The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Why teach women-only classes?

irish52084 · July 2, 2012, 09:35 PM

I think this is an interesting question. I've taught martial arts and in several instances the places I trained and taught had different approaches to training women.

Both places taught regular classes in a coed setting. The difference was in the later school there were women's classes. The women's classes were taught by male instructors as no female instructors were available. The interesting thing was that the curriculum was the same, but the female students seemed a bit more willing to ask questions and seek 1 on 1 help. This seemed to benefit the newer students most of all and I think it increased their comfort level in coed classes later.

Another interesting side note with several of our female members that competed was that they actually preferred training with male students because it was more of a challenge. They all said that training with there male counterparts regularly gave them an edge against their opponents who didn't do the same. Most commonly they told me that they learned how to deal with the greater strength and size of the male students and that when they competed against women of their same size it was much easier for them.

July 2, 2012, 09:35 PM	#17
irish52084 Senior Member Join Date: March 28, 2011 Location: Washington, the state, not that "other" one. Posts: 514	I think this is an interesting question. I've taught martial arts and in several instances the places I trained and taught had different approaches to training women. Both places taught regular classes in a coed setting. The difference was in the later school there were women's classes. The women's classes were taught by male instructors as no female instructors were available. The interesting thing was that the curriculum was the same, but the female students seemed a bit more willing to ask questions and seek 1 on 1 help. This seemed to benefit the newer students most of all and I think it increased their comfort level in coed classes later. Another interesting side note with several of our female members that competed was that they actually preferred training with male students because it was more of a challenge. They all said that training with there male counterparts regularly gave them an edge against their opponents who didn't do the same. Most commonly they told me that they learned how to deal with the greater strength and size of the male students and that when they competed against women of their same size it was much easier for them.