Working out with the ladies.-No it's dirty.

[Anon coward]

I agree completely, I have been on the end of bullying within a class and the teacher at the time made no point of stopping it, so I left, took my money with me, and now I have found a class I get on with.

The original question was about training with women, and as long as the guy is not out to prove his strength and power and that the training session as a way to make himself feel good, then I, as a woman, would be really put out if a guy did not want to train with me for the reason of being female. My suggestion is, train with her but make her aware that you are happy to take the strength and ability level down or even up (she could kick his a*rse!) to make sure that both training partners are getting the most out of the session. On the ground I still believe that men will always have the strength we as women have the techniques, it means we may take long to get there, but when we do we will give you a run for your money ;-) (that’s the theory anyway)

[treelizard]

So this is great food for thought for people who are reading this as coaches. How are you going to deal with these issues? And it's not just women people often don't want to roll with but anybody younger or smaller.

Some strategies I've seen used:
-I've seen women, children, newbies etc. roll with the big dogs during their "break"--the trained fighter (or whatever) will roll against two guys and get a round off where he'll work with one of the less experienced folks for a round or two. He's not upset because he's exhausted anyway, is still staying "warm" for his next round and the other person is getting a lot of technique and one-on-one time with someone really experienced
-Let less experienced people go last when someone's running through everyone first. Then they have more of a shot to get a technique in but are still fighting alive against resistance
-Don't make anyone roll with anyone. This goes for men and women. I can think of some guys I don't really want to roll with, not because I disapprove of their clothing or whatever, but because they are spastic and aren't well-trained enough yet to have enough awareness of what they are doing. Of course, if my coach tells me to go against someone and I say no I am sure I'll get endless shit for it, but it's up to the instructor to set the tone for this, realizing that students get bullied and some are like Shoot and don't like co-ed. Luckily, some people are cool and will roll with anyone and be good training partners.
-Different levels of classes... This isn't necessarily divided by gender but there's a lot of schools that have advanced classes, so at least if women (Gasp!) made it into an advanced class they'd have a high level of skill to go up against
-Switch it up a lot! I don't mind rolling with anyone no matter how "gross" as long as I get to work with a variety of people over the course of a class.

Just some suggestions... Anybody got anything else?

And by the way, there are many women wrestlers and even football players just like there are male cheerleaders... Few contact sports are still separated by gender, sorry. Get used to it. Though I do hope some day that there is enough interest generated that women can get their own varsity leagues and separate teams in each and every sport.

When I was training in BJJ (as opposed to MMA) the classes were separated based on gender. Then, they became co-ed. It was such a buzz kill and totally akward. I think the women really liked it, but the guys hated it. I think several guys dropped out because of it. Granted, we got infiltrated by a bunch of butchies with hair where it shouldn't be on a girl, but I think any female presence in a contact sport sucks. It's like having a guys night out and one of your pussy whipped friends brings his girl friend. You guys know what I'm talking about. It totally kills the vibe and makes you want to bitch slap your buddy. BJJ is a contact sport that should be separated based on gender just like all other contact sports. I'm not comfortable wrestling with a female. If she's a dike, then she's gross. If she's "built like a guy" but not a dike, then she's gross. If she's all thick and strong, then she's gross. If she's hot, then I can't help but to get turned on and pop a boner--just being honest. I'm not liking the prospects here. Let the boys have their sport for christ's sake. We hardly get to enjoy anything to ourselves anymore. And, by the way, I'm sorry but these jock-dike-wanna-be-a-guy girls are annoying as hell. I wouldn't hang out with them voluntarily anywhere at any time and shouldn't have to have a class with them. Like I need to roll around on the floor with some white-trashy looking mullet wearing fat chick with coffee can cankles who wears tivas and cut off shorts on the weekends. No thanks.

[DickHardman]

I think guys sometimes forget that women have sensitive areas too, called breasts...

i highly disagree with that statement.

[KickNit]

And by the way, there are many women wrestlers and even football players just like there are male cheerleaders... Few contact sports are still separated by gender, sorry. Get used to it. Though I do hope some day that there is enough interest generated that women can get their own varsity leagues and separate teams in each and every sport.

They tried that during WWII. But they ended the women's baseball league when the boys came home from the more important business of war.

[Garland]

They tried that during WWII. But they ended the women's baseball league when the boys came home from the more important business of war.

...ouch. I expect this to draw some fire.

[KickNit]

I hope the "more important business" is viewed as sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek as it was intended. :-)