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December 22, 2015
Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu
Camp Experience, Female Fighters, Fight Family, Gendered Experience, Petchrungruang Gym

Interview with Angie, a Transgender Nakmuay Facing Her First Muay Thai Fight

Angie Kathoey - Muay Thai Fighter - Pattaya-w1400

Part 1 – The Interview with Angie

Above is my interview with Angie, a Kathoey (commonly called “Ladyboy”) who is about to have her first Muay Thai fight.

Angie started training at Petchrungruang a few months ago. At first it was just once per week, on Sunday afternoons, which is a slow day at the gym. But she quickly got stronger – I could see it from afar, even before we really started interacting with each other, other than a smile of recognition back and forth – her passion for Muay Thai is evident. In a short amount of time, Pi Nu started saying that Angie was strong and could fight this guy who had recently had a match against one of the kid’s fathers (an older westerner). These kinds of informal fights are not rare in Pattaya, and really even in Thailand. Not long after, it became more than a suggestion and Angie said she wanted to fight. She’s been training every morning since then, about two months now, and we’ve been working together a little bit in preparation for that, as well as a lot of talking to help her feel more mentally prepared.

The fight is on Tuesday and I’m writing this post on the Sunday before, so she’s got two more days. I came in this morning to do a little work with her in the ring – when I got to the gym she was kicking the bag and Pi Nu was standing a few feet away from her, holding his baby son, watching and chatting with her about her fight. When he saw me he confirmed that I was there to work with her, then told me “sohn noi,” which is to say “teach her” in our work. She and I been working together for a few weeks anyway, but by Pi Nu saying this to me now, I suddenly felt like I had my own Padawan learner. Angie is very new to this all, and brave. I sat on the edge of the ring and gossiped a bit with Pi Nu about the results of the two fighters from our gym who had fought on TV the day before. This is normal enough and Pi Nu’s son Nat rested his head against Pi Nu’s neck, trying to catch a quick nap while Angie teeped the bag. While the conversation was common-place, my attention to Angie was piqued more than I’d given myