I see too many women in MMA and BJJ and I'm having a hard time understanding, why?
On myspace I see women posting pictures of their black eyes like it's cool
The answer lies in the question.
Women do martial arts for the same reasons that men do even if the mix is a little different. A few more are there to learn self defense. Not so many are interested in picking up chicks
But "too many"?
Those two little words speak volumes about what
you believe women should do and why they should do it. Me? I prefer to support anyone who has a goal and pursues it wholeheartedly. If women want to wrestle, box and compete in a hard core physical contest more power to them. They shouldn't be limited, especially by people who are uncomfortable seeing them push outside traditional limits.
Yes, some of them will get black eyes and broken noses and bruises and the occasional splinted arm. And they'll be proud of it because it proves that they aren't afraid to do what they have to to be what they want.
MMA are flavor of the week right now and will be for quite a while. BJJ is an important part of the sport. Fifty years ago it was Judo. Forty years ago it was Karate. Thirty years ago it was Kung Fu. Twenty years ago it was Tae Kwon Do. Some day it will be something else. Right now it's the Octagon and Muay Thai and submission wrestling. Every time the traditionalists have decreed that women don't really have a place. And yes, that includes Wing Chun in spite of its creation legend.
and wonder how to attract more women to the art of Wing Chun. (maybe it's a U.S.A. thing) I find more women in Europe and such involved in WC/WT but, what is the DEAL with the women in the states?
I don't mean to come off wrong, but I'm wanting to increase enrollment of women in our WC class.
What's the deal? It's simple. These women have their own agendas and priorities. Since
they are not personally invested in
your martial art they look for what
they want. Some of them will end up in Wing Chun, but like the vast majority of people in martial arts or martial sports most will end up somewhere else. MA is a much more competitive business than it used to be. You can't show up with the Sacred Revealed Wisdom(tm) and expect people to line up and kiss your ring. The school and the student have to be the best match for one another.
You can try to find the people who are interested in what you are offering. You can trick people into believing that they want what you are selling, although you won't keep many students for long that way. You can adapt to fit their needs if your conscience and standards will allow it. What you can't do is blame the market for not wanting or needing your product.
Just teaching a Women's self defense class isn't met with much interest I've found, like their all burnt out on the idea of taking a self defense class.
Are you teaching a women's self defense class in order to teach women to defend themselves, or are you doing it to get them signed up for Wing Chun lessons? I think I asked this in another thread.
Being a woman myself, and not being to understand my own sex is also very frustrating. I don't usually meet many women that are studing any type of art much less Wing Chun. This is very perplexing to me, since WC is so well suited to a woman. It seems to me that women want to "learn how to fight like a man", and they feel that this is the only way to defeat a man. ACK!
Not every woman who takes martial arts does it for self defense, not even every women who says that's why she's doing it. And yes, martial arts is largely a man's world. There are always more men than women who are interested in learning to fight. I won't argue how much is biological and how much is social. Let's just say that it's a fact.
Women are involved in the hobby in much greater numbers than they ever were. And there are more schools which welcome them. Look at some of the recent threads where women have been forced out of traditional martial arts schools by teachers or other students who just don't take women seriously or think they should be there at all. Remember that it was much, much worse twenty years ago, let alone forty. I'm not that old, and I remember when women could expect to get the crap kicked out of them if they were even allowed in the door. The more "traditional" the school the worse it was. And the Chinese ones - yes even Wing Chun - were as bad as any.
Mixed Martial Arts doesn't have that kind of history. There are some gyms where the air is slippery with free-floating testosterone. But the sport has more of a place for women and accepts them as customers the same as everyone else.
Maybe what they're learning is "how to fight like a man". I'd argue that Wing Chun isn't that much better that way than most other MA. It's certainly got nothing on at least a dozen other systems I can mention off the top of my head. The point is to learn to fight at all. After that a person can argue that this method or that gym is a better fit. MMA is a recent evolution in a time that is more accepting of women in the martial arts. It doesn't have the history or baggage. It's not surprising that women from the same culture will likely find a home there.
I've been held by that train of thought for many years when I studied other arts, I guess I'm just trying to figure out what their attracted to in a martial art so I can show that part of WC sooner to get their interest.
I've posted a bit here and there on the women's site, but I only get responses from men. So, fine, now I'm asking the men. lol!
Well, you've got one now. A classic third- or fourth-wave feminist response from a man who studies a traditional martial art and taught women's self defense pretty successfully for a number or years. Make what you want of it.