females in traditional chinese martial arts
hi folks,
the times are changing and as we've seen at the recent tiger claw
tournament in san jose.. a strong presence of female martial artists. i also have a question about how supportive this space is for gay/lesbian folks.
two questions:
1. what do you think is the role of female martial artists in traditional
chinese martial arts?
2. is this a community open to gay/lesbian martial artists?
various opinions i've heard and inferred through observation:
- women are welcome but really it's the men that authentically carry on the lineage of our ancestors
- female martial artists are appreciated because they are feminine and sexy
- women are warriors just like men- take them seriously and promote them if they qualify
- ooh, lesbians with swords. hot.
- gay is fine as long as they stay away from me.
- wish we had more female participants
- who cares about gender and sexual orientation. this is a new era and as long as they care about the art that's all that matters.
any thoughts?
thanks,
jian
Learning from a female teacher
I’ve trained with my teacher, a woman, for 8 years. I’ve never gone ‘toe to toe’ in a ring with her, but we've 'knocked arms' a lot over the years. The heaviness in her arms along with seamless transfer of power from her legs into her hands results in a fair amount of power, for anyone of any size or gender. The fact that she’s a woman, in her late 50’s and five foot zip makes it all the more interesting for me as a student.
Before I met her, I trained in other arts and encountered male teachers with not much substance to what they did.
Females may not be able to match it physically with their male peers. But there really is not much difference learning from a female vs learning from a male.