Fighting is for girls, part.. something-ish.

To make my stance absolutely clear- women have been considered valid combatants from the earliest sword manual we know of.  To dissuade, belittle or otherwise make women feel as if they should not/can not fight is inaccurate on all relevant grounds.

I've talked about social conventions, learning curves and gender differences before. I firmly believe that the equality given by 3 feet of steel makes it possible to have fair mixed competitions. When I comment on gender differences in fighting, I can only comment on what I see and why anybody who says "women can't/don't/shouldn't fight" is wrong.

I see two main issues with women fighters- Women are too weak and dainty to fight or train against men. The accepted physical differences between men and women do not define ability, but they change the learning curve. Because women are generally shorter and weaker than men they need to know things from the very beginning that it takes men ages to realise- good technique will triumph over strength, mastery of distance allows you to control your opponent's speed, and covering your lines is essential. From the very start they're forced to concentrate on technique. This is a good thing and this makes for a better fighter in the long term. So, when fighting against a brute there is a chance they'll be discouraged before their skill allows them to defeat him and it will take ages before the brute learns all the things a smaller, lighter, weaker person has started with.

The other is that "good girls don't fight". Now this one is a trickier one. I don't know how to get past this until after they've decided they want to give it a try and pick up a sword. (Which mostly involves saying "why are you apologising, that was brilliant")- These two falsehoods. work in conjunction and it can be difficult climbing up the learning curve fast enough to overcome the momentum of social convention.

But what would I know, I'm a man who was raised in a culture where respectful adversarialism is the norm. My entire understanding of the female of the species is collected through painful mistakes, guesswork and feedback.

And there is now a new group emerging within HEMA:

Esfinges.

Run by women, for women and it will take the painful mistakes and guesswork out of the equation. But they also do much more than that. Because there's usually only a handful of women in each club, a group like this becomes a conduit for inter-club communication and building up links that stop us from all disappearing up our own arses. It's another strong part of the web that makes HEMA such an interesting and wonderful community to be in.


Women belong in HEMA.  It's as simple as that, and if we can get more in.. excellent.

So here's a plug for their new blog and my best wishes:

http://esfinges1.wix.com/e/apps/blog/the-riddle-of-the-sphinx