Women in Brazilian Jujitsu

Discussion in 'Ju Jitsu' started by geek4life, May 3, 2006.

  1. Ghost Frog

    Ghost Frog New Member

    Funnily enough, my favourite current sweep from guard involves pulling their head in towards my chest. Yes, they do freeze up a bit when I start the move, but once they realise they're being swept, they seem to change their focus completely. :D

    Ikken, I agree completely. There are lots of BJJ and subgrappling clubs with filthy mats and members with poor hygiene, and I don't doubt that that puts off lots of women. But I know lots of men who hate it as well. Maybe we should be taking our lead from US wrestling clubs that seem to be more disciplined about stuff like that.

    When I was training in Brazil, there were a few foreigners who were really into not washing their gis and were really stinky. A couple of the Brazillian black belts got really annoyed about it and started lecturing people every session about washing gis, not walking on the mat with shoes on, etc.
     
  2. KageAkuma

    KageAkuma Valued Member

    I personally don't mind being tapped out by a girl. If they beat me, they beat me. Who cares what the gender is? All the more power to a girl who's able to make me tap. I only say that because I'm a fairly big guy, 5 8 and 200 lbs. There was this one female coach at the gym I used to train at, man, she was good. I learned a lot rolling with her. Since she didn't have the natural upper body strength of a guy, she had to rely a lot more on being wirey and evading. And she choked the hell out of me too.

    I enjoy training with girls. They tend to have a different way of doing things, and you can learn a lot training with someone that has that kind of a different perspective.
     
  3. fanatical

    fanatical Cool crow

    A different way of doing things? Are you serious?
     
  4. geek4life

    geek4life New Member

    How is that a different perspective? Isn't that what they are supposed to teach you(being wirey and evading) anyway? People who want to muscle you in a grappling match are:
    a)newbies
    b)newbies
     
  5. piratebrido

    piratebrido internet tough guy

    There's nothing sexy in being crushed between a womans thighs or having your head resting on their breasts when they are trying to choke you unconcious, so no, can't say it is an issue for me.

    Personally pain and asphyxiation aren't on my list of turn ons. Just look what it did for the Michael Hutchence of INXS, sod that for a game of cards!
     
  6. AuntiePink

    AuntiePink Naughty Member

    You may say that but some people pay good money for it.

    So my friend tells me... ;)
     
  7. Thelistmaker

    Thelistmaker bats!

    I’m a girl who doesn’t mind rolling with smelly, sweaty, curry stained guys as long as there not actually growing mold. I know quite a few women don’t mind rolling with stained sweaty guys.

    I try and make sure my gi doesn’t smell but often I have mud, grass, blood and or pot noodle stains on it. Practically everyone at my club is a student so no one expects too much hygiene.
     
  8. fanatical

    fanatical Cool crow

    My funny-meter is broken today.
    Is that a joke?
     
  9. kimlyk

    kimlyk Valued Member

    I guess I'm pretty lucky. Our club mats are always clean and so are most of the guys I roll with. My instructor insists that everyone wash their gi regularly. In fact, if your gi gets too smelly, my instructor will tell you to clean it and he will make sure everyone in the class hears the reprimand. Personally, I wash my gi after every grappling session. Just curious...why would anyone want to wear a smelly, dirty gi? Can't you smell yourself? Is washing a gi that difficult?

    I don't mind rolling with sweaty men. In fact, the smell of sweat on an otherwise clean man doesn't offend me in the least. And I really like no-gi grappling where sweat is a real factor. Changes the game considerably. I can do without the bad breath but I've learned to ignore it.

    Oh....my instructor did tell me to let my gi get really dirty and smelly for tomorrow's tournament. He also told me to eat lots of garlic. I'm not going to do it, though. I guess I'm just not that mean. I may change my mind before the next tournament, though. :D :Angel:
     
  10. Saz

    Saz Nerd Admin

    If she's a student, the bit about mud and grass probably is, unless they have an outside bar in the uni.

    The pot noodle bit is bang on I should imagine.

    yes, this is a joke
     
  11. piratebrido

    piratebrido internet tough guy

    Yeah, but I have discovered it doesn't tickle my fancy.

    Would be interesting to hear a womans take on it? Do you mind rolling with guys? Do you prefer if they have been to the club for a while and you know them a little bit? Do you mind the odd accidental hand in an inappropriate place? Have you ever found that a guy has taken liberties, if you get what I mean, and what did you do?
     
  12. Thelistmaker

    Thelistmaker bats!

    These are all things I've had on my gi at one point or another. The only way I could get rid of the pot noodle stain was to cover the stain in tipx. Blood (mine) is hard to wash out too. The mud and grass stains are what happens when I walk a short distence from my campus room to the sports centre in my gi, sometimes my friends like to jump me.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2006
  13. Thelistmaker

    Thelistmaker bats!

    Here’s a random female opinion ;)

    Generally I really don’t mind accidental grabbing of breasts, gi being pulled off (I wear a T shirt underneath for just such occasions) ect, even with newbies I’ve not met before.

