Answer: When you are a 17 year-old girl in Philadelphia at a Catholic high school. I subscribe to google alerts for “jiu jitsu” and “bjj” which is how the story of Amanda Leve was brought to my attention. The headline was “Ryan girl deserves chance to wrestle.” Amanda is a 17 year-old girl involved in […]
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Tag: Gender Issues
BJJ vs Non-BJJ folk’s reaction to Why Women Should Train Jiu Jitsu
After the phenomenal conversation that took off on my blog about the Why Women Should Train Jiu Jitsu video, I realized a few things about this video: It’s not for me. I’m already in the Cult of Jiu Jitsu. I’ve drunk the Flavor-aid. I’m converted. Shut up and take my money. It’s an ad, not […]
BJJ Women: “Why Women Should Train Jiu Jitsu” messages
There’s a video going around the internet called “Why Women Should Train Jiu Jitsu.” The video is respectful toward women. There is no speaking, and it’s safe for work, so you can watch it without sound if you need. It’s worth a watch: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HFsyBG95rg] Katie from A Skirt on the Mat wrote about it yesterday. She wrote that […]
BJJ Women: Rectifying the “Gentle Art” with Competition
Today’s article is a guest post by Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner, the woman behind of one of my favorite Jiu Jitsu blogs, leaahh.com. Jiu Jiu invited me to write a post, and I’ve been really wishy-washy about what I want to write about– which means it just hasn’t gotten done. But she gave me some things that […]
BJJ: THE Best Reason to do Jiu Jitsu
Have you ever heard people judge someone for doing BJJ for “the wrong reasons” or heard “that’s not why you should do BJJ?” Here is the absolute BEST reason to do jiu jitsu – the one that trumps them all. This is not specific to jiu jitsu – it’s about ANY healthy endeavor in life […]
BJJ and Women: The Importance of SAFE Minority Spaces
When I started doing BJJ, I lucked out in finding jiujitsuforums.com. It’s literally the only forum I know where a “Hot Girls in BJJ” thread was immediately shot down by a man saying “I strongly dislike the idea of this thread. Females in our sport have a hard enough time without being further sexualized by […]
BJJ Women: Have you received inappropriate comments?
Dear BJJ women, I’m putting together an article, and I’d like your stories. Men, if you’ve seen examples this, you can submit on behalf of a woman you know. Within the context of BJJ, what inappropriate comments have you received? Examples might include: comments on your pictures comments on your videos messages from online dating […]
BJJ and Women: Suck It Up
Since starting jiu jitsu, between forums, this blog, and emails, I’ve received several messages that told me to “deal with it” with varying degrees of kindness. Sometimes it’s rudely in response to discussions about male privilege in BJJ, sometimes it’s about gendered comments, sometimes it’s kindly in response to discussions about what women should or […]
BJJ and Women: What Do You Wear?
I’ve had rash guards on my brain recently. I was bummed to have missed out on the Juliet rashguard offered on BJJHQ.com from Pony Club Grappling Gear, though my credit card was happy with that! I also recently purchased two Meerkatsu rashies: the white tiger and the Phoenix. More than that, though, was the question […]
BJJ articles worth reading: Maldonado & Schultz Acquitted – what happened
Maldonado and Schultz Acquitted in New Year’s Eve Rape Case: What Happened Here? Warning: Rape triggers Thank you Reddit, for pointing me to this article. It is all about the Maldonado and Schultz case. Most of my information on this had been through Georgette, and this was another take on it, also rounding up info from […]