Thread: Equitable?
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Old 03-26-2005, 02:01 PM   #280
Paul
Location: Edinburgh
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 46
Scotland
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Venus and Mars

Perhaps we should accept this fact and realise that because of this there will always be a lack of equality within the martial arts. I believe that because aikido is Japanese it is male biased. I believe this will change when the last of the original uchi deshi pass away and with them their mind set. Before anyone jumps on this, yes I am saying that all of the Japanese instructors I have trained with are sexist, from our western frame of reference. Woman instructors are coming through and this with time, a lot of time, will address the balance.

I read a very good book, on this very subject when I was wrestling with it as an instructor, the name of the author escapes me. She, the authors, premise was that men are visual learners and woman are auditory learners. Regardless of the science, which she went into in great depth, this rang true with me and certainly went a long way to helping me nuture female students. Any woman out there care to comment on whether they agree with the visual auditory thing. I think that because aikido is taught by men, mainly, that it is automatically biased towards us.

The next question is does it matter? Yes it does. Enough for a string this long. Absolutely no! There are much more pressing issues and much more personal issue to be solved in aikido.

Regards Paul.

P.S. Is everyone aware that Yamada sensei is coming to Edinburgh in October. The only reason I say is that this kind of discussion is better discussed over a pint.

Regards Paul Finn
Edinburgh
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