    But once there was a guy who came to my club who just came of as arrogant and gave the impression he thought he was gods gift to women. That’s the only sort of guy I’d get annoyed with. :bang:
    In my opinion its all about attitude, you can grab my soft areas and pull off my gi, its all ok just as long as you respect me whilst you doing it.

    If I found an arrogant misogynist taking liberties with me I would try and intimidate him with my intellect :eek: , whilst politely telling him to stop it. If that didn’t work I’d rudely tell him to stop it.
    If that didn’t work I’d ask him to do a peg leg, then I’d do a peg leg, then he’d do a peg leg and so on until he went crying to his mother (only works on lowish to middle grades) or I passed out.
    If that didn’t work I’d either kick his ass myself or as a very last resort get one of the higher grade females to kick his ass :woo: :cool:
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2006
  14. geek4life

    geek4life New Member

    It is almost impossible to avoid grabbing in the most inappropriate places in Brazilian JJ. I'm sure the gi helps as a big divider, but not so much if you train in a non-traditional BJJ academy where they train in gym clothes. I think this is the reason there are no women in my BJJ academy because we only train in gym clothes.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2006
  15. Storms of War

    Storms of War Valued Member

    I don't do BJJ (yet) but I did take an interesting Krav Maga class. I had to work with a girl named Valerie (sp?). We were working on escaping from an opponent that has mounted you. Boy was that interesting!
     
  16. Ghost Frog

    Ghost Frog New Member

    I've rolled with lots of guys, both gi and no-gi and Ive never had any problems, to be honest. I find that if a guy's hand ends up somewhere embarassing then its him who gets embarassed rather than me, as I am thinking about only one thing when I'm rolling!

    Quite a few guys have apologised for accidentally putting their hand on my boobs when rolling, but I have never apologised for accidentally putting my knee in people's groin when passing half guard!

    The only thing I'm not mad keen on is if a guy is wearing all lycra for no-gi and is not meticulous about hygiene. That can be a bit unpleasant.

    I roll mostly with guys. I would like to roll with more women, but there aren't many women who grapple in the clubs I go to. I've found that men in the grappling clubs I've been to have often been less chauvinistic than lots of traditional arts.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2006
  17. geek4life

    geek4life New Member

    Can I roll with you frogwoman? :D :eek:
     
  18. piratebrido

    piratebrido internet tough guy

    Define "meticulous about hygiene" would you? I take it you don't mean being sweaty from class, that's unavoidable, and I doubt anyone in that instance is at their most aromatic. Do you mean things such as curry stains on the lycra, unshaven and lager breath?

    You used the chauvinistic word too! See, that's what gets guys in a bind, we are trapped between a rock and a hard place in this scenario, the rock is called 'PERVERT!' and the hard place is called 'CHAIVINIST!' Groundwork then doesn’t take on the intended role of learning how to control and defeat and opponent, but on convincing the (female) opponent that you are neither a pervert nor a chauvinist. A male primary school teacher whom I know once told me he spends his day trying to convince people he isn’t a paedophile! He feels that he has to prove that because he is a man in a position of responsibility over young children, he isn’t necessarily a bad person. It is similar for us guys in martial arts. Afraid that any touching outside of the arms and lower legs will be classed as sexual and we would be tarred with it for ever more.

    I think it needs to be accepted by both parties that such contact is going to happen in groundwork, and is even acceptable when there is no seedy intent behind the contact. A hand on the **** or even groin to groin is going to happen from time to time, if both are concentrating on what they are doing it will happen, we just have to deal with it in a mature manner. How many of us go home and question our sexuality after rolling with another guy? Hardly any I would presume, so that just proves that when guys are ground fighting then sex isn’t in the forefront of their minds, so the exact same attitude should be taken when rolling with a woman.

    Me? I’ll take the cowards way out and keep hands above the equator, giving a wide berth of the chest, and stick to side control! What? You can’t expect me to beat a lifetime of social conditioning in a few months or years.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2006
  19. Ghost Frog

    Ghost Frog New Member

    Noooooooooo!!!!! You've got me all wrong there mate. By chauvinist, I mean men who don't think you should be there in the first place just because you're a woman, not someone who is uncomfortable rolling with you.

    Just because someone thinks, "Hmmmm, that grappler has things on the front like my girlfriend has... Hmmmm" doesn't make them a chauvinist. Neither does grabbing the wrong bit make them a pervert. As long as we can all laugh and joke about these things, there's no problem.

    It's wrong to presume that every woman is obsessed with how she's treated by men. There are a few who are hyper sensitive, but most just want to train. Just like men want to train with other men without people suggesting they're gay.
     
  20. Ghost Frog

    Ghost Frog New Member

    Sweat from class is part of the fun and I am just as guilty as anyone. Lager, breath and unshaven would be my husband...

    No, I'm thinking about people who never wash their kit and honk so much you want to puke when they get you in side control. You get the occasional one floating around. Bleaargghh!!
     

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