Transgenders in martial arts

[JowGaWolf]

I was going to mention that nobody any good comes from a female only class. But decided to be tactful.

lol.

I'm with you on not believing in the female only classes. I think women short change themselves on not training with men if they are serious about self-defense. If they aren't serious about self-defense then it doesn't matter to me. Competitive training varies.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

ha ha ha.. this makes me feel bad because our introductions is. Hi my name is. This is.. Smile and shake hands. Then straight to training. I'm not sure but I think we joke a little more when new people first arrive. I know when I train and there's a new person, I will sometimes open up and express externally how an exercise is kicking my but. Normally I'll hide it around existing students, but I try to show how difficult that some of the conditioning exercises are for me, and then I push through so they can see that even though it's difficult, I still try to do my best. I haven't had to do much of that lately since our new student joined who is overweight big time. But she puts in the works and can actually kick better than some of the fit students. She's the type of person that makes you feel lazy when you are watching her do her best.

I never hide that. I complain about the fool that designed the warm-ups every time I lead them. My students seem to think I could fix that problem...

 

[Tez3]

I've run women only classes, they were specifically for our army wives when their husbands were away on deployment, army welfare arranged childcare for them so they could come. It's one of the services available to make life a bit easier for military families. The classes weren't any different from our normal classes ie they weren't for 'women' as such. If we'd had husbands whose wives were deployed they were welcome to come but we didn't, mostly women who are deployed send their children to grandparents/family.
I'm bad on names so everyone gets called 'pet'.
The women who train with us are soldiers like the men, they've all been to Afghan at least once. There's transsexuals in the military here, it's not a big deal. We have one lavatory and one changing room in the martial arts club, no one cares and just gets changed, they are all used to it on exercise and deployment.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I'm bad on names so everyone gets called 'pet'.

I wish there was a handy term that worked in US English like that, because I'm pretty lousy with names, too. "Hey, you" is as close as I can get, and students seem to magically grow names about 3 months in.

 

[Kickboxer101]

Everyone's talking about the competitive side but it's not just about that. Now I'm all for equal rights and everything but it's not black and white. Women's classes appeal to women who don't feel comfortable training with men for whatever reason. So you can understand why this could be a problem for some. Im not saying people are right to have a problem with it but it is understandable

 

[Tez3]

I wish there was a handy term that worked in US English like that, because I'm pretty lousy with names, too. "Hey, you" is as close as I can get, and students seem to magically grow names about 3 months in.

It depends on where in the UK you are what is used, down in Cornwall it's 'my lover' addressed to everyone regardless of the gender of speaker or the person spoken to.

 

[Kickboxer101]

I wish there was a handy term that worked in US English like that, because I'm pretty lousy with names, too. "Hey, you" is as close as I can get, and students seem to magically grow names about 3 months in.

Lol I work in a primary school and it's very similiar to me. Teaching at karates fine as there's not a huge amount but where I work I have to look after 30 kids and though I've remember some names most of them are referred to as you, buddy, boy, girl lol

 

[WaterGal]

I believe Real Sports (I may be mistaken) did a segment on a male to female trans woman who was now competing in MMA some years ago. I think you might be able to make an argument that in full contact competitive sports that someone who was born physically male would have an unfair advantage. Those born physically male are simply able to build more muscle then someone born physically female (or at least they could before starting female hormones) and would probably be stronger even assuming the same weight. I really don't want to say that she shouldn't be able compete against other woman, but I do think she has an advantage. But then there are always athletes who have natural advantages over their competitors, we don't exclude them from competing in their chosen sport.

I understand people having concerns about unfair advantage when it comes to people who are competing at a very elite level where small advantages can make a big difference. In that case, it makes sense to me that an organization might want to do some research to compare the athletic performance of transgender women who have transitioned (taking hormones, etc) with the athletic performance of highly athletic women in their weight class. If they find that there's a significant advantage, just because of them having had gone through male puberty, then maybe the organization will set a handicap or something.

But elite competition is a separate issue from just taking a class and practicing together. In the latter case, I really wouldn't see what the big deal is with that. They're just trying to learn, same as you.

