"I won't train with girls, it's against my religion": your thoughts?

Hi there

A Muslim guy turned up at a class I go to a few nights ago and refused to train with the girl he was paired with for padwork as "it's against my religion to fight girls". The teacher aquiesced and paired him with a bloke. As far as I was concerned, he was being offensive and dirsciminatory. Substitute the word "girls" in his sentence for "black people/gay people/oriental" people and you see what I'm getting at.

My class is multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-everything. We've had Muslim guys training with us before and they've never had a problem with females and just got on with their training.

We are paired according to size and ability so he couldn't even argue that she was too small/inexperienced for him.

The girl didn't seem that fussed, but I'm wondering

a) do you think this guy is being out of order

b) would there have been the potential for legal repercussions from the girl in question

 

Wow, not heard of this before.I have had a guy who wasn't keen on doing certain drills with me once but that was his own problem.

I don't think there will be legal ramifications. I do however think it's up to the teacher to decide what to do. What are his specific grounds for not training with girls? Ie what is the exact religious reason?

If he had refused to train with me (as a woman) I would have asked him specifically why women. If he had a vaild reason for it then I wouldn't be offended,it's his problem. I think I may be a bit annoyed though if there was no valid reason.

 

Simple solution. DON'T TRAIN AT ALL.

Regards koyo

 

Or what Koyo says

 

The way things are going he may have defend himself against a woman.

I am with Koyo on this one...

 

What, defending against a woman? You have not met Mrs (you have to sleep sometime) Koyo

The guy cannot dictate what he will or will not do at a martial arts class.

regards koyo

 

It's his choice whether to do direct training with women, or any other person. Nobody can force him to do otherwise. It is, however, up to the instructor on hand to decide whether he wants to train him given his own training desires/requirements.

We all train because we want to, not because we have to. The bottom line is if you don't want to do something then that's up to you, and it's not for anyone else to judge you on (espeially if it is a religious matter). If the restrictions that you place on your own training are incompatible with your art/dojo, then it's for the instructor to deal with.

Just my opinion of course!

 

He can dictate it, because he can simply refuse. Whether his instructor wants to keep training him is another matter.

If He's happy to, then people should respect that decision.

 

I would have told him to train with who he is told. If he don't like it he knows where the door is. Everyone is equal in my club.

Hell at Koyo's Makotokai I have trained with a woman 1/3 my size and been honoured to do so. She certainly didn't spare me that's for sure.

The Bear.

 

And that's the key in my opinion. Your Dojo, you decision.

 

I'd have shown him the door. That or given her permission to bash him until he either fought back, or left


Plenty of men are uncomfortable training with women at first, but you don't tell your instructor how you're going to train, you just do it or leave

 

I don't get it- fighting men:fine fighting women:baaaaaaaaad.

 

You can't tell him how to train you, but you can ask for any exceptional training you want. Many instructors will of course tell you to...... well you can fill in the blank for yourself!

 

Plus this isn't fighting this is training. Completely different.

The Bear.

 

True ,true.

 

i think it boils down to the fact that he would be devestated to have his butt handed to him on a plate by a woman. His pride would forever be dented!

 

You're all missing one key word in the original post:

Muslim.

It is against Muslim law and religion for a woman to touch a man she is not related or married to. Therefore it is also 'wrong' for a man to touch that woman.

It's his prerogative to choose. If a 100lb female said she didnt want to train with a 250lb man, would you force her?

 

If it's his religion then fine. If you got told you'd go to hell for training with girls and you were stupid enough to believe it then you'd do the same. If you would have told him to leave it would be religious discrimination.

 

Maybe it's something to do with image and society. Every guy has it hard wired in childhood that hitting women is socially unacceptable. It's hard to go against something that the back of your mind knows to be unacceptable behaviour (there's actually a part of the brain that inhibits behaviour that's 'unacceptable' so you function better in society, but that's a long story!).


Anyway....


As sarge said the point here is muslim. I think whether or not an instructor respects his wishes or shows him the door is up to him. At least at this point in time!

 

At a national coach meeting I had to answer to someone complaining that Sensei Coyle had given a "brutal" seminar that had left the students exhausted.

Imagine their faces when I explained that I could not make the seminar and "sensei" Anne Marie Coyle had taken it in my place.She gained the nickname sorry because too often she would apply a powerfull technique on someone then mumble "sorry" when they hit the floor.

Predjudice of any kind has no place in martial arts and someone joining "takes what he / she gets" he does NOT tell the instructor what HE wants.

regards koyo