Regarding the future of TKD

[puunui]

I for one do not care if she or he is or not George Vitale, but it would be nice to know just for the record. I hate to call someone mam when they are indeed a sir.

I care, because it goes to the credibility and honesty of the person in question. We already know this person is lying about the art they study, Karate instead of Taekwon-Do.

 

[Kacey]

A certification in the Kukkiwon has no meaning or relevance to me, those who have chosen to promote me through the ranks are from with-in my organisation, they know my name and my face, and have seen me grow in the art, that has meaning to me. Do I want to be a part of a large bureaucracy that has its head office overseas? No, a Kukkiwon certificate would not make my rank feel more like I earned it than what it already does.

I've been in Taekwon-Do for 24 years... in all that time, I've never had a certificate from the Kukkiwon. I started in the USTF/ITF, and left for reasons I considered valid; my last ITF certificate was for 3rd Dan; my 4th and 5th are from YCTA exclusively. This bothers me not at all - the stamped signature of Gen. Choi from the ITF meant nothing then, and means nothing now - the signatures of my instructor, and his, certifying that I had indeed met all the requirements, were then, and remain now, the only signatures I care about. A certificate is just a piece of paper, and can be easily faked - the good opinion of one's ability from one's seniors is what matters.

 

[puunui]

A certification in the Kukkiwon has no meaning or relevance to me, those who have chosen to promote me through the ranks are from with-in my organisation, they know my name and my face, and have seen me grow in the art, that has meaning to me. Do I want to be a part of a large bureaucracy that has its head office overseas? No, a Kukkiwon certificate would not make my rank feel more like I earned it than what it already does.

That really doesn't answer my question, but that is ok.

Those schools who utilize the Kukkiwon curriculum (including but not limited to the Palgwae poomsae, which is now considered obsolete by the Kukkiwon) but do not give Kukkiwon certification, fail to give Kukkiwon certificates for three basic reasons:

1) The head instructor does not have sufficient Kukkiwon rank to recommend candidates for Kukkiwon poom/dan promotion; and/or

2) The head instructor wants to keep all of the testing fees for him or herself; and/or

3) The head instructor does not want to create competitors by giving his/her students Kukkiwon certification and empowering them to issue Kukkiwon certification themselves.

When asked why the particular school does not issue Kukkiwon certification to its students, several basic justifications are always given:

1) We are a martial art, not a sport, and Kukkiwon certification is for sport;

2) A certificate signed by the head instructor is more valuable than one signed by a stranger, because the head instructor knows you personally and knows what you can do;

3) The Kukkiwon is run by the Korean government and we don't want to be under the thumb of any foreign country;

4) Kukkiwon certification is expensive and takes a long time to process, sometimes years;

5) The Kukkiwon wants to tell us what to do and what we can teach, and our head instructor has fifty or more years of experience and it should be the other way around, our head instructor should be telling the Kukkiwon what to teach;

6) You don't need Kukkiwon certification.

The first three reasons are generally the head instructor's personal reasons, and the last six are the ones that are given to students, who end up repeating these if anyone asks them why they practice the Kukkiwon curriculum but don't have Kukkiwon certification.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I care, because it goes to the credibility and honesty of the person in question. We already know this person is lying about the art they study, Karate instead of Taekwon-Do.

Actually, no. The title implies not that this individual studied karate, but that they are the parent of someone who does; soccor moms don't play soccer. Their kids do.

So the name implies having kids who study karate. Given how many MA schools call themselves karate, karatemom could be justified as a generic term for martial arts mom.

However, the name also implies femeninity.

KaratemomUSA implies all of the above in addition to being either a US resident or a US citizen living abroad. If he/she/it has no kids in a martial art associated with karate, is not a woman, and neither lives in nor is a citizen of the United States, then the name is completely misleading.

However, none of that is why people want to know. We want to know because you started calling "her" 'George' and 'Mister Vitale,' and the names seemed initially to have come out of nowhere. I'm less interested in whether or not she is a he, has kids, or if those kids practice karate than I am in whether or not she is the specific person of George Vitale.

I could care less what cutesy nick name one chooses to use on the internet. But if you are asked if you are specific TKD historian during the course of numerous threads about TKD history, you should confirm that you are or are not.

Daniel

 

[ralphmcpherson]

That really doesn't answer my question, but that is ok.

Those schools who utilize the Kukkiwon curriculum (including but not limited to the Palgwae poomsae, which is now considered obsolete by the Kukkiwon) but do not give Kukkiwon certification, fail to give Kukkiwon certificates for three basic reasons:

1) The head instructor does not have sufficient Kukkiwon rank to recommend candidates for Kukkiwon poom/dan promotion; and/or

2) The head instructor wants to keep all of the testing fees for him or herself; and/or

3) The head instructor does not want to create competitors by giving his/her students Kukkiwon certification and empowering them to issue Kukkiwon certification themselves.

When asked why the particular school does not issue Kukkiwon certification to its students, several basic justifications are always given:

1) We are a martial art, not a sport, and Kukkiwon certification is for sport;

2) A certificate signed by the head instructor is more valuable than one signed by a stranger, because the head instructor knows you personally and knows what you can do;

3) The Kukkiwon is run by the Korean government and we don't want to be under the thumb of any foreign country;

4) Kukkiwon certification is expensive and takes a long time to process, sometimes years;

5) The Kukkiwon wants to tell us what to do and what we can teach, and our head instructor has fifty or more years of experience and it should be the other way around, our head instructor should be telling the Kukkiwon what to teach;

6) You don't need Kukkiwon certification.

The first three reasons are generally the head instructor's personal reasons, and the last six are the ones that are given to students, who end up repeating these if anyone asks them why they practice the Kukkiwon curriculum but don't have Kukkiwon certification.

First of all, thanks for debating this with me in good manner. I have had these discussions with kukki members in the past (not here on martial talk) and usually get attacked in quite a spiteful way for not being affiliated, I appreciate the way we can throw facts back and forth and have some meaningful debate.
I cant speak on behalf of steven's school, but I think half the problem here is the assumption that we are learning kukki curriculum. I have seen enough demos from kukki schools to see that what we do is different. I have also trained with a friend's neighbour who is a korean guy with a kukki background who has also commented on how different we are from what he is used to. What we do may have a slight WTF look to it at times, but then so does shotokan karate and ITF tkd if you want to get technical and they, like us, dont claim to be WTF style. In response to your top 3 points, our club has had many students move on and start their own clubs once they are a high enough rank, so I doubt our GM is worried about having competitors out there. Around here our club is a household name in tkd circles, even amongst those who train at other clubs, everyone has heard of us and the club continues to grow, so if an instructor wants to move on and start his own club then I doubt our GM would go chasing him down to tell them not to,unless of course he tried to take a heap of other instructors and students with him but then this would cause friction in any club whether it be WTF,ITF or the local ballet club, it would not go down well. Also, one of the reasons our GM ceased to be affiliated was because he felt that kukki tkd was moving in a different direction to what he was and he is not alone on this, its the same reason the other large clubs in my area are no longer affiliated. I also dont feel that the argument of our GM wanting to pocket all grading fees himself is relevent because our dan grading fees have remained the same for 20 years and in the past those that wanted a kukki cert as well simply paid the extra to get the kukki cert and jsut paid whatever the kukki charged so therefore our GM has not gained or lost any money from no longer offering kukki certs. And finally, as Ive said in the past, from what my old instructor tells me if I do want a kukki cert all I have to do is ask and our GM can get me one.

 

[puunui]

First of all, thanks for debating this with me in good manner. I have had these discussions with kukki members in the past (not here on martial talk) and usually get attacked in quite a spiteful way for not being affiliated, I appreciate the way we can throw facts back and forth and have some meaningful debate.

No problem. Some of that I believe is necessary in the beginning, so we can start a relationship, but then after we can settle down and talk about things. For me it builds mutual respect. Some people take it the wrong way and become bitter and resentful. Oh well, to each his own. it's like class. Sometimes you get hazed, and it's nothing personal, it's just part of the experience of learning. people tried to haze me when i first started posting here, but that has sort of died down.

I cant speak on behalf of steven's school, but I think half the problem here is the assumption that we are learning kukki curriculum. I have seen enough demos from kukki schools to see that what we do is different. I have also trained with a friend's neighbour who is a korean guy with a kukki background who has also commented on how different we are from what he is used to. What we do may have a slight WTF look to it at times, but then so does shotokan karate and ITF tkd if you want to get technical and they, like us, dont claim to be WTF style.