 

[WaterGal]

I'm a woman and I agree that's it's just a marketing ploy. And quite frankly I, as a woman, am kind of offended by woman's only classes. They're kind of patronizing and implies that woman can't/shouldn't train with men. Like I said I've only really seen them in my area for cardio-kickboxing classes, which are just martial arts lite in my book. You might as well take a Zumba or Jazzercise class. And that makes even less sense to me why they are women's only, if there's no contact.

Well..... some women are uncomfortable doing grappling with men because of their life experiences, and some women belong to religious sects that aren't okay with mixed-gender touching. So for those two groups, a women's-only class would probably be appealing.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

It depends on where in the UK you are what is used, down in Cornwall it's 'my lover' addressed to everyone regardless of the gender of speaker or the person spoken to.

Now that would get me some looks here in the US!

 

[Ironbear24]

Not to be crass, but genitalia does not matter. What matters is, "Does this person prefer to be addressed by male or female pronouns?" They can live as a man or woman without physically being them yet.

I don't believe you can choose choose which gender you are, you can't just decide to be one or the other because there is more to gender from a biological stand point. It isn't something I would argue with them about though, there isn't any harm to me or others if they wish to be addressed as whatever they wish.

I do wish that more gay and lesbian people took up martial arts, my cousin and some other people I know get messed with all the time because of they sexual orientation and I would be more comfortable knowing they could defend themselves better.

 

[Ironbear24]

Then you need gi, a black one.

You earned a thumbs up from that alone, A black gi is so much easier to clean than a white one.

I can't see any of the other students caring too much, but that's just a guess. Heck, we even taught democrats and lawyers.

Lawyers! Wow you have lots of patience.

 

[Danny T]

I.
I'm bad on names so everyone gets called 'pet'.

'pet'...I don't remember you calling anyone here pet. I may want to be called pet. Reminds me of my mom calling me pet...when I wasn't being called other choice derogative names.

 

[Steve]

Now that would get me some looks here in the US!

Parts of the USA I'll get called Hon, Sweety, dude, bro, brah or something else. Just dont use boy, son or kid. Those are almost universally taken poorly.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Parts of the USA I'll get called Hon, Sweety, dude, bro, brah or something else. Just dont use boy, son or kid. Those are almost universally taken poorly.

Yeah, but even in the South, where women use "sweetie" and "hon" all the time, I can't get away with it...

 

[Kickboxer101]

Not to be crass, but genitalia does not matter. What matters is, "Does this person prefer to be addressed by male or female pronouns?" They can live as a man or woman without physically being them yet.

Yeah that's all well and good for their personal life and yes that I agree on but when it comes to doing women only classes then it becomes an issue. So if a man says right I'm a woman now and isn't physically a woman yet you believe he should be let into women's only martial art classes?

 

[Steve]

Yeah, but even in the South, where women use "sweetie" and "hon" all the time, I can't get away with it...

true. You could try toots. In the PNW, we really don't have anything I can think of, male or female.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yeah that's all well and good for their personal life and yes that I agree on but when it comes to doing women only classes then it becomes an issue. So if a man says right I'm a woman now and isn't physically a woman yet you believe he should be let into women's only martial art classes?

If the person is living as a woman, I'd have no problem with it.

 

[Steve]

Yeah that's all well and good for their personal life and yes that I agree on but when it comes to doing women only classes then it becomes an issue. So if a man says right I'm a woman now and isn't physically a woman yet you believe he should be let into women's only martial art classes?

I do, if he's pre-op. The process is long and involved, and there is a lengthy period of time that a transgender is on hormone therapy and is living as the other gender, but hasn't yet had surgery. I have no problem with a male to female transgender going to an all female class as a pre-op transgender.

 

[Saheim]

By the way, I probably could have taken your reply more seriously, but you had to go and use "you's." Let's not forget the "ya." Tell me: what did you do with all the time you saved by typing those things instead of "you're" and "you?"

The bad grammar was intentional to suggest that even an uneducated simpleton could grasp this basic concept - Feeling that you are something does NOT automatically make you that thing. Furthermore, it is not my responsibility to play into someone's delusion by referring to them in ways that reinforce it.

If it makes you feel all warm, tolerant, and politically correct to do so..... then do it. You refer to my attitude as "ignorant", you are entitled to your opinion. Mine is that allowing everybody to make up an imaginary identity is ignorant