The public perception of Martial Artists.

DennisBreene

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Memories of my youth brought up during private communication with another contributor brought this to the surface and it sparked my curiosity. I went to a very small college (600 undergraduates). I was from the Washington D.C suburbs and used to relative anonymity. After I had joined the schools Karate club, the president of the club decided to hold a demonstration. I had trained in a very disciplined and focused tradition and I guess it was noticeable to the audience. (I held Jun Bi and didn't look around while other members kind of let their attention wander for example). I somehow got the reputation as being the guy from the Karate club and met with occasional unusual reactions. One classmate was afraid that I would beat him up after he dated a girl I had dated (not an exclusive relationship even). I had to quietly reassure him that I didn't operate that way. It was my first awareness that the public in general had very distorted perceptions as to what it meant to be a Martial Artist. Does anyone else have similar experiences? What do other members feel the current perception of Martial Arts is among the lay population?
 

nocturnal_

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Most of my friends that don't do martial arts view martial arts as sports or hobby. They never see it as a mean of self defense, given that we live in a generally safe city. They often ask friends that do martial arts to show them some fancy moves. That's about it.

My friends never view me as the 'martial arts guy'. Maybe because I don't do styles that have all the fancy tricks. They do know that I have good reflexes, but they never attribute it to martial arts. There's a female friend that people call the "Karate chick" mostly because she likes showing off the fancy spinning kicks. She actually does Taekwondo, but I guess non-martial-artists would view it the same as Karate.
 

Janina

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I try to avoid all that kind of reputation, so I rarely speak about MA with my relatives in common. Sometimes when these things come up (mostly when discussing about hobbies) I mention just that I practice Martial Arts with- and without weapons.

Like Nocturnal, I have also noticed, that most people see MA just as sport, and so does most of my friends also. Basically they don´t ask me about fighting stuff, but sometimes some have asked advices for common fitness exercise and then I usually talk only about pushups and stretch movements.

My own principle for practice is, what I study in Dojo stays in Dojo. I don´t use or perform these techniques outside my personal practice..
 

lklawson

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Does anyone else have similar experiences?
People will often act nervous, like they don't know what to say or how to react (because they don't). Some folks will chuckle and joke, "please don't beat me up" but it's not really serious. Most of them have a niggling suspicion in the back of their minds that they could "hold their own" against most "trained martial artists" and, to be fair, they're often not wrong.

What do other members feel the current perception of Martial Arts is among the lay population?
It depends. Lots of people have a strange view as if "trained martial artists" are supermen. Some people think they could probably "win a fight" against you (and they may be right). Sill others just don't seem to care one way or another and wonder why anyone would bother with martial arts when a firearm is so effective (also a valid question).

The longer you do martial arts, the more people you'll meet and the move varying viewpoints you'll find.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
 

Cirdan

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I have been given the "please don`t beat me up" speech. The person has been in a scuffle with a friend of mine, however the matter had already been setteled and shaken hands over so why did he need asurances from me?

Most people don`t really know what the arts are and they have some odd notions about "martial artists" doing special things in a special way for special reasons... or whatever.
 

Zero

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Not surprisingly a lot of my old close friends also did the same or other styles of MA so we enjoy chin waging about the arts and fights but all is seen as the norm, a lot of acquaintances are also karateka of various styles so we see oursleves as normal. I don't go into talking about MA at the work place but used to compete quite a lot when I was younger and some people are aware of it so I can get the odd silly comment at work. It is a mature, professional environment so there is none of that annoying "I bet I could take you stuff", more ignorance or the belief an MAist is superhuman or has no fear, such as when I have to travel to countries/locations for work which are reaosonably dangerous and the view is I won't be concerned because I will be able to handle armed assailants and bombings with my bare hands, ridiculous stuff.
 

lklawson

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more ignorance or the belief an MAist is superhuman or has no fear, such as when I have to travel to countries/locations for work which are reaosonably dangerous and the view is I won't be concerned because I will be able to handle armed assailants and bombings with my bare hands, ridiculous stuff.
You Can't Karate Chop a Bullet by Sean C. Ledig.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
 

MJS

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Memories of my youth brought up during private communication with another contributor brought this to the surface and it sparked my curiosity. I went to a very small college (600 undergraduates). I was from the Washington D.C suburbs and used to relative anonymity. After I had joined the schools Karate club, the president of the club decided to hold a demonstration. I had trained in a very disciplined and focused tradition and I guess it was noticeable to the audience. (I held Jun Bi and didn't look around while other members kind of let their attention wander for example). I somehow got the reputation as being the guy from the Karate club and met with occasional unusual reactions. One classmate was afraid that I would beat him up after he dated a girl I had dated (not an exclusive relationship even). I had to quietly reassure him that I didn't operate that way. It was my first awareness that the public in general had very distorted perceptions as to what it meant to be a Martial Artist. Does anyone else have similar experiences? What do other members feel the current perception of Martial Arts is among the lay population?

Personally, I do my best to avoid discussing any aspects of my training with anyone. However, I do make exceptions, those being: with fellow martial artists, and with people who are capable of being serious and sincere with their questions. The reasons I do this: Because I get tired of the Bruce Lee sounds, with people asking if I can do something like they saw Chuck Norris do on tv, asking if I can take them in a fight, asking how many fights I've been in, assuming that because I train, I'm some uber-bad ***.

IMO, I think that alot of what we see on tv/movies, in addition to the watered down BS that we see from various arts, gives the uneducated public, a very distorted view of what training is like or should be like.
 

kitarpyar

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I used to be an avid powerlifting enthusiast, and have started martial arts recently. Before starting MA, my co-workers would sometimes jokingly call me a meathead. After starting MA and cutting down a bit of powerlifting, a few of them say that I am "moving towards normalcy", while the rest of them still joke the same way. I work as a scientist in a research lab, so most of my co-workers are geeks who are not acquainted with either weight training or MA.