That doesn't mean that your are not within the spectrum. You might not think you are, but what you describe sounds to me like you are. Perhaps some of your methods are outdated, and maybe no one from your school is Olympic ready, but then again, there are a ton of schools out there that are in a similar boat as you. So don't worry about it. We all have to start somewhere.

In response to your top 3 points, our club has had many students move on and start their own clubs once they are a high enough rank, so I doubt our GM is worried about having competitors out there.

But do those that opened their own clubs have high enough Kukkiwon rank (4th Dan or higher) to issue on their own?

Around here our club is a household name in tkd circles, even amongst those who train at other clubs, everyone has heard of us and the club continues to grow, so if an instructor wants to move on and start his own club then I doubt our GM would go chasing him down to tell them not to,unless of course he tried to take a heap of other instructors and students with him but then this would cause friction in any club whether it be WTF,ITF or the local ballet club, it would not go down well.

Maybe he feels that way now, when he is on the verge of retirement, but perhaps he thought differently in the past. All it takes is one student to sour the well for everyone else.

Also, one of the reasons our GM ceased to be affiliated was because he felt that kukki tkd was moving in a different direction to what he was and he is not alone on this, its the same reason the other large clubs in my area are no longer affiliated.

That's one of the six points given to students to justify not issuing Kukkiwon certification.

I also dont feel that the argument of our GM wanting to pocket all grading fees himself is relevent because our dan grading fees have remained the same for 20 years and in the past those that wanted a kukki cert as well simply paid the extra to get the kukki cert and jsut paid whatever the kukki charged so therefore our GM has not gained or lost any money from no longer offering kukki certs. And finally, as Ive said in the past, from what my old instructor tells me if I do want a kukki cert all I have to do is ask and our GM can get me one.

My wife and I have a standing joke about chinese restaurants here and on the mainland US. It used to be that rice, a staple like tea at Chinese restaurants, used to be free and came with the meal, in a big dish. Now if you want rice, the waitress will tell you "If you want rice, you pay extra!" and they give you one small bowl. I don't know why I just thought about that, but that is what it sounds like to me, what was once or what was supposed to be a part of the Taekwondo experience (Kukkiwon certification for everyone) is now something that you have to pay extra for. Why? Why not give the Kukkiwon certification to everyone, and if you want the certificate with the grandmaster's signature on it, then pay extra for that, since that is the special certificate?

 

[puunui]

the signatures of my instructor, and his, certifying that I had indeed met all the requirements, were then, and remain now, the only signatures I care about.

What happens if and when your instructor retires or passes away? No more promotions for you?

 

[ralphmcpherson]

What happens if and when your instructor retires or passes away? No more promotions for you?

If and when my GM passes away there will still be 3 or 4 8th dans and about 10 6th dans and about 30 5th dans who could promote me. If I start adding in the 4th dans there would be close to 100 or more seniors who could grade me. As it stands currently nearly all students are graded by the 7th dans, so really if our GM passes away nothing changes at all.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

No problem. Some of that I believe is necessary in the beginning, so we can start a relationship, but then after we can settle down and talk about things. For me it builds mutual respect. Some people take it the wrong way and become bitter and resentful. Oh well, to each his own. it's like class. Sometimes you get hazed, and it's nothing personal, it's just part of the experience of learning. people tried to haze me when i first started posting here, but that has sort of died down.

I agree.



That doesn't mean that your are not within the spectrum. You might not think you are, but what you describe sounds to me like you are. Perhaps some of your methods are outdated, and maybe no one from your school is Olympic ready, but then again, there are a ton of schools out there that are in a similar boat as you. So don't worry about it. We all have to start somewhere.

But by that definition wouldnt ITF tkd also be within the kukki spectrum, because from what Ive seen we are about as similar to ITF as we are WTF.



But do those that opened their own clubs have high enough Kukkiwon rank (4th Dan or higher) to issue on their own?

No, they dont have kukkiwon rank, the ones who have left have been minimum 5th dan under our system and start their own club wearing their 5th dan. As far as they or I are concerned they have been graded to that level by a korean master. Whether or not he is kukki certified doesnt bother them. New students starting at their clubs are aware they are not a kukki school so dont require their instructor to have kukki credentials. If the new students want to be trained by a kukki certified instructor there are plenty of clubs around the place that can offer this. when i started at our club I was told by my instructor that they werent a kukki school, if this had bothered me I could have gone elsewhere.



Maybe he feels that way now, when he is on the verge of retirement, but perhaps he thought differently in the past. All it takes is one student to sour the well for everyone else.
I cant comment on this as I was not at the club when he was a young man.



That's one of the six points given to students to justify not issuing Kukkiwon certification.


You can say he is trying to 'justify' his decision, but from what Ive seen of the way we train I can see first hand that he has a very different aproach to WTF schools, so I can see why he is separate.



My wife and I have a standing joke about chinese restaurants here and on the mainland US. It used to be that rice, a staple like tea at Chinese restaurants, used to be free and came with the meal, in a big dish. Now if you want rice, the waitress will tell you "If you want rice, you pay extra!" and they give you one small bowl. I don't know why I just thought about that, but that is what it sounds like to me, what was once or what was supposed to be a part of the Taekwondo experience (Kukkiwon certification for everyone) is now something that you have to pay extra for. Why? Why not give the Kukkiwon certification to everyone, and if you want the certificate with the grandmaster's signature on it, then pay extra for that, since that is the special certificate?

The reason he doesnt give a kukki cert is the same reason you dont give a plumber's ticket to someone who has just completed a carpentary apprenticeship. Quite simply, they dont know the stuff, so why have a certificate saying you do. Personally, Id feel pretty silly having a kukki cert hanging on my wall when I cant even do one taeguek form, but maybe thats just me.

 

[puunui]

If and when my GM passes away there will still be 3 or 4 8th dans and about 10 6th dans and about 30 5th dans who could promote me. If I start adding in the 4th dans there would be close to 100 or more seniors who could grade me. As it stands currently nearly all students are graded by the 7th dans, so really if our GM passes away nothing changes at all.

Any of those high dans have high dan Kukkiwon rank as well? What is the highest Kukkiwon rank that your grandmaster has issued? That might change if your Grandmaster passes away, the ability to recommend candidates to Kukkiwon dan rank, should they be interested in that.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Any of those high dans have high dan Kukkiwon rank as well? What is the highest Kukkiwon rank that your grandmaster has issued? That might change if your Grandmaster passes away, the ability to recommend candidates to Kukkiwon dan rank, should they be interested in that.

I honestly couldnt tell you what the highest kukki dan our GM has promoted someone to, but I doubt it would be very high at all. All our high ranking instructors have their rank through our GM only. I doubt after they have been teaching the one way for 35 years or more that they will decide to change. Our high ranking instructors, for instance, are an absolute wealth of knowlege on the palgwe form set and I cant see them wanting to ditch all that info and learn a whole new set of forms, these guys are well into their 50's and have done nothing but palgwes for a long time. With our GM all but removed from the club as it is now I really cant see anything changing when he passes away, our chief instructor has the power now to change whatever he wants and he chooses not to and his peers are in full support of that, with the passing of the GM that wont change in my opinion. It would almost seem hypocritical for them to change to kukki after the amount of times Ive heard them say things like "get your guard up, this isnt that olympic style stuff you see on tv" or how they go on and on about having big deep stances, I just couldnt see them teaching koryo the way I saw the local kukki club do it at the school fete recently.

 

[leadleg]

I honestly couldnt tell you what the highest kukki dan our GM has promoted someone to, but I doubt it would be very high at all. All our high ranking instructors have their rank through our GM only. I doubt after they have been teaching the one way for 35 years or more that they will decide to change. Our high ranking instructors, for instance, are an absolute wealth of knowlege on the palgwe form set and I cant see them wanting to ditch all that info and learn a whole new set of forms, these guys are well into their 50's and have done nothing but palgwes for a long time. With our GM all but removed from the club as it is now I really cant see anything changing when he passes away, our chief instructor has the power now to change whatever he wants and he chooses not to and his peers are in full support of that, with the passing of the GM that wont change in my opinion. It would almost seem hypocritical for them to change to kukki after the amount of times Ive heard them say things like "get your guard up, this isnt that olympic style stuff you see on tv" or how they go on and on about having big deep stances, I just couldnt see them teaching koryo the way I saw the local kukki club do it at the school fete recently.

