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Beating down a woman: Vox Day on martial arts and the myth of the American Amazon
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, April 15, 2003 | Vox Day

Posted on 04/15/2003 12:10:12 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

I've beaten down a few women in my time. I'm not writing metaphorically here. I'm talking about punching a girl in the face, doubling her over by kicking her in the stomach, then putting her down on the ground with a right cross to the side of the head. I can't say I didn't enjoy it – an adrenaline rush doesn't know gender.

Now, before my inbox overflows with outraged accusations of criminal Neanderthalian misogyny, I should probably point out that this all took place in the brutal full-contact martial-arts dojo that was my home away from home for almost six years. I still remember my first day there, seeing all the fighters in their black robes and the savage gleam in their eyes as they warily circled each other before exploding in a paroxysm of violence. It was truly a place apart – a broken ankle was a cause for mockery and uproarious laughter, and if one was so unfortunate as to get knocked out during a sparring session … well, to that ignominy was added the expense of buying the victor's drinks that evening.

Of every 10 newcomers, one remained a month later. Few – very few – ever reached the highest level, as the punishing belt tests were not so much sought as fearfully avoided at all costs. They were tests of skill and discipline, but more than anything, they tested one's willingness to get back on one's feet after being knocked down, again and again.

There weren't many women in our midst, understandably enough. But I was close to one in particular, we called her "Penthouse" because of her long, flowing mane of hair and her not-quite-ready-for-Playboy prettiness. She was a single mother who'd been pushed around by her ex-husband one too many times and she was determined to learn how to defend herself. After three years, she was called on the carpet to test for her green, and I was one of those selected for her sparring test, which consisted of six consecutive two-minute rounds against three high-level fighters, none of whom had just been through a grueling three-hour demonstration of every strike, kick and kata in our repertoir.

By the fifth round, she was exhausted and bruised, barely able to keep her hands up to her chin, much less defend herself. She was nearly helpless, but she must have sensed my desire to take it easy on her, because she snarled at me not to dis her like that, that she'd earned the right to be treated as a fighter and a Dragon. And she had, so it was with genuine affection and admiration that I dropped her twice in the next two exchanges, leaving her with a black eye and a bloody nose. It was a wonderful performance on her part, as she never hesitated to pick herself up, unaided, from the concrete floor. A few months later, the entire dojo cheered her on as she mercilessly destroyed the competition and won her first tournament – never having fought a woman before, she said afterward that she couldn't believe how weak and slow her opponents were, how easy it had been when compared with her training.

But if my time in the martial arts taught me to respect the inherent toughness and mental resolve of women, it has also taught me that combat of any sort is no place for them. It may be easy for a woman who hasn't taken a straight-line headshot from a 200-pound man to spin airy myths of martial equality, but no woman like "Penthouse" would ever believe them, and only a man who hasn't felt for himself how easy it is to smash a woman to the ground would take them seriously for a second.

Modern combat may be less strenuous than it was in the age of the heavily-armored Greek hoplite, but it is still physically punishing. The fluid nature of America's new uberblitz tactics means that the attacking forces must carry more of their own supplies on their backs, and indicates that the supply lines will often be operating behind enemy lines.

The capture of Jessica Lynch and Shoshana Johnson and the fact that a significant percentage of our casualties came from a maintenance company does not support the foolish myth of the American Amazon. Instead, it proves that women should be excluded from far more elements of the U.S. military than they are today.


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To: JohnHuang2; All
have you seen THIS lunacy?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/893571/posts?page=1
81 posted on 04/15/2003 12:06:29 PM PDT by demosthenes the elder (If *I* can afford $5/month to support FR: SO CAN YOU)
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To: .45MAN; fourdeuce82d; Sam Cree; waterstraat; webstersII; Frumious Bandersnatch; Kevin Curry; ...
ping to this link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/893571/posts?page=1
82 posted on 04/15/2003 12:16:06 PM PDT by demosthenes the elder (If *I* can afford $5/month to support FR: SO CAN YOU)
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To: Tin-Legions
"Even well trained women usually dont have the strength/stamina/speed to compete with a healthy male."

Oh, come on. Even an untrained woman can take down a man with a kick in the crotch or a fingernail in the eye (or somewhere else). I once had a guy try to beat the tar out of me. I locked my arms around him and bit into his chest as hard as I could. Then I kicked and we went sailing to the ground (him on the bottom of course). I rolled off, did a nice little punch to his crotch and walked away while he writhed on the ground.

83 posted on 04/15/2003 12:58:44 PM PDT by MEGoody
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To: webstersII
"I thought Aikido was supposed to make up for alot of the mis-match in size and strength. Did you not find this to be true?"

Yes, to some degree. Obviously, it was bad to be uke for the 275-lb, 6'4" guy in the class, but he was careful with all his partners, male and female. I was well-matched in terms of size with most of the men, but the other two women were very petite (perhaps 5' and 100 lbs soaking wet). One of those two (sensei's girlfriend) could toss anyone around with ease - it was really something to watch!

The sensei knew what the jerk was doing, but the aforementioned jerk was his senior student and taught classes for him 1-2 times a week for free...he put up with the jerk to avoid having to come onto campus. That lack of caring was part of why I left.

There are 3 dojos not far from my future home...I am definitely considering getting back to aikido. It was great stress relief and a lot of fun.
84 posted on 04/15/2003 6:04:41 PM PDT by Rubber_Duckie_27
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To: dansangel
After having been at MCRD PISC I disagree. Every time a female company qualed the amount of failures was easily 2 to 3 times at the rate of the males.
85 posted on 04/15/2003 6:09:27 PM PDT by flyer182
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To: Rubber_Duckie_27
Brazilian jui-jitsu is very good for the weaker fighter. Look at some old Ultimate Fighting Championships.
86 posted on 04/15/2003 6:14:02 PM PDT by briant
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To: demosthenes the elder
Whatever you are doing to bring out this shooting in women the USMC would like to copy. It is unbelievably frustrating trying to qualify the females as opposed to the males. Handpicked PMI's. extra instruction, hell, we would have done anything to get the average up. End of the day they were still failing at 2 to 3 times the rate of the males.
87 posted on 04/15/2003 6:21:08 PM PDT by flyer182
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To: Rubber_Duckie_27
Wing Tsun, eh? Probably a good choice, though not my style. Wing Tsun is the name of the female who made the style up a few hundred years ago. Good luck.
88 posted on 04/15/2003 7:38:05 PM PDT by Thorondir
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To: AppyPappy
Yep. Any throwing/grappling/manipulative art is going to be a terrible disadvantage for a woman. That's why I teach a particularly nasty percussion art called Wind Fist (Feng Chuan Tao). As I said before, a well trained woman can usually trash a larger untrained man, but with equal training, reach and power are big advantages. Testosterone also gives superior speed.

One thing is for sure; things are not as predictable as we would like.

Oh, and one other thing is for sure; it is dispicable to put women into anything close to a combat situation.
89 posted on 04/15/2003 7:43:13 PM PDT by Thorondir
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To: dansangel
It's a well-known fact that women can (and do) outshoot men.

I've taught many shooting classes with about an equal mix of both men and women, and I would qualify and rephrase your above statement.

It isn't so much that women "outshoot" men, but more a case that an untrained woman can be trained easier than an untrained man. I can teach a woman to shoot in less time and fewer rounds than a man, but it doesn't take that long for the men to catch up with the woman. Beyond the level of a beginner I would say it is pretty much a wash, with men and women having the same average natural ability at punching holes in paper. They just have different learning curves.

I will add that there are tactical shooting scenarios where clear cognitive differences between genders are evident but that has less to do with the simple act of shooting accurately itself.

90 posted on 04/15/2003 7:51:30 PM PDT by tortoise
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To: SauronOfMordor
The problem, my friend, in referring to "the martial arts" is that most of them are not any kind of a "martial" art at all. Most of them are sports and not very effective for street fights. The difference ranges like that of a bunker-buster and a child's plastic sword.

