Good morning, Readers.
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Yesterday was a frustrating day.
I expressed my frustration with the first month of the year in yesterday's post. I figured, however, that training would help with the frustration.
Except it didn't.
I taught the "Advanced" crew at training this year. There are some new additions to the "Advanced" people. I put "Advanced" in quotation marks for a good reason. There are a couple of people who would benefit from joining the beginners again, but I digress. That's not the point, and was not the source of my frustration. I have a lot of patience for people who are struggling with techniques. I was once one of those people and I know how it feels.
No, the source of my frustration is the manner and frequency with which male students react negatively to me as an instructor. This semester has been particularly bad.
My first Wednesday class teaching (as our Sifu was out of town on family business) I had a student argue about which foot to put in front when I instructed the class to put their left foot in front. He's left-handed, you see, and fights south paw. Never mind that we were going over techniques and not fighting. Never mind that I was going to have the entire class switch feet (as it's a good idea to know how to throw techniques from both orthodox and south paw stances - you aren't always going to find yourself on optimal footing in a fight).
None of that should matter. I, as the instructor, gave an instruction, and some rando dude decided to argue the point with me. It irritated me, but I'm pretty used to it at this point. There is one every semester, and they usually calm down after they've trained with me.
I'm a heavy hitter.
Last night, another student decided to talk back to me. His situational awareness was next to nothing, and I had to remind him three times to pay attention to those training around him. On the second reminder, he had fully run into a beginner. I told him to watch it. He talked back.
I was not in the mood for dealing with that shit.
This never happens when any of my fellow lead students are teaching. All of my peers are male. I'm convinced that gender bias is at play. The sheer volume of guys who feel that it's alright to talk back to me, and the respectful deference these same loud mouths show to my male peers has me fuming.
I'm so tired of it. It happens at least once at the beginning of every semester. Normally I can handle it, but yesterday was not the day to cross me. I'm still quite angry about it. Luckily, I'll be training with the Thursday crew, and I'll be able to punch it out, since I won't be teaching.
Word to the wise, gentlemen, when you're instructed by a woman who is built like a bull and has been training martial arts for ten years, show some fucking respect. You don't know better than she does, and if you don't listen to the lessons she can teach you, you will be missing out on a wealth of experience and knowledge that might just save your arse in a fight.
All because she's a girl?
Smarten up.
Shut up.
Do as you're told.
I expressed my frustration with the first month of the year in yesterday's post. I figured, however, that training would help with the frustration.
Except it didn't.
I taught the "Advanced" crew at training this year. There are some new additions to the "Advanced" people. I put "Advanced" in quotation marks for a good reason. There are a couple of people who would benefit from joining the beginners again, but I digress. That's not the point, and was not the source of my frustration. I have a lot of patience for people who are struggling with techniques. I was once one of those people and I know how it feels.
No, the source of my frustration is the manner and frequency with which male students react negatively to me as an instructor. This semester has been particularly bad.
My first Wednesday class teaching (as our Sifu was out of town on family business) I had a student argue about which foot to put in front when I instructed the class to put their left foot in front. He's left-handed, you see, and fights south paw. Never mind that we were going over techniques and not fighting. Never mind that I was going to have the entire class switch feet (as it's a good idea to know how to throw techniques from both orthodox and south paw stances - you aren't always going to find yourself on optimal footing in a fight).
None of that should matter. I, as the instructor, gave an instruction, and some rando dude decided to argue the point with me. It irritated me, but I'm pretty used to it at this point. There is one every semester, and they usually calm down after they've trained with me.
I'm a heavy hitter.
Last night, another student decided to talk back to me. His situational awareness was next to nothing, and I had to remind him three times to pay attention to those training around him. On the second reminder, he had fully run into a beginner. I told him to watch it. He talked back.
I was not in the mood for dealing with that shit.
This never happens when any of my fellow lead students are teaching. All of my peers are male. I'm convinced that gender bias is at play. The sheer volume of guys who feel that it's alright to talk back to me, and the respectful deference these same loud mouths show to my male peers has me fuming.
I'm so tired of it. It happens at least once at the beginning of every semester. Normally I can handle it, but yesterday was not the day to cross me. I'm still quite angry about it. Luckily, I'll be training with the Thursday crew, and I'll be able to punch it out, since I won't be teaching.
Word to the wise, gentlemen, when you're instructed by a woman who is built like a bull and has been training martial arts for ten years, show some fucking respect. You don't know better than she does, and if you don't listen to the lessons she can teach you, you will be missing out on a wealth of experience and knowledge that might just save your arse in a fight.
All because she's a girl?
Smarten up.
Shut up.
Do as you're told.
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