women/girl fencers?

[melinchow]

i've noticed in my club---actually a college class (foil)---that not many women enroll. the ones that do generally drop out fairly early and the few who end up staying don't get very good and don't come back the following semester. is this typical or is it just that all the girls in my area sissies. i've been fencing there for about 4-5 years and have friends that have been there as long as i have but i'm the only woman in the bunch. what's the deal?---not that i mind having the guys all to myself.

[jjefferies]

There are as many answers out there as there are situations. In the case of university clubs the turnover for everyone is fairly high. At Cal we normally start the season with about 100 people and finish with 20 to 30 of whom about 10-15 are from previous years. Add to that,as in any martial art many women are not intrinsically attracted and then there is collecting bruises - "did your boy friend do that to you?"

And lets face it many will consider a person as slightly tweaked when their idea of fun is to get together with a bunch of friends and stab each other. Add in study habits, the tight focus on the sport that many higher level fencers have. And it just hasn't been as marketable to women as some other sports such as tennis.

Another problem which I've been seeing recently is getting women to support other women in the sport. I really feel that when there is a women's event in the division all fencers but particularly the higher ranked fencers need to turn out to support building the cadre of women fencers.

[smurfette]

Originally Posted by jjefferies

Add to that,as in any martial art many women are not intrinsically attracted and then there is collecting bruises - "did your boy friend do that to you?"

Cmon: can we please avoid appeals to notions of "intrinsic" essence and nature regarding this question? That is what my old resistance friend Jean-Paul would call: "bad faith/mauvaise foi." In my own experience, the bruises seem to bother the boyfriends more than the girls. Though I did have a bit of a problem when my old boss confronted me about my heroin use.

An irrelevent aside: a Greek man the other day told me that I was a real barbarian because I am a woman and I fence. It was an accolade, as well as a fact (especially given that "barbaros," in ancient Greek, referred to those who were not Hellenes).

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I'm on a team at an all-women's school, so we don't seem to have that problem.


Most of the time, the men's events are a bit bigger than the women's, but in the New England division, at least, things are starting to equalize. Men's events are still a bit bigger, women are less likely to have the higher ratings...... but it's getting better.

[RebelFencer]

Women fencers are a myth.

[T H U G]

Da fencin girlz
wearin da pearlz
iz supa rare fo a reason
girlz iz not seen in da season
cuz fencin be treason
to da way girlz iz raised
ya see men be not fased
when da otha guy be attacken
but girls?
dey get scared and be packin
das why dey be slackin
while da guyz be thwackin.
a few girls not be da same
der girlfriends call dem lame
but wit da boys dey gain fame
dese girls be tuff
dey got da stuff
pros is made of
and das why i love
da women fencas

[glowstix]

Originally Posted by RebelFencer

Women fencers are a myth.

haha, for a while i was beginning to believe that but there's this chick at my new club and trust me..she shows me who wears the pants ('04 olympian), . i'm thinking of wearing a skirt to work these days, they are very real,

now the question is, will we ever have a good representation of the 20-30 yr old female group in fencing..i don't think so. face it, most women in that age group just aren't into sports. that's why the college clubs always have that high dropout rates for girls.

[Elendae]

Originally Posted by jjefferies

And lets face it many will consider a person as slightly tweaked when their idea of fun is to get together with a bunch of friends and stab each other. Add in study habits, the tight focus on the sport that many higher level fencers have. And it just hasn't been as marketable to women as some other sports such as tennis.

My coworkers all think I'm crazy... but I think that my fencing is only one of the factors that has influenced this...

Originally Posted by glowstix

now the question is, will we ever have a good representation of the 20-30 yr old female group in fencing..i don't think so. face it, most women in that age group just aren't into sports. that's why the college clubs always have that high dropout rates for girls.

There aren't many of us, are there? I have a feeling, as much as it depresses me to say, that most women of my age group are of the "too afraid to break a nail" variety.

[melinchow]

Originally Posted by RebelFencer

Women fencers are a myth.

if women fencers are a myth that must make me legendary . but i guess i don't really think of myself as a woman fencer---i'm just a fencer when that blade is in my hand. an unfortunate thing i've noticed in my area is that the girls that do have some skill go off and join the sca.

