*Asian* women in the martial arts

[Falcor]

Just read a report in the WSJ that women are Asia are forgoing exercise in favor pills and gizmos that zap and massage the fat away. Given that there arent' as many women in the martial arts than as there are men (at least in the US), I was just curious as to how many Asian women in Asia (as opposed to foreign Expats who line in Asia) study the martial arts? Is it less or more than in the west? I don't think MA is as popular in Asia amongst the populace as a serious pursuit than other activities - like golf - kinda contrary to what one would expect. But it seems that things that impact the professional life is more of a priority than martial arts, and those that pursue it with any degree of seriousness into their adulthood (instead of just a fad or a thing to do while a kid/young) are rare - even amongst men. How is it amongst women? Anybody here live in Asia and have any first hand accounts?

[Starchaser107]

when you find an Asian Woman that is beautiful, she is really beatiful.
but on a whole the same can be said for women of all races.

[ComeToJesus]

SC, what the hell does that have to do with what he posted?

[pazman]

well, i can't speak about the rest of asia, but here in japan, martial arts are very popular. judo and kendo are probably the most popular. as for women, well, that depends. i have yet to meet a female judoka. on the other hand. about half the kids at my kendo school are girls, and there's a handful of women in the adult class. at my aikido class, there's is always a 50-50 split between men and women.

but...

yes, there are countless pills and gizmos and special drinks to help people lose weight here. which is strange, because most people are thin here anyways.

[Kristoffer]

Have no idea about women percentage of how many do MA.. I get the feeling that there's more women in asian countrys doing MA than here in the western world. We INVENTED these pills and new age power yoga milkshakes.

[KC Elbows]

I'm confused. Are we talking about Asian women, or *Asian* women? Is that like "Asian" women? I assumed we were talking about 1950's american actresses playing asian women, in which case I'd say that most actresses are thin, but back then, not so well versed on the martial arts. If we're talking "asian" men, like John Wayne when he played Kublia Khan or whatever, well, he wasn't really thin, and he just haymakered a lot, so I would say again, not so well versed on the martial arts.

I think there's a hell of a lot of women practicing kung fu on mainland china, mostly wushu, but probably still a lot of other arts getting learned by those women.

[Losttrak]

www.losttrak.com/xiao.jpg

[Judge Pen]

I thought that it was the people in the west who were fat and under-exercised. :confused:

It appear to be a global problem, but I think that most women (and men for that matter) prefer other types of exercise because they are intimidated by the time, effort, and physicality of MA. If a little pill can make you look as good as countless hours training, then why train?

[GeneChing]

...There's a long tradition of weight loss herbs in Asia, mostly teas, but pills exist too. China invented everything, you know, even ketchup. ;)

As for asian women practicing martial arts, there is definately a higher percentage of women practitioners in Asia, but still far more men. In China, a lot of more women go into law enforcement and military, so there are are lot of fighters. And for a while, just following the turnover of HK to PRC, it was fashionable to have beautiful women bodyguards - just like a villain in the movies - so there was a contingent of women who trained for such jobs. The exclusiveness of such a job made it pretty high paying. That always captured my imagination, but I don't know if that's still in fashion.

[Starchaser107]

"SC, what the hell does that have to do with what he posted?"
______________________________________________

absolutely nothing except for the fact that i felt i should share my feelings on asian women, and women in general.

on a side note what does your response to my troll have to do with his post, at the very least you could have made a contribution, since you oppose:p

[Ford Prefect]

I think he means women in Russia.

[Falcor]

Well, fellas (and ladies), I was referring to women of Asian ethnicity born and raised and still living in Aisa (everything from Asia to the SE - Malaysia, et al, to CHina, Japan, Korea, and the Polyniesina Islands). I ask this becasue in the US, in general there are more men than women who pursue athleticism as a profession, and certainly the ratios are skewed towards the men when it comes to martial arts as a profession. Even if MA is taken not as a profession, but as a serious hobby (like a lawyer who is also a serious pianist, for example), this ratio also seems to me that there are more men than women. I have absolutely no scientific data to base this except for what I have gleaned from what I've read and heard over the years so feel free to correct me if I am wrong. But here is the thing, in Asia there is a very high pressure within society and within families for women to stick to the family-rearing thing, and if not and wants to pursue a profession, to stick to, well, professional things like the law, or medicine. In the US (I cannot speak for Europe since I have no knoweldge of the situation there), it is more acceptable for women pursue MA as a field of study and continue to do so for years and decades. I am not so sure this may be true in Asia. One other thing. It may not be true everywhere, but a lot of the more popular MAs like Kendo, and Judo, and TKd, etc in the countries of their origin seem to attract and awful lot of youngsters (brought to them by their parents) - but very few stick to it after high school or college, or once they started to do "adult" things like work. It's almost like Little League in some sense. Of course there are those few who do make it a life long endeavour, and I'm sure this phenomena occurs in the US as well, but considering this happens to boys, I wonder how this winnowing effect affects the female students.

[Xdr4g0nx]

I live in the US, but i'm a Vietnamese by birth. But anywayz from the impressions that i got from the adults around me is that martial arts is considered masculine, kind of like football here in the US, and girls are discouraged to take it. My ex-girlfriend's father, who is Vietnamese, would not let her take martial art when she was little. But then again times are changing.

[Losttrak]

From what my wife told me about growing up in N China, it was like stepping back into the American 50's as far as traditional roles for women. I wont go into details but the generation of parents over there right now still expect women to be pretty conservative. Most everyone she knew who got married when they were young were virgins... and so were alot of the guys. Nowadays she is told there are kids having sex in the streets in Beijing. Not sure how accurate it is but I cant help but figure it comes from the burgeoning Western influence. =O

[Kristoffer]

China invented everything, you know, even ketchup


:eek:

[IronFist]

Iz U teH AzN?

[norther practitioner]

I'd have to imagine there is a higher percentage of women studying in asia in comparison in the west (even including tae bo). :D