Recovering from a super Women’s Open Mat this afternoon. This is the third event we’ve organised at Dartford BJJ and unlike previous events, most of the eight participants were more seasoned players; big props to new white belt Rebekka Francis for getting stuck in with the blues and purples (check her review here)! Two of the grrlz, fresh and super pumped from Saturday’s Ana Maria India seminar, were keen to share with us/reinforce for themselves some of the half-guard techniques they worked at the seminar, and we drilled a progression of techniques from the half guard. The second half of the session was spent sparring. We warmed up with a ten minute roll and followed this with one of the participant’s suggestion of ‘King of the Hill’ (or should that be ‘Queen’) sparring. This entailed two women getting into the middle of the mats, while the rest of us rotated between them for two minute rounds. We topped off the afternoon with two five minutes rounds of sparring.
Camilla and Leoni demonstrate
As our visitor from Leicester commented, the calibre of the women’s games was high and it was an excellent opportunity to discuss different approaches to common BJJ problems, in particular getting hooks in for taking the back.
Passing guard
We are looking forward to organising more opportunities for women to roll with one another, and while other participants are hoping to host events at their clubs, Dartford BJJ is pleased to announce a Women’s Open Mat on 6 June. In response to recent inquiries, this event will be split between gi and no gi training. More on this to follow. Lastly, I broke in my new Fenom Kimono. First impressions are very good on this nicely cut, exceedingly soft gi and a review is forthcoming. Thanks again, ladies, for making the Open Mat all that it is and I look forward to seeing you all on the mats again soon.
It is an exciting time for women in BJJ in the United Kingdom. In recent years a critical mass of players has developed, and seminars and women’s open mat events in 2009 included white to purple belts and women and girls of a wide age range. Though still very much a minority presence, the increased visibility of women in clubs and at competitions has attracted the interest of the wider (male-dominated) grappling community with blog and forum threads responding to the emergence of a larger female presence. These discussions are interesting and, to my mind, highlight the broad base of support for women by their BJJ brothers, yet a discussion around Slideyfoot’s article, Kyra Gracie and the treatment of women in BJJ, demonstrates continued gender tension in the BJJ/MMA/grapple-verse.
‘Juan (Pancho) Valquez’, a respondent to Slideyfoot’s analysis of women in BJJ, which highlights the emphasis that is placed on female athletes’ appearance at the expense of interest in their skills, makes a number of claims in an effort to demonstrate a hypocrisy of gender equality in BJJ/MMA/grappling. Valquez’s expressions of malcontent regarding female grapplers’ retelling of experiences of sexism in their sporting community is incited by Emily Kwok’s suggestion that female grapplers struggle to be taken seriously as athletes and receive less media attention than male counterparts.[1] There is little doubt that the main hurdle women in sport face is ‘to be taken seriously’, or that the greatest attention of sports media is on men’s sporting achievements,[2] and Kwok’s claims are certainly supported by studies of gender and sport. Valquez’s argument seems to centre on two themes: 1) women objectify men, so discussion of female athletes’ appearance is not a sign of sexism; 2) women are physically inferior to men and therefore aren’t men’s equals.