[Asprin]

At my club its about 30% female noramally although on some nights I'm the only one.

We had a club competition where there were 8 women and 20 men (across all weapons).

All the guys on my uni course(engineering is very male dominated) are scared of me and my bruises, I have a nice big one on my collar bone from foil and a few on my sword are from epee. I'm pround of them but I would prefer to be slightly better at parrying to as to not get hit.

Most women I know are scared they will be rubbish, get beaten and devlop bruises.

Asprin

[sleepyweasle]

Originally Posted by RebelFencer

Women fencers are a myth.

Perhaps you would all like to come down the the FC one night and take a sabre class - I know lots of lovely young ladies who will gladly dispell that myth AND show you no mercy. Even at the expense of breaking a nail.

[Beowulfman6]

We have had a hard time recruiting females at my club in the past, but this year we have picked up a few. I don't think there is necessarily anything you can or should do differently to atract more female fencers. Once, a girl I know suggested we try fencing shirtless as a way to attract the ladies- but somehow with the fencers we have here I just don't think that would work.

I think it may be due to the fact that fencing has traditionaly been a man's sport- seing how we were extemely late in creating gender equality at the international level. I think that we will only see more women get involved in the sport as time goes by.

[RebelFencer]

Originally Posted by glowstix

haha, for a while i was beginning to believe that but there's this chick at my new club and trust me..she shows me who wears the pants ('04 olympian), . i'm thinking of wearing a skirt to work these days, they are very real,

now the question is, will we ever have a good representation of the 20-30 yr old female group in fencing..i don't think so. face it, most women in that age group just aren't into sports. that's why the college clubs always have that high dropout rates for girls.

I was being sarcastic. I actually fenced a member of our WE world team, she was pretty incredible.

Originally Posted by sleepyweasle

Perhaps you would all like to come down the the FC one night and take a sabre class - I know lots of lovely young ladies who will gladly dispell that myth AND show you no mercy. Even at the expense of breaking a nail.

I'm sure there are quite a few coma patients who could do that to me in Sabre, what makes them special?

[Coldfire]

I'm on a highschool team and we have a lack of female fencers as well. The girls just dont have an interest in the sport as much as most guys here. And those that do arent as motivated as the guys. I mean we have enough girls to have a girls team but wehave to put in a few of the guys to fence on the girls teams because sometiems they dont show to meets and we need a guy to sub for them.

[sleepyweasle]

Originally Posted by Coldfire

I'm on a highschool team and we have a lack of female fencers as well. The girls just dont have an interest in the sport as much as most guys here. And those that do arent as motivated as the guys. I mean we have enough girls to have a girls team but wehave to put in a few of the guys to fence on the girls teams because sometiems they dont show to meets and we need a guy to sub for them.

Wow! You must not be from Long Island - no lack of female high school fencers here! Our HS teams often have more girls than boys!

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by sleepyweasle

Wow! You must not be from Long Island - no lack of female high school fencers here! Our HS teams often have more girls than boys!

That's surprising.

There are approximately equal numbers in Connecticut in terms of novices. But this is because there are one or two girls-only teams. Overall girls are out numbered 6:7 or so on teams with both genders.

[Peach]

Dang. I'm a little baffled to hear people have difficulty attracting women as fencers. I wonder what the difference is where you are?

The mythical Peach.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally Posted by Peach

Dang. I'm a little baffled to hear people have difficulty attracting women as fencers. I wonder what the difference is where you are?

The mythical Peach.

I always assume it's a self perpetuating problem--- If the only coach is male, girls/young women won't have an obvious female role model, and may be harder to get to continue-- which means that the team ends up mostly male, which further stresses the lack of women.

On the other hand, if you start a program with female coaches and/or strong female fencers in the begining, it's easier for the women to feel like part of the group.

Obviously, it's not as simple as that.

[Peach]

Maybe. I can see how it would help to have female coaches.

But though we have some female coaches now, our main coach (and, when my daughter started going to his club, really the only coach) is male, but he's always had scads of female fencers.

[Asprin]

We have one female coach but she only really coahces epee, so all the beginners end up having blokes.