It is a shame your instructors generalise about kukki tkd ,stuck doing palgwe's for years sounds like torture to me.I do all the palgwe's plus.............many other forms over the span of my training.I could generalise and say you are stuck in a time warp,or you can't see the difference in sport tkd guard down and street style fighting with the guard up.but I know your instructors know the difference.I suppose it is like having to put someone down to feel better about yourself.
I do not know why Glen pushes for your certification I cannot see why you would ever need it with all the knowledge about the 8 palgwe's to carry you onward.
Also what about the deep stances,are you the ones with the deep stances or do you think the kukki folks have too deep stances.
It always boils down to good instructors and not the organisation you are in.I hope you have some good ones that don't put others down to make up for their lack.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

It is a shame your instructors generalise about kukki tkd ,stuck doing palgwe's for years sounds like torture to me.I do all the palgwe's plus.............many other forms over the span of my training.I could generalise and say you are stuck in a time warp,or you can't see the difference in sport tkd guard down and street style fighting with the guard up.but I know your instructors know the difference.I suppose it is like having to put someone down to feel better about yourself.
I do not know why Glen pushes for your certification I cannot see why you would ever need it with all the knowledge about the 8 palgwe's to carry you onward.
Also what about the deep stances,are you the ones with the deep stances or do you think the kukki folks have too deep stances.
It always boils down to good instructors and not the organisation you are in.I hope you have some good ones that don't put others down to make up for their lack.

Whilst you can say that doing the palgwes for years sounds like torture, you must remember that most kukki schools only do taegeks, so I fail to see your point. I dont know of many (if any) kukki schools that do both sets, so I could say that doing only the taegeks sounds like torture. We are in time warp, our instructors make no excuse for that and are the first ones to say that if we wnat up to date modern tkd then we are not the school for that. You hit the nail on the head when you said "it boils down to good instructors and not the org you are in", thats the point Ive been trying to make. My instructor is a 7th dan with 40 years experience both training and instructing and he produces very good martial artists, and as you said I dont know why I would ever require acert from an org whose curriculum we dont follow. Actually I agree with everything you said in your post.

 

[leadleg]

Whilst you can say that doing the palgwes for years sounds like torture, you must remember that most kukki schools only do taegeks, so I fail to see your point. I dont know of many (if any) kukki schools that do both sets, so I could say that doing only the taegeks sounds like torture. We are in time warp, our instructors make no excuse for that and are the first ones to say that if we wnat up to date modern tkd then we are not the school for that. You hit the nail on the head when you said "it boils down to good instructors and not the org you are in", thats the point Ive been trying to make. My instructor is a 7th dan with 40 years experience both training and instructing and he produces very good martial artists, and as you said I dont know why I would ever require acert from an org whose curriculum we dont follow. Actually I agree with everything you said in your post.

There are many kukki schools who do palgwe's and taegueks,we do and we also do many moo duk kwan forms also(shotokan kata).As we get higher dan we learn many new forms, that is not better or worse than only one set but to me personally it sounds boring.
I agree with you,if you don't want to learn the additional forms then you don't want KKW very bad and should stay out.
I guess its clear that Glen does not really care whether you want KKW but whether he can recruit 4000 members.I do not understand where he is going with you,he needs the ear of your 7th not a 1st. Good luck with your training and I hope you do not judge all KKW schools the same,or from what you think you SEE on tv.

 

[Steven Craig]

That really doesn't answer my question, but that is ok.

Those schools who utilize the Kukkiwon curriculum (including but not limited to the Palgwae poomsae, which is now considered obsolete by the Kukkiwon) but do not give Kukkiwon certification, fail to give Kukkiwon certificates for three basic reasons:

1) The head instructor does not have sufficient Kukkiwon rank to recommend candidates for Kukkiwon poom/dan promotion; and/or

2) The head instructor wants to keep all of the testing fees for him or herself; and/or

3) The head instructor does not want to create competitors by giving his/her students Kukkiwon certification and empowering them to issue Kukkiwon certification themselves.

When asked why the particular school does not issue Kukkiwon certification to its students, several basic justifications are always given:

1) We are a martial art, not a sport, and Kukkiwon certification is for sport;

2) A certificate signed by the head instructor is more valuable than one signed by a stranger, because the head instructor knows you personally and knows what you can do;

3) The Kukkiwon is run by the Korean government and we don't want to be under the thumb of any foreign country;

4) Kukkiwon certification is expensive and takes a long time to process, sometimes years;

5) The Kukkiwon wants to tell us what to do and what we can teach, and our head instructor has fifty or more years of experience and it should be the other way around, our head instructor should be telling the Kukkiwon what to teach;

6) You don't need Kukkiwon certification.