I certainly find male athletes sexually attractive, and find athletes’ bodies inspirational. However, I think it is naive to suggest that because men and women can find each other attractive, there is no difference in how this notion influences popular perceptions of male and female athletes. The salient question here is not, ‘do women objectify men’, or even, ‘do men objectify women’, it is, ‘does the objectification of women often obscure other qualities of a woman in a way that is both different than for men and more distracting from women’s athletic achievements’. I believe that it is. While the double standard surrounding the influence of appearance on popular perceptions of male versus female abilities is a wider societal phenomenon, let’s focus on its manifestation in sport (in Anglo-North American culture).[3] Chris Isidore has discussed how marketing drives to increase female athletes’ sex appeal has, ultimately, detrimental effects on popular perceptions of female athletes’ abilities.[4] Similarly, Laura Robinson notes, ‘The media is not interested in covering strong women, it is interested in covering naked women’.[5] What is significant is not that male bodies are never objectified, but rather that portrayals of female athletes tend to emphasise passivity rather than the performance of sport (as is more common in representations of male players), and work to highlight the pleasingness of women’s bodies to men within a hetero-normative context while obscuring a woman’s athletic achievements.[6]
Valquez argues that female grapplers can never be regarded as equals because they can’t ‘win’ against men. It is difficult to unpick exactly what Valquez’s argument is here. He oscillates between suggesting that women can never beat men, ‘They’d [female athletes] be unable to compete against the men and so, as kids, would steer away from sports that they knew to be a dead end for them’ and that women can beat some men, ‘Most professional level female bjjers/mma competitors could probably make a hobbyist like me look like a fool’.[7] In the end, the core of his position seems to be an affirmation of sexual segregation in sport (which in some subtle unarticulated way seems to demonstrate, for Valquez, female inferiority) and the assertion that if women are equal to men, they should be able to best male competitors, as unlikely as he believes this to be, ‘Generally speaking male athletes usually win against female athletes if they are at the same skill level. That’s why we segregate sports by gender in the first place.'[8] I believe this assertion is untested, at least in Britain, as the opportunity to compete against men is rarely available to female grapplers in the UK. As Camilla Hansen’s excellent posting on EFN demonstrates, women are barred from competing against men at most UK tournaments. While Hansen notes that the Nordic Open allows mixed competition with a 5 kilo advantage, it remains aberrant in Anglo-North American grappling tournaments to offer mixed competition.[9]
I believe that the subtext to Valquez’s comments is offence at women entering what is perceived as a masculine arena. While women’s agency in the public sphere has increased since the Victorian and Edwardian women’s movement,[10] the public sphere is still in many ways elided with maleness and performances of masculinity. Female grapplers ‘intrusion’ into the male-dominated grappling space can therefore be viewed, by some men, as a threat to and a disruption of their masculine identity. In other words, the ability to undertake these masculine performances can, for some men, be ‘cheapened’ by the inclusion of women’s grappling performances. The insecurity which can arise from this perceived attack on masculinity can give rise to belittling attitudes towards women and women’s sporting achievements. I, like Kwok, have been accused of practicing an inferior form of ‘girl jiu jitsu’ and of having been promoted to a ‘girl blue belt’. Yes, as a lighter practitioner, my path is different from many of the men that I train with. There are no easy wins, ‘muscling it’ is never an option, and in common with other lighter grapplers I have to make the technique work to make progress. My approach may be different to larger grapplers, but ultimately everyone’s BJJ is unique and male or female we all have our own games, strengths and weaknesses.
In the final analysis, some peoples’ views are so entrenched that no amount of persuasion can bring them round to accept me or other female grapplers as valuable training partners or equally important athletes. I can only seek to ‘be the change I want to see’. I organise women’s open mats to provide a place for women to come together and train with one another, and I train hard with an incredible group of (mostly) men at Dartford BJJ, secure in the knowledge that I have their love and respect, just as they have mine.
Dartford BJJ continues its commitment to provide quarterly Women’s BJJ Open Mats and is pleased to announce that the first of 2010’s sessions will be hosted on Sunday, 7 February 2010:
Date: 7 February 2010
Time: 12:00 – 15:00
Location: Dartford BJJ
Address: West Hill House, 62 West Hill, Dartford, Kent DA1 2EU map
Cost: Free
Women, 16 and over, are welcome for an informal afternoon of drills and sparring with kindred BJJ-women. Previous BJJ-experience is not necessary (our November ’09 open mat included absolute beginners, white to purple belts and champions from 2009 competitions).
By car. If travelling by car, checkout the RAC Route Planner (destination post code is DA1 2EU). Free parking is available. The club is located on the first floor, via stairs to the roof. A banner for the club is visible from the parking lot.
By train. If travelling by train, the Academy may be reached by cab (queue just outside Dartford Rail Station). The journey to West Hill House, where the Academy is located, will cost about £3.50. The cabbie may know West Hill House as ‘the old YMCA’. Alternatively, the Academy is about a 15 minute walk from Dartford Rail Station. Leave the station and cross over the foot bridge. Continue on and veer left through a short alley way. Turn right when leaving the alley and enter the High Street. Carry on to the cross walk and climb the hill (West Hill). Turn left into Tower Road, and left after the pub. Follow the parking lot to the end. The Academy is located on the first floor which is accessed by a set of stairs that are surrounded by wooden fence (a large banner is visible from the parking lot).
