Robert Cowham

Just because people are good at (masters of) aikido does not necessarily make them well rounded human beings, paragons of virtue, able to get on with people, politically correct or gender neutral. We are all responsible for choosing our teachers and for deciding what it is we want to learn from said teachers!

My main teacher (Inaba sensei), is very encouraging (particularly for a Japanese man - perhaps this is me showing my biases!) to female practitioners and teachers. However, his preference for embu (demonstrations) is NOT that a (typically larger) male practitioner throws around a (typically smaller) female practitioner. The other way around is fine by him! That said, I have seen him take ukemi in kenjutsu from female practitioners for an embu, particularly with an iaito or shinken - the use of weapons evens things up - sharpness, speed and focus are the key elements.