And you are right about the confidence building. I don't know how many martial artists I have met wo swish their hands and feet around in the air, but cannot apply a deadly force with their knuckles. It's absolutely amazing how deluded some people can get.
91 posted on 04/15/2003 7:51:38 PM PDT by Thorondir
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To: demosthenes the elder
Gee cripes, man. Try decaf next time.
92 posted on 04/15/2003 7:53:54 PM PDT by Thorondir
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To: .45MAN
...I would rather be up against a man in a gun fight than a woman protecting either herself or someone in her family.

I'm sorry, my friend, but I have too much personal experience in this area to let this one slide by. Almost twenty years of law enforcement and over thirty in martial arts tells me otherwise. A woman's spirit is usually awesome in the situations you describe, but awesome spirit is most often no better than an alligator mouth when backed up by a hummingbird's posterior. Sorry. It's just too obviously true. It has not been a matter of misogyny that human civilizations have been defended by men and children nurtured by women for ten-thousand years of human history.

I would sudder to think of hurting a woman, but would rather defend my life against one than a man any day.
93 posted on 04/15/2003 8:02:25 PM PDT by Thorondir
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To: AnAmericanMother
That's why I would prefer to ventilate any assailant from a relatively safe distance with the 1911A1. I have carried either a Govt model or Officers model stainless for 20+ years - although I recently acquired the baby Sig P245, which looks promising.

How on earth can you carry that thing? It is way too big and too heavy. I usually carry a small .38 revolver and a small .32 derringer.

94 posted on 04/15/2003 8:05:02 PM PDT by waterstraat
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To: Nick Danger
LOL! Cute. Crass and typically cowardly, but cute.
95 posted on 04/15/2003 8:05:07 PM PDT by Thorondir
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To: flyer182
the only thing I do differently with females than males is make certain they are neither intimidated nor afraid of the gun, by comparing it with its closest mechanical cousin - the internal combustion engine in a car.
They are not afraid of operating a car - this tends to get them over the hump.
After that it is straight NRA-approved indoctrination all the way, same speil and training routine for both genders.
96 posted on 04/15/2003 8:10:02 PM PDT by demosthenes the elder (If *I* can afford $5/month to support FR: SO CAN YOU)
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To: demosthenes the elder
Well, on the range at work, it is most often the women who have to try and try over and over again after the rest of us (the men) have left for the day, to qualify with their firearms. The problem is usually the combination of recoil and weak wrists. I don't even have an opinion about it. It's just an overwhelmingly obvious fact. It's same for every department I have worked for.
97 posted on 04/15/2003 8:10:43 PM PDT by Thorondir
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To: yarddog
This is just based on personal experience but I think Men and Women are about equal in shooting ability, at least with milder recoiling guns.

I start every new shooter off with the nastiest gun I can get my hands on that fits the shooter. For most women, that is a .4x caliber light-weight compact pistol. When they shoot for the first time, they are always a bit nervous regardless and have no concept of "recoil" anyway. Recoil effects are almost purely psychological, and so I mask the psychological aspect of large calibers behind the general nervousness about shooting guns for the very first time. After the first session at the range, not only are they comfortable shooting guns in general but they are comfortable shooting just about any pistol you can hand them. Quite frankly, they rarely notice the recoil past the first shot because I have them concentrating on shooting.

I've trained many slight women in the 100-120 lb range (mostly Asians), and they take to big calibers as easily as any man. Recoil just isn't that big of a factor if you are shooting correctly. The biggest problem I've seen women have with big calibers is that the grips on the guns are often too large for their hands. But as a general rule when training people, I try and squash all the unreasonable apprehension at one go, often before they can name the fear, so that they can get on with more important aspects of shooting.

98 posted on 04/15/2003 8:11:16 PM PDT by tortoise
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To: Thorondir
someone comes off with an unwarranted attitude to me, I show them how to do it with gusto.
btw - that WAS on unleaded
99 posted on 04/15/2003 8:12:53 PM PDT by demosthenes the elder (If *I* can afford $5/month to support FR: SO CAN YOU)
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To: MEGoody; Tin-Legions
His statement was tempered with a "usually", while yours argued from the particular to the general. I believe, logically, that he stands on the higher ground here.
100 posted on 04/15/2003 8:13:16 PM PDT by Thorondir
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