Dartford BJJ was pleased to open its doors, today, for its second quarterly Women’s BJJ Open Mat. The session was well attended and included a good spread of experience levels, from absolute beginners to white, blue and purple belts, not to mention champs from this year’s British and Kent Opens. With thirteen women representing over half a dozen teams, the Open Mat was well attended, especially when considering the small size of the British women’s BJJ community and accounting for women unable to make it due to injuries, illness and work commitments.
London BJJ Women's Open Mat
We trained for three hours. We started with a short warm-up and then participants shared a technique, which the group then drilled for five minutes. The last two hours was spent sparring for five minute rounds and swapping our partners between rounds. The atmosphere could not have been better! I am utterly amazed by the sisterliness of this community. Not only were the more experienced players very welcoming to working with the two absolute beginners, but the happy buzz during the sparring was really something to behold (ladies, I think we might’ve gotten two new converts to our ranks – whoop!). Bear in mind, that we all come from different teams and are likely to meet each other in competition at some point, either in our divisions or the absolute, but that is really put to one side as the ladies get stuck in and just enjoy working with one another, as for many of us, it is a rare treat to work with other female players. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I echo the sentiments of the group when I write that I love my BJJ brothers and I appreciate all that I learn from training with them, but it is a great learning opportunity for us to work our skills against people of similar size and strength without all the ‘baggage’ of competition. Likewise, I believe that, because of the pressures women – and perhaps smaller players more generally – face, in working a kick ass defence against bigger and stronger opponents in day-to-day training, female players’ games are that little bit different in a broad sense and I certainly came up against some unexpected and super smooth moves today that I’ve not encountered. It isn’t better or worse or even really ‘women’s jiu jitsu’, but it is smaller persons’ BJJ (even the heavier ladies will be outweighed by many of the guys) and it is exciting to get into a room full of it and work through problems in a whole new way.
I am truly grateful for and humbled by the support of the ladies who were able to make it to the Open Mat and I look forward to organising another, with Coach’s blessing, for Q1 2010. Until then, kick ass in Lisbon, ladies – you seriously rock!
Caroline Gracie promotes GJJ from women's self defence
Last week I was very excited to go ‘back to basics’ and begin at the beginning in Dartford BJJ‘s new Gracie Combatives class. Coach has always included an element of Gracie Jiu Jitsu self defence in our BJJ and MMA classes; his passion for this area has led to a formal Combatives class on Wednesday evenings. While I love rolling, sparring and working on developing my technique versus a skilled/BJJ-knowledgeable opponent, I have a lot of time for the less sporty side of BJJ: I’ve always been interested in effective self defence and began my martial arts journey in a ‘Women’s Empowerment Self Defence’ class and then progressed to Shorinji Kempo, a traditional Japanese art with a self defence focus.
The Combatives class is tailor-made for people new to martial arts and particularly for women interested in self defence and/or getting fit. Training is extremely chilled out and builds from a very fundamental base and so is appropriate for people just starting out (as well as for more veteran martial artists interested in rethinking their basics). The emphasis on core self defence techniques and body movements, rather than on ‘jiu jitsufied’ movement and counter movement, and the absence of sparring, allows women new to martial arts to develop their skills, physical ability and confidence while helping to overcome barriers around personal space before, perhaps, choosing to get stuck into a BJJ class and roll all around the floor with sweaty animals (ladies, believe me when I say, it is more fun than you might imagine).
Our first class was a mix of adults and juniors and included a heavy dose of blue and purple belts as well as juniors and complete novices. We are following the Gracie methodology of building up a series of self defence techniques that, while effective in their own right, further teach basic principles of movement to condition and prepare the body for the sort of BJJ training that readers may be more familiar with. So, we drilled three techniques which reinforced foot work and posture:
1) Counter to a choke from standing.
2) Counter to a grab to the shirt.
3) Counter to a ‘noogie’ style head lock.
Each technique relied on similar foot work, but along different planes, as well as working balance, core strength and posture. Yes, these techniques are very ‘basic’, but I personally quite enjoy picking apart the fundamentals and considering them in the light of my existing understandings. I am absolutely pumped to be working through Combatives in a methodical way and look forward to building on these techniques this week. For my partner, who was in her third class, these techniques, drilled in a very non-aggressive and compliant manner, were a great way for her to rep fundamental principles.