But from the slight change in reactions, I suppose MA is a little more socially acceptable than powerlifitng.
 

Aiki Lee

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I get a lot of varied responses, noone has ever appeared intimidated by me when it gets brought up, but then I dowhat I can to be friendly.
Most of the time I get questionslike “Could you handle this guy or that guy” to which I always respond “in whatcontext?” It seems people often assume that “winning” a confrontation meanshaving to beat someone up, but as a social worker I can just smash in a guy’sface just because he’s crazy. It’s my job to assist him. Every once in a whilesomeone will make a remark like “I guess you must be some kind of badass then”to which I respond “yes” and leave it at that. If they are genuinely curiousand not just goofing around I’ll talk to them about it otherwise it just seemsa waste of time.
A few people think I’m into LARPingsince I don’t compete in anything; I just let them believe what they want.
 

WaterGal

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I didn't used to talk about martial arts much with people I didn't train with. But since the Mr and I started our school, I've had to start talking about it a lot to network and try to find students. I also frequently wear a shirt with our school logo, so people will randomly start conversations with me about martial arts.

I think the perceptions are a little different for female martial arts than for men. Women often seem to think it's cool that I'm a woman with a black belt, like I'm some tough empowering symbol or advancing women's rights by kicking things. Guys, on the other hand, often either 1) make jokes about, basically, how I could fight off a rapist, or 2) have some patronizing attitude about how they could totally beat me up.
 
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DennisBreene

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People will often act nervous, like they don't know what to say or how to react (because they don't). Some folks will chuckle and joke, "please don't beat me up" but it's not really serious. Most of them have a niggling suspicion in the back of their minds that they could "hold their own" against most "trained martial artists" and, to be fair, they're often not wrong.

It depends. Lots of people have a strange view as if "trained martial artists" are supermen. Some people think they could probably "win a fight" against you (and they may be right). Sill others just don't seem to care one way or another and wonder why anyone would bother with martial arts when a firearm is so effective (also a valid question).

The longer you do martial arts, the more people you'll meet and the move varying viewpoints you'll find.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
I agree. We maintained a low profile at my school and the unnaturally small environment of my college created an anomalous situation. Over the years I've seen many varied responses but I still get a chuckle over the individuals who seem to feel we have developed super powers.
 
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DennisBreene

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Personally, I do my best to avoid discussing any aspects of my training with anyone. However, I do make exceptions, those being: with fellow martial artists, and with people who are capable of being serious and sincere with their questions. The reasons I do this: Because I get tired of the Bruce Lee sounds, with people asking if I can do something like they saw Chuck Norris do on tv, asking if I can take them in a fight, asking how many fights I've been in, assuming that because I train, I'm some uber-bad ***.

IMO, I think that alot of what we see on tv/movies, in addition to the watered down BS that we see from various arts, gives the uneducated public, a very distorted view of what training is like or should be like.

That has been my experience too. I blame it on Quai Chang Cain.
 
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DennisBreene

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I didn't used to talk about martial arts much with people I didn't train with. But since the Mr and I started our school, I've had to start talking about it a lot to network and try to find students. I also frequently wear a shirt with our school logo, so people will randomly start conversations with me about martial arts.

I think the perceptions are a little different for female martial arts than for men. Women often seem to think it's cool that I'm a woman with a black belt, like I'm some tough empowering symbol or advancing women's rights by kicking things. Guys, on the other hand, often either 1) make jokes about, basically, how I could fight off a rapist, or 2) have some patronizing attitude about how they could totally beat me up.
Again, the trend seems to be that of a very distorted view, with the occasional individual who is truly curious and open to a more insightful discussion.
 

nocturnal_

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I think the perceptions are a little different for female martial arts than for men. Women often seem to think it's cool that I'm a woman with a black belt, like I'm some tough empowering symbol or advancing women's rights by kicking things. Guys, on the other hand, often either 1) make jokes about, basically, how I could fight off a rapist, or 2) have some patronizing attitude about how they could totally beat me up.

One of my ex-girlfriends trained in Taekwondo for more than 5 years, and she felt insecure whenever she walked by herself in some quiet area at night. I don't think she was able to use any of her martial arts trainings in the street. She had no fear competing in amateur Taekwondo tournaments, albeit never ended up in Top 3. But when it came to walking alone at night, she got scared easily.

I'm not talking about gender though. I know a couple of female martial artists that I'm sure can beat the crap out of male assailants in the street.

I'm talking more about the mentality. Some martial artists can be very confident in the class, but when it comes to possible threat in the street, their confidence level can dissipate quickly.
 

nocturnal_

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And why do you think that?

Aside from they're very good at their arts, their training mentality is different. I normally can see through people. I can see that they train to fight (real fight), not for sport, not for hobby, not for exercise.
 

Cyriacus

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Aside from they're very good at their arts, their training mentality is different. I normally can see through people. I can see that they train to fight (real fight), not for sport, not for hobby, not for exercise.

Mentality will only get you so far. You can have the firmest most indignant mentality in the world, and your bones will still break, your organs will still rupture, and youll still choke when someone takes you.

Also, train to fight? What kind of fight are they training for exactly, and are they likely to get into that kind of fight? How is what theyre doing training them for that particular kind of fight, as opposed to any of the other things? Or is it just their mentality that makes it so. Are they learning how to avoid getting into a fight in the first place, or are they training to go toe to toe with an adult male, as if thats ever going to happen under circumstances they couldnt avoid?
 

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