Towards the “Undoing” of Gender in Mixed-Sex Martial Arts and Combat Sports

Alex Channon

doi:10.3390/soc4040587

Abstract

This paper addresses sex integration in martial arts and combat sports, discussing the implications of mixed-sex training for challenging orthodox Western constructions of gender. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 37 long-term martial arts practitioners from around the English East Midlands between 2007–2011, the paper argues that restrictive, essentialist and hierarchal conceptions of sex difference can be challenged through integrated training practices. The paper advocates the “undoing” of gender in this regard as helping to build a more progressive, inclusive and liberal form of physical culture, seen as a key potential of sex-integrated training. To that end, the paper makes a number of proposals for instructors and practitioners interested in developing such inclusive environments in their own clubs and training settings.

Highlights

For many who practice martial arts and combat sports (MACS) [1] in contemporary Western societies, the presence of men and women in the same training spaces, or in joint classes, is not uncommon
Based on the accounts of my interviewees, those who stand to benefit most from increasingly sex-integrated practice in MACS are women who wish to achieve ever-higher levels of martial capability
Integrated training often becomes necessary, and so practitioners and instructors invested in this type of training would likely do well to seek ways to encourage integrated practices, perhaps in the ways in which I have suggested [56]

Summary

Introduction

For many who practice martial arts and combat sports (MACS) [1] in contemporary Western societies, the presence of men and women in the same training spaces, or in joint classes, is not uncommon. I argue that, because of such possibilities, instructors and practitioners within mixed-sex clubs can help to tackle this sexism, and in so doing, I suggest a number of proposals for practical action which may enable this potential to be met. Before turning to this task, I begin by outlining the theoretical perspective I use to make sense of sex integration, and briefly discuss its application in other sports/physical activity settings

Theoretical Perspective: “Doing” and “Undoing” Gender

Methods

Issues of “Ownership”: Women Teaching Fighting Skills

Concluding Thoughts