There is no doubting the need to acknowledge that men and women deserve the same opportunities in sports, fitness, and by extension, their physical training. However, refusing to address the issues that ... Continue Reading
Gender Inequality: The Ugly Truth About Female Sponsorships
The CrossFit Journal recently published a piece about female athletes entitled “Frailty, Thy Name Is Woman?” The article challenged the idea that women are the weaker sex. In the article, Elisabeth ... Continue Reading
Valerie Worthington: On BJJ and Life, Ep 1
Welcome to our inaugural episode of Breaking Muscle Radio! In this episode our hosts, Managing Editor Becca Borawski Jenkins and Coach Chet Morjaria, interview Valerie Worthington. Val is one of the few ... Continue Reading
Great Expectations: The Truth about Gender Stereotypes in Grappling
News flash: Men and women are different. (Also, water is wet.) But it can be inaccurate, not to mention detrimental to gender relations, to take stereotypes about gender differences at face value. (Did I ... Continue Reading
8 Perspectives on Gender in the Gym
Gender issues in the gym can be divisive or isolating, especially if your discipline is predominantly male or female. It doesn't have to be that way, though. How can men and women work together in the gym, ... Continue Reading
Are Women’s Only Gyms Discriminatory?
I remember being crushed in preschool when the boys wouldn't let me play Ninja Turtles with them because I was a girl. I pointed out that April was a central character in the show and they reticently let ... Continue Reading
Gender and Jiu Jitsu: Helping Men Understand Newbie Women
You may have noticed I’m on a kick about how we as grapplers can better understand each other: the perspectives we need to know about one another so we can hear and feel heard. You may have ... Continue Reading
This One’s for the Butch Girls
I’ve only been to one Pilates class in my life. I’ve also only been referred to as the “butch” one time in my life. Well, at least one time to my face. And while it shocked me, it didn't anger me, as the ... Continue Reading
4 Things Men and Women Can Teach Each Other in the Gym
There is a short film floating around the web that portrays men acting like women in the gym and in the same manner, women acting like your typical guy. The hilarious film shows women flexing their biceps ... Continue Reading
My Name Is Valerie, And I May Be Sexist (But I’m Working on It)
As a woman in the male-dominated sport of grappling, I have experienced sexism of every stripe: the angry, defensive kind; the flagrant, that’s-right-I-said-it-and-I-don’t-give-a-sh*t kind; the casual, ... Continue Reading
