Comments on: Against Tiny Kung Fu Women: A Polemic

By: braak

braak — Sat, 22 May 2010 05:04:05 +0000

I am familiar with Bruce Lee. Familiar enough to know that, a few years after he came to San Francisco and exhausted himself kicking people's asses, he devised a new workout routine and gained thirty pounds of muscle, going from about 130 lbs to 160 lbs. That's why Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon is actually visibly bigger than Bruce Lee in Green Hornet. Anyway, good job missing every possible point. I can only assume you're doing it on purpose, since it defies belief that someone could misunderstand me so thoroughly by accident.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:55:40 +0000

Wow! You have some serious anger issues, dude! You FULLY didn’t get what I was pointing out. Haven’t you heard of Bruce Lee? Very thin guy who packed a mighty punch. I have that type of body on a woman’s frame ……..naturally thin. I am NOT promoting that women have to be thin. That just happens to be my God given frame. Plus, it’s NOT just a function of muscle mass. The muscle must be well trained, with strong bone density, healthy ligaments, tendons and joints, and it must be directed from a well rounded person, with proper training, proper intent and someone with positive energy. It’s very clear you have no idea what that’s all about!

By: threatqualitypress

threatqualitypress — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:42:46 +0000

Of for fuck’s sake, really? You really think that there are absolutely NO NEVER IN ANYWAY general principles that can be applied here? You don’t think that promoting the idea that women, no matter what they do, no matter their backgrounds, and no matter their jobs, ALWAYS have to be rail skinny is actually problematic for human culture? That it may not be WORTHWHILE to recognize the fact that strength is a function of the cross-sectional area of muscles, and that therefore it’s not only not wrong, but sometimes beneficial to acknowledge the fact that women CAN have muscles, and sometimes even SHOULD have muscles?

Or is this just you imagining that I am talking about, and am in some way interested in, what you personally are like?

By: Valerie

Valerie — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:46:19 +0000

I have to say, as a thin woman, and after more than 20 years of weight lifting, 10 years of triathloning, and now beginning in kung fu (3 months), I am offended that you don’t realize that every woman’s body mass is different depending on her body make-up and genetics. I am thinner than that Gabrielle person, and consider myself stronger than most women. I don’t have the kung fu skills at this time, but just wait a few years. I’ll bet my strength would astound you then.

Never judge someone by how they look

By: Eduardo

Eduardo — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:09:18 +0000

I do agree that most of the TV, and movie fights between a female, and a male are not realistic. After all, it’s Hollywood, and the “sexy but deadly” female martial artist genre sells well!

By: threatqualitypress

threatqualitypress — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:12:40 +0000

All right, all right. The Chin-Na thing was clearly an error on my part. I only learned Chin-Na in the context of my kung fu style--there, the sifus were all densely muscled, and they kept giving us exercises (here, hold this spear at one end and lift it over and over) that built up forearm muscle saying things like, "It'll help with your Chin-Na." Anyway, the point that I'm trying to illustrate I think is this: "Properly applied they cause a great deal of pain." The better you are at them, the less muscle you need to make them work right, yes. But why wouldn't you build up muscle for techniques like this? Or for any other technique? Where are you training that has both an eye towards seeing you get into fights AND that discourages you from building muscle? Saying that you don't need muscle to win a fight, you just need good technique, is a little bit like saying "I don't need a seatbelt; I'll just drive well." And I've mentioned before that just the act of punching or kicking a heavy bag is going to build up some muscle. Certainly more than certain very, very skinny actresses have.

By: Katy

Katy — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:24:28 +0000

*smiles* As a “tiny” kung fu woman I’ll concede that on occasion size does matter. When a guy who weighs twice what I do gets me face down, there’s very little left I can do. The trick is not to get in that position in the first place. But like any fight between any combatants – there are so many variables to be considered as to make generalizations ridiculous.

Re: Chin-na
Actually it doesn’t take a lot of forearm strength. The very point of some of the holds in the practice are that you’re focusing on joints – which take almost no pressure to break, damage, or otherwise disable. Properly applied they cause a great deal of pain.

The moves themselves are not hard to learn – what’s tricky is the reaction time and the presence of mind to use them in a “panic” situation.

By: threatqualitypress

threatqualitypress — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:36:48 +0000

@Mac: This is also a problem. Especially when Alyssa Milano doesn’t just beat up a bunch of guys, but does it using insane kung fu moves.

By: Mac

Mac — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:26:09 +0000

I’ll forgive Buffy and Firefly their illogic — Buffy actually gave us an episode where the heroine’s powers were taken away, and she still managed to triumph. I’m even all right with Serenity, as River’s fighting style was very “move fast, dodge, and strike vulnerable spots” and most of her blows were delivered with her feet, where strong thigh muscles come into play.

What I find annoying are things like “Charmed” or the Zorro sequel, where previously sedentary women are shown spontaneously breaking into battle for no apparent reason and winning over multiple opponents.

By: threatqualitypress

threatqualitypress — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:35:45 +0000

Well, I’ve been more vehement about it, lately. (See my related problems with Iron Fist.)