Thread: Female Sensei
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Old 01-17-2005, 04:00 PM   #24
ali og
Dojo: Southside Dojo
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 11
United_States
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Re: Women only classes

Quote:
Michael Riehle wrote:
How about classes which are not so much "women only" as "women oriented"?

At a dojo I once trained in, they did twice monthly (as I recall) classes to which only women were invited. But the class was taught by a male instructor and he'd bring along several of the biggest and most intimidating male black belts in the dojo to act as ukes.

The focus of the class was on attacks that women are more likely to face than men and the issues a woman has in facing those attacks (from a man) that a man might not have.
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This is a neat idea and I think it would be very helpful either as a special workshop at a seminar or in the once/twice per month mode in a larger dojo, as you point out, Michael. This format would do two things - first, it might help women who are anxious about entering a martial art and two, it would meet the goals stated above. I also llike the fact that they brought the most intimidating upper ranked men for ukes - I like training with the bigger guys for the reason given above.

The "only" vs. "oriented" distinction is an effective one because ultimately, we all have to learn to deal with a variety of different bodies/energies, most especially women. It's good to learn to listen to everyone's energies.

And as for the "being hit on" issue, Bronson's point and the subsequent comments are very well taken. That's gotta go in the dojo...take it to the bar or wherever, but get it off the mat...

- al
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