trade with the guys. Thing is I would never push at the same level as I did with my male counterparts but would have to throw shots, Now I am interested to see what fellow martial artists think Do you think him going for her was justified Do you think because she is a soldier it changes the female dynamic What do the ladies out there think as well, I know many ladies always say "go for it , dont hold back I can take it" in a sparring environment but the reality is always far from the truth. Do you want guys to treat you as "physical" equals in a fighting environment
We've had a few conversations on this general subject before. After cutting through the PC platitudes the bottom line was that there are physical advantages that a male has over a female that often can be overwhelming. This isn't chauvinistic or insensitive but realistic. When scaling for sparring I also take that into consideration, less so depending on the skill level of my opponent/s.
This is just wrong. To give her full credit she kept coming back in there and that show's some (dare I say it) balls. On the other hand, it was obvious in the first exchange that she was no match and he could have proven his point without going after her like he did.
Let's say she was as good a striker as Cyborg, would we have expected her to hold back or knock ten bells out of him? Mixed sex sparring is one thing, and when it happens in kumite, I consciously fight the belt not the "person", but I am still uncomfortable with fighting women and women fighting, but I guess that's a generational thing. If she did issue a challenge, then she deserved allshe got, and a healthy reality check, particularly if she is a front-line combatant.
I shared this video on facebook with the following text: "Sometimes you just can't win. If you knock her out, you beat up a girl. If you get knocked out, you just got beat up by a girl." In my opinion this was completely fair, if the pretext is correct. She said she could whoop anyone, I'd go full force in a fight against anyone that made that claim, after all what if they really are that good? Do you want to get beat because you were holding back? Remember the mentality and context these men and women live in, as well as self-defense in general. From time to time women need to be tested against a male trying hard to beat them. She did show heart by continuing the fight, but she also showed stupidity by being boastful.
Yea this is it, If he got dropped he would have been the brunt of all the jokes with the boys and if he won like he did then you just beat up a "girl "
This is a tough topic defiantly, however let me ask you all this(this is not rhetorical I actually want to know the answer) would you see it any different if it had been a much smaller man picking a fight with a larger man?
Probably not ... Only I can think of is ... Mike Tyson ... he is a beast to any size ... sadly ... just boxing ... but still ... he is a BEAST. So size does not matter ... the fight does.
If she made a challenge saying she could beat any marine on the base I think she got what she deserved/needed. Maybe if she'd claimed she could beat any marine her size/weight it may have gone better for her..... Maybe she'd believed the feminist hype that women are in fact equal with men. Maybe she could run as fast as the guys and resented that for every physical test in the military women get a handicap. Either way if someone wants to get involved with boxing/martial arts/fighting/ the military or whatever they need to be realistic about their abilities and know their limitations.
smaller guy vs bigger guy, I dont see it the same way as the woman vs guy scenario, If a guy runs his mouth and makes a challenge then he has to back that up , whatever his size
This is a tough question. I'm smart enough to know that I'm not physically equal to most men out there in the martial arts world or otherwise. I'm a girl who spends a lot of time in the gym, I'm not afraid to lift, and I'm pretty strong for "just a girl"....but nothing I do is going to make me as strong as the vast majority of men. It is what it is. The strength advantage is going to go to just about any guy I spar. On the other hand, I know I usually have the advantage when it comes to speed and evasive maneuvers....because I'm smaller, shorter and therefore generally quicker. I've also had to really work to master technique, because I just can't muscle my way through things like a lot of guys. And I think that often gives me the advantage. But I'm not too proud to let a guy underestimate me because I'm female...I figure that's another advantage in my column and I'm not afraid to hold that card close to my vest so to speak. I don't necessarily want guys to "take it easy on me" because well...an attacker on the street isn't going to. And because of that I need to know what it feels like to get hit...really hit. And besides, in a sparring situation, I should be doing my best not to let my opponent hit me anyway, so there shouldn't be a major opportunity to get really pummeled. Maybe I'm kind of dancing around the subject, I don't know. I just know that if a female wants to succeed and earn respect in the very male dominated field of martial arts, she's going to need to be able to take some punches.
It can be tough to answer as anything anyone says can offend someone. But where respect meets reality is each persons limits (I actually changed-up something I've said about "where your belief meets reality is called your limit"). There are physical, mental, technical, etc. boundaries to push while also keeping in mind the gains & losses/pros & cons to pushing yourself close to those limits and how often you do so. Most of the time for "thorny issues" I just like to keep my responses brief and abrupt - cuts through the usual BS and is less apt to be interpreted in a way I hadn't intended (hence my initial post).
It a case like this... and I will interpret martial arts in its literal way: "war art". If you actually place "physical weapon" into the hands of a woman... you will nearly equalize all engagement aspects. Sword, stick, staff, gun, etc. Without utilizing an equalizing tool, there would be a few limitations like Alice pointed out.
Even with a stick or sword the bigger stronger person still has a strength advantage. With a gun the playing field is completely level. Hell with guns involved being big is more of a disadvantage, makes one a bigger target!
I don't think you dancing around the subject, Thanks for the answer I dont think so, guys are fundamentally different in the way we handle conflict, We are more physical in nature so makes sense that in its base form we resort to violence. Very true Its not meant to offend at all, its a reality for any martial artist that trains in a gym with the opposite sex so just interested in different viewpoints.
Absolutely it is. You said a man would have to back up his claims but a woman wouldn't. That's assigning different responsibility for the same thing based solely on gender. Imagine you have two people. Exactly the same strength, same cardiovascular fitness same level of training. The only difference between them is that one is a man the other a woman. now you tell one that he has to back his words up but the other doesn't because she just happens to be female. That's not equal treatment, and as equal treatment is about all the equality we can ever provide it shouldn't vary based on gender.
