Can Women Really Handle Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 12:49pm

Can Women Really Handle Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

A Blog on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Pedro Sauer Black Belt Keith Owen. BJJMOVES.COM

Make no mistake, I WANT women students in my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu program. The problem is that they never seem to stick. They will even come in and DEMAND to try it out. I politely let them know what BJJ is and what it's all about up front. I let them know that they will be grappling with men. Many of them say they understand, but when they get on the mat and I’m not sure they really do.

My guys are very nice, respectable gentlemen (some schools are not) and treat the ladies with respect (or I’ll kill them). I treat the women students like any other male student, having someone show them the positions of Jiu-Jitsu and showing them basic moves. They know they will typically be the only ladies in the class. I never force them to roll until they are comfortable. I let the ladies know that they can ALWAYS confide in me if a man does something that makes them feel uncomfortable. I have never had a complaint!

The ladies always stay for a short time but they ultimately quit. Some of them have gotten pregnant (from their husbands or boyfriends), some move and some just find out, just like the men that it’s very hard to do Jiu-Jitsu (even though my class is very technical) and they simply quit.

I find this disheartening because if any women can get a black belt, it’s from me. I have given out a number of blue belts to women as a matter of fact. It then makes me want to do a male only class because we don’t want to waste time on someone who is just going to quit even though we are excited to have her and we try to take care of her and make her feel welcome. My male students are usually married and take a bit of a risk with their spouses by wrestling around with the opposite sex. But I always seem to accept women into the fold and try to do my best hoping that they will be the kind of person that can handle the challenge of Jiu-Jitsu.

Now, You know I'm not the kind to sugar coat things. If you’re a women taking BJJ, you need to be tough! You need to be committed to getting your next belt. You need to take lessons from an instructor that is on your side and wants you to succeed AND COMMUNICATE WITH THEM. Your significant other has to be comfortable with you being in a class full of men. You need to understand that certain men are not good to roll with because of their ego and you should be discerning about how you choose to roll with. You need to realize that you are going to get grabbed in places that you might not want to be grabbed or have someones face in an awkward place as they try to pass your guard. You will have a man in-between your legs (that guard again) for much of the time because he is stronger. You have to be good at being drenched in male sweat from an exhaustive roll, The challenges are many but I believe it is exactly what you need in order to survive a self-defense street encounter.

I know that many of you will say, “You should start a women’s only class” but really I don’t have the time in my schedule and I’m not sure I can attract enough women to take the class when I have a stand up martial arts program that most women seem to like better. I’m to the point now where I just say “I will do my best to take care of you and make your experience a safe one while you’re here but you need to look internally to see if you can handle wrestling with men.”

If you are a women and you get a purple belt or above in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu then I want you to know that you are a very special and awesome person because you have the intestinal fortitude to be able to stick with something that’s difficult for many stronger men let alone a women. Some will ask, "Why a Purple Belt?" because no one gets a purple belt without being able to tap others out. This means tapping men...So...Go tap some men.

Remember ladies it ain't easy but stick with it. Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is made for you!

http://keith-owen.blogspot.ca/2013/0...ilian-jiu.html

Edit: The words above are the author's own and do not reflect my own views. Some people are having excessive skull density issues assuming that because I posted this article that I also agree with it. I posted it to generate discussion.

I meant to post a few of the BJJ world online blog responses earlier, but the server crapped out on me so I came back later. Here they are.

http://jiujiubjj.com/2013/02/19/women-and-bjj-quitting/

http://reeseny.blogspot.co.uk/2013/0...nd-sexism.html

http://ottawabjjwomen.com/women-can-...ian-jiu-jitsu/

Thanks to Slideyfoot for linking me to them.

**goodlun** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 1:33pm

A lot of people drop out of BJJ I think it has less to do with the fact that they are women and more to do with that the odds of getting anyone that is going to stick it out is pretty tough.

We have a 5 - 6 women at the gym that my daughter goes to. It does seem to help when you have a critical enough mass. That being said the highest ranking of them are blue belts.

Here is the way my old Judo couch handles this issue right now
http://betterjudo.com/judo-for-moms/

**Justin C** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 1:56pm

It seems to be the ladies who start younger in there teens who stay with any martial art.Lets face it the mat is one of the last male dominated places on earth.

**AKRhino** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 1:57pm

In my... what, 6-7 years of jits I have seen WAY WAY more men come and go then women. The reality is, there are very few men who are still training at my gym from when I started. People come and go, some stay for a week, some stay for years. Life happens. I left jits myself for probably a couple years after I got married. It was my wife who was the primary factor in my return to training.

**DKJr** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 2:14pm

(Misogynistic Southern imitation)

I believe that the females, being the gentler sex, are more prone to hysteria. Thus the harsh realities are too much for their delicate sensibilities.

(Real post)

I'd like to see an attrition ratio for men vs women in 1,2,4,6 year intervals. I'd guess that a higher ratio of men quit in the first 1-2 years and the ratio is more even for 4-6years.

The reasoning being I think women have a higher psychologic barrier to start Jiu Jitsu ensuring that those who even show up at all are more sure they want to train, more so than men.

**Soldiermedic** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 2:18pm

I'm glad he mentions that he's a great person and has no bias against women about 30 times in the blog post, otherwise I might have been suspicious. I am sure if he compared the data of dropouts by gender he'd find that there is less of a discrepency than he would think.

Also having a women's only class, even if its just for beginners, makes all the difference in the world.

**mike321** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 2:48pm

It is important that some of these women get pregnant but it is from their husbands or boyfriends. Obviously we are talking about respectable women and his pointing out that they were impregnated by their husband or boyfriend confirms he has no bias.

**Azatdawn** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 2:53pm

Can women handly BJJ? Tch. Of course not. What are they going to do? Clean their way through a match? Bake themselves a blackbelt? Stop kidding.

Originally Posted by Soldiermedic

I'm glad he mentions that he's a great person and has no bias against women about 30 times in the blog post, otherwise I might have been suspicious. I am sure if he compared the data of dropouts by gender he'd find that there is less of a discrepency than he would think.

Also having a women's only class, even if its just for beginners, makes all the difference in the world.

Seriously though, yeah, this sounds about right.

**Azatdawn** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 2:55pm

Originally Posted by mike321

It is important that some of these women get pregnant but it is from their husbands or boyfriends. Obviously we are talking about respectable women and his pointing out that they were impregnated by their husband or boyfriend confirms he has no bias.

Maybe he wrote this to point out that they weren't getting pregnant because they had been raped during class by his students, because he makes sure they behave well.

**Resonance10** · Posted On: 2/19/2013 3:21pm

I can't speak to Keith Owens' perpective but I was convinced to do BJJ by two women. ( And this site ).
One, an old friend who is a blue belt asst instructor at her gym. The other a lady i saw fending off a man half again my weight and a foot taller than me..she barely stands at my mid chest level..i'm about 5'10" She held him off for near on 15 minutes caused him lots of trouble and never tapped, it sold me completely on the technical effectiveness of the art.
Sure she's the instructors daughter but still.
I think it should be taught in schools.