The first three reasons are generally the head instructor's personal reasons, and the last six are the ones that are given to students, who end up repeating these if anyone asks them why they practice the Kukkiwon curriculum but don't have Kukkiwon certification.

I am sorry that I am happy with how my club operates is not a worthy response for you. I am going to step out of the debate now. I hope you find the answers you are looking for.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

There are many kukki schools who do palgwe's and taegueks,we do and we also do many moo duk kwan forms also(shotokan kata).As we get higher dan we learn many new forms, that is not better or worse than only one set but to me personally it sounds boring.
I agree with you,if you don't want to learn the additional forms then you don't want KKW very bad and should stay out.
I guess its clear that Glen does not really care whether you want KKW but whether he can recruit 4000 members.I do not understand where he is going with you,he needs the ear of your 7th not a 1st. Good luck with your training and I hope you do not judge all KKW schools the same,or from what you think you SEE on tv.

Actually, if you go back through my posts you will find many times where I say I have absolutely nothing against kukki tkd, its just not what I do. I also have the utmost respect for WTF sparring, the athleticism, speed and accuracy of those guys is mind blowing and if I tried to spar like that for more than a minute Id probably collapse in a heap, the speed of their footwork alone is a workout in itself so please dont ever think I have anything against kukki tkd, but again its just not what I do. Im glad to hear your club branches out and learns more than just the one set, everyone I talk to from any club just seems to work on the one set of coloured belt forms so its good to hear you guys expand your knowlege. As Ive said before, the biggest clubs in my local area have in excess of 12 000 students combined and none are kukki affiliated and yet all kukki clubs combined in my area would be flat out having a few thousand students combined, so I just dont see kukki affiliation as the be all and end all, and I dont want to be certified in something I dont know.

 

[Kacey]

What happens if and when your instructor retires or passes away? No more promotions for you?

You missed my point entirely. Signatures from an instructor - no matter how highly ranked - who has never seen me perform are meaningless to me. The opinion of the seniors who actually know me - whether my instructor or others - is what matters. That opinion is shown through a variety of methods, one of which is a signature on a promotion certificate - but the feedback I get in and out of class is worth considerably more. In the end, certificates can be forged - but a reputation is earned.

 

[KarateMomUSA]

If you do not wish to answer, then say so and be done with it, but understand that most of us will take that as a yes, so it is best to give the actual answer.
Personally, I don't care. But as the subject has come up, you really should address it.
I have already stated in another thread that if one is going to call someone else on their identity that they should be posting their own as well.

I am sorry Sir as I did address this & am sorry that it was not to the satisfaction of some readers. Yes people are always free to draw whatever conclusion that they deem best, from info typed on a public discussion forum. There has also never been a calling out under this screen name for anyone's identity, it just would not be fair or right, given how this screen name posts. Given that, it at times can be a tactic used in debates to go negative & personal in a way, this screen name will not do that & expresses regrets that others may not apply that standard.

 

[KarateMomUSA]

The future of TKD I would imagine depends to a degree on how people look at TKD. If all those who call what they are doing TKD are indeed TKD, then it makes some sense that in order to move forward together or working closer with each other, there must be a positive environment. Negativity usually works against any type of cooperation.
So maybe a possible scenario for the future of TKD would be:
Sport TKD under the WTF, where all that wanted to, could pursue that path.
Martial Art TKD, where everyone would be free to pursue that as they see fit, possibly under the banner of TKD as an umbrella term.

 

[andyjeffries]

Given that, it at times can be a tactic used in debates to go negative & personal in a way, this screen name will not do that & expresses regrets that others may not apply that standard.

As Daniel says though, that's a risk of everyone considering it a yes.

Personally I don't care, although it's nice to put a face to the name (and know what the background is of the commenter). I do find it a bit weird though that a man would use a female "online alias". If someone wants to call themselves NinjaFish or something fine, but to use a name that implies (or is explicitly) the opposite sex is weird.

Probably because in my mind it invokes thoughts of grooming, where someone would claim to be something they're not online. I'm sure you're not that way, but if you are a man using a woman's name it just feels odd.

Although you won't claim to be a George Vitale, can you at least confirm if you are indeed female?