Thread: Women's Classes
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Old 08-05-2002, 11:20 PM   #13
MaylandL
Location: Western Australia
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 241
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Re: Women's Classes

Quote:
Deb Fisher wrote:
...

Do you support women's classes or not?

...

Besides, learning "masculine" tasks in a male-dominated environment often involves this ...pressure to excel in order to prove that it's okay to be there. Learning aikido in this high-stakes way really sucks - I've been there! When every small success or failure is either affirming or denying the very validity of your practice, it's really hard to learn. There is no denying that women's classes would take away that intense pressure to prove oneself.

That said, I'm really glad my dojo doesn't offer women's classes. As a sculptor ...I feel like I've been beating my head against the performance pressure I described above for more than a decade. Aikido gave me the first opportunity to really deal with the issue rather than live with the pressure, first because it was immediately obvious that I wasn't going to quickly master everything and outperform my male training partners, and secondly because I was supposedly there to have fun.

...Besides, I think dividing the sexes does more harm than good in general - it perpetuates the idea that we are so different that we are incapable of working together.

...
Hello Deb

I can only speak from personal experience. I generally agree with with Mr Chuck Gordon's views.

Some of the female aikidoka at one of the dojos that I train at have made similar comments to me. The Sensei/Shidoin encourages people to learn at their own pace.

The dojos that I train at do not have separate womens' classes. At both dojos the Sensei/Shidoin enforces a strict rule of no teaching by the mundansha when training and yundansha may instruct with Sensei's/Shidoin's permission. It is the role of all senior students (sempais) to ensure that students give proper respect and deference to their roles as tori/nage and uke to faciliate effective, harmonious and joyous training by setting an example for other people in the dojo. This means putting aside their egos regardless of whether you are yudansha or not. My sensei sees this as very important and a sign of a "good" dojo.

I guess the implicit ethos (not stated but I think practiced) within the dojos that I train at we are all aikidoka wanting to learn and improve irrespective of what gender we are.

I agree with your final comment about not segregating the genders.

Happy training

Last edited by MaylandL : 08-05-2002 at 11:26 PM.

Mayland
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