How people react when you tell them you do Taekwondo

Let’s face it: Taekwondo, or any other martial art for that matter, is intense. Everyone would love to whip out those (literal) kick-ass kicks and punches, but it’s not easy. It requires discipline, dedication, patience and tolerance to pain. Lots and lots of pain.

I recently got the bronze while representing BU at a tournament at MIT. Along with the flow of congratulations and awestruck expressions came some interesting reactions. All practitioners are on the receiving end of certain reactions – but female martial artists receive some highly specific reactions that are just too entertaining to not note.

So without further ado, I present a list of reactions I’ve received, ranging from the ones that all martial artists enjoy to the ones that are purely expressed for the benefit of womankind.

“But you’re so… feminine!”/”You’re so… delicate!”

Believe it or not, liking make-up and not minding some black and blue limbs can coexist! As for delicateness, even a strand of hair is delicate but it can hold up to 6.5 lbs of weight! In that light it hardly seems unfeasible for a fully grown woman to be able to kick the daylights out of her opponent!

“So I’d better not mess with you, eh?”

Pro-tip: don’t mess with anyone! And don’t think you can’t mess with girls who are alone in some subway or street just because you’ve realized they do Taekwondo – you can’t mess with any girl regardless of what she can or can’t do.

“Oh now I understand why you’re still single! Boys don’t want a girl who can fight!”

Maybe we’re single because we don’t want boys who can’t imagine their girlfriends being more ‘masculine’ than them? Ever thought of it from our point of view? Try that next time, before supposedly pitying us for doing something we enjoy.

“Will you be our bodyguard?”

Sure. But we aren’t exactly bouncers that we can take a lot of damage and still manage to push away our attackers with our pinky.  We also aren’t some highly trained CIA or KGB agents. We can certainly decapitate our attackers or at the very least eliminate the threat, but we can also get overwhelmed. We are human too, after all.

“But you’re so small”

Just because some of us stand barely over 5’0″ doesn’t mean we can’t hand you your asses. If we can chop through three inch thick cement slabs, then we can chop through other things as well.

“Waaa-oonnh!”

If you meet an East Asian who does any form of martial arts, don’t make some noise that vaguely resembles Bruce Lee’s dying cat. Just don’t.

“So is your boyfriend scared of you?”

No. Should he be? Should either side be scared of the other in a healthy relationship? Perhaps if they are then there shouldn’t be a relationship in the first place.

“Your boyfriend better not step out of line!”

Hahaha! Would it be okay if someone reversed the statement and said ‘Your girlfriend better not step out of line!’? It’s sexist and again, fear and threats aren’t the things a relationship should be based on. And while we’re talking about relationships, isn’t it possible that the person in question met her boyfriend at Taekwondo?

“How’s your foxy boxing going?”

Trust me, buddy, when you see the two women scream and charge at each other, arousal is going to be the last thing on your mind. It might be difficult for you to respect the art, but at least you can acknowledge the fact that a lot of women do fight ‘like a man’?

“So can you/do you beat people up?” 

Yes, we can. No, we don’t. We’re not your neighborhood bullies who will at best steal your candy and at worst mug you in a dark alley. Chances are that we look just like you while we’re on the street: sleepy, stressed, in a hurry, making the quintessential college life jokes about wanting a car to run over us.

“Is Taekwondo same as *insert random martial art here*?”

No. While Taekwondo – like any other martial art – teaches you to deliver maximum force most efficiently, the way each martial art approaches that and the motivation behind delivering that force is different. Taekwondo movements are more brisk and straight and Kung-Fu movements are more circular. Sparring in Taekwondo is driven by the aim to best your opponent but not decapitating them, Krav Maga is entirely about inflicting or deflecting damage that can often be fatal.

“I thought this was a no-contact sport!”

Now, really. Where’s the fun (pain) in that? It’s easy to almost hit someone but how can you ever be sure that if you were successful in your strike or if your opponent dodged it? If you’re spending hours learning how to turn your hip over or kick with your instep, you might as well actually apply it!

‘No pain, no gain’ has literally never held greater meaning.

Some of these questions arise from genuine lack of knowledge and as good-natured teasing between friends, but Taekwondo, like most other things, is just another aspect of our lives. The same notions of common-sense, sexism and racism apply as they do anywhere else.

There really is no reason why Taekwondo or any other martial arts practitioner should be treated differently (except of course when it comes to respecting them for doing something few people have the stomach to do).