Fighting Women

I hate the women fighting bits of the Olympics.

Love the last three lines of the article though.

I like that bit too, jings

The women's boxing (and the men's come to that!) is something I find totally repugnant.

I don't like fighting between men or women, but I do like the fact that the Olympics have provided girls with very different role models from the vacuous, stick thin, famous for nothing examples thrown in their faces daily by the equally vacuous media. I have a feeling this has been said before on gransnet and if so - apologies for plagiarism!

There's also an article about the first male Pakistani ballet dancer somewhere in the news today. That's good too – fighting sexist prejudices is what it's all about. Will go and find it and link it.

Here it is His name is Ayman Safiah and, sorry, he is Palestinian.

I pricked up my ears when I heard the term non-contact boxing sometime during the past week. I've never heard of it before, but am assuming it promotes all the skills required for boxing - punch bag, skipping, the other little ball that gets hit quickly, and whatever else boxing requires without actually hitting another person and knocking them out. As a form of fitness, I'm all for that for both men and women.

Thanks for the link, B

I have seen something called 'boxercise' on a health club programme, but thought it sounded a bit too exhausting for me.

Fascinating story Bags - it sounds as though he has had to fight prejudice of all kinds and now he may be forced to return to Israel.

I have long since thought that boxing was not a sport..more a sort of voyueristic violence ( not polite to thump someone but you can get your jollies, if that way inclined, by watching someone else).
BUT.....................if its ok for men to do it in the Olympics a big part of me screams that women should jolly well be allowed to do it too.
Furthermore (wow there's wordy for you) I thought the female boxer Nicola and the young girl who did the Taekwando (?) - Jade Jones were excellent role models and had a darn sight more to offer young women than the usual vacuous lot featured on tv.

I've followed men's boxing a lot over the years and often wonder why I view such a brutal sport as something so honourable. Many ofthe participants have, over the years been such interesting, intelligent people [unlike some sports...]. The heavyweight boxer who won Gold on the last day being a prime example; one of the most eloquent interviews given after winning a medal throughout the whole of the Games. But, I have to say I feel uncomfortable about women boxing and feel that they shouldn't by nature have the aggressive streak that men have.

I agree about the role models, hilda. There is also the matter of self-defence. I think encouraging women to learn how to defend themselves against attack is a good idea, quite apart from the fact that the acceptance of women in what are "traditionally" men's activities is another step towards breaking down sexist attitudes. One would like it to work both ways of course, which is why I mentioned Ayman Safiah.

Most of it is good exercise too. Another bonus.

Not that martial arts have ever appealed to me, but it takes all sorts to make a world.

Crimson, I dont know the full story but that young chap might be articulate but he was arrested for possession with intent to deal last year.........lets hope the boxing keeps him on the straight and narrow.

We both find the idea of boxing repugnant too, but Hilda your last words sum up what boxing can, and does, do. That is to give young boys (and girls now) a way to avoid the trouble into which they can get on the streets. DH's work in the voluntary youth sector brought him into a lot of contact with inner city boxing clubs and what had been "boys' clubs", and whatever one's thoughts on boxing, it certainly gave these young people a sense of purpose, discipline, and self respect. A strange dichotomy!

Bags now it would be really interesting if he was a Pakistani! I don't think there are any well known dancers from the Indian sub-continent, not through prejuduce but because of their culture. We do now see some in the audiences so perhaps it is just a matter of time. There was a mixed race girl at the Royal Ballet School who went on to dance in Europe.

i watched the video of this young man and he seems to have a great body but will need a lot more training if he is going to make it. As he is at Rambert he will probably go into contemporary dance.

Isn't archery a martial art?

I don't think so, jeni. I think martial arts are all 'combative', are they not? I know archery was used in warfare and hunting (you still can hunt with a bow in the US, but only a very powerful compound bow that will kill straight away, provided you're a good shot; same applies to rifle shooting, I suppose), but now it is only a sport of skill. Never used for fighting.

Shouldn't women be more interested in "marital " art?
Oops....

wooden spoon for you, johanna!

Judo, which derives from ju-jitsu, is a martial art but is not combative. It was developed for self-defence and is now more of a sport. My dad was a 5th Dan black belt, who taught judo and ensured I and my sisters learned the fundamentals when we were children. It was good fun, but we didn't keep it up. When demonstrating to my ex-husband how to use the other person's momentum to extricate oneself from a risky situation I managed to flip him over my shoulder and he landed on the ground. I don't know which of us was more surprised.

Oh well, bags even a virtual village has it's idiot!

Yes, I understand the distinction between the sport judo and other martial art sports is that in things like karate and taekwondo, you actually train to do fighting maneouvres which you are not allowed to use in tournaments. In judo you don't learn such things. But karate and taekwondo are sports derived from martial arts too, as, I suppose, since I'm splitting hairs, are archery, rifle shooting, and fencing.

Does that count as a retraction of my previous statement, jeni?