I know, this sounds like I must hate woman and just want to see them get beat up, right? Wrong.

Across the world we have women walking into grappling schools determined to learn. Once again, reasons vary, but it will always be rooted somewhere in self-defense. (To all the women that walk in to grappling schools and start learning, I applaud you for that).

They will start classes, probably in a Gi (not going over why this is bullshit again), will learn some Gi subs from guard in a fundamental class (not going over why this is bullshit again either), then hopefully stick around to earn their blue belt.

Hell yes, they stuck it out and got a blue belt!

At this point they are probably in better shape, have a new community of people, and probably a newer sense of ability to defend themselves. Good for them.

So, what’s the problem?

Across the world gyms run women’s only classes in effort to make women more comfortable to get in training (good). They are taught by other women and often train exclusively in this class (bad). 

Now, if they are new, I have no issue with this. Let them get comfortable and learn in an environment that makes them want to come back. However, no women should ever get beyond a white belt from exclusively training with women. Yea, I said it. 

“Why do you hate women so much; do you just want them to get hurt?”

No, you must hate them and want them to get hurt if you disagree. Here is why….

A colored belt means something. It means they should be able to handle themselves at a degree above the untrained. We agree? Good. So how do you know she can handle herself as a colored belt against an average untrained attacker (who is likely to be male) when all you do is give her females to train with? Average male is ~200lbs and 5’9 in the US. Average female is ~170lbs and 5’3. Big fucking difference in these stats alone, never mind the strength differences.

How dare places put a blue belt (or above) on a female and give them a false sense of security that they could better handle themselves if needed when they never expose them to it! And no, letting them train with dudes and having them only pick the smallest person for everything is not okay for them to get promoted. Once again, average male is 200lbs…

I appreciate women in grappling. I really do. I appreciate it so much, that I want their comfort in their ability to match the reality they may have to deal with. I want the same standard that men go through to be the same as women here because that’s how we truly set them up to succeed. I want their training and belt to mean something.

My Recommendation:

Keep women’s classes but never promote them if they only train in those. If they want to get promoted, then they need to roll with the dudes too. Treat a 130lbs white belt female like you would a 130lbs white belt male. Treat and train with them the same based on their skill and watch them grow. Anything above white belt should be sex-agnostic.

So I am clear – picking partners to avoid injuries is fine (most of my injuries are from white belts that don’t know how to chill). But picking your partners to avoid getting hurt cannot exclude the majority of the sport or you aren’t picking people to avoid injury physically – you are probably avoiding injury to your ego (with few exceptions) and you will continue to suck.

Also, stop teaching new grapplers, especially women, to defend themselves by primarily using guards! (I’ll save this for another time). You people that do this are fucking monsters.

Mathematical Jiu-Jitsu treats everyone according to their rank and demonstrated ability within.

#Fightme