I being, a kung fu woman, have a very direct perspective on this topic and want to throw some insight out there into what it might mean for a woman trying a kung fu class for the first time. First of all, this is an age-dependent issue I think as older generations (like me) feel like they are stepping out of their comfort zone by entering what was always a male-dominated recreation. Younger women probably don’t have as much of an issue with that as today’s society is more integrated and accepting of such equality. The good news though, is that at least at our school, 1/3 of the students are women and many of them are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even 5th degree black belts. There are no gender divisions at our school, except those created by me haha when I organize a women’s demo or our upcoming retreat – but that’s more a celebration than a division and to let women who haven’t joined yet, know that there is a large, family of men and women at Shaolin-Do ready to welcome them to class. Though as I pointed out to Sifu Corey at class last week, it’s hard to look tough when you have this pony tail swinging back and forth during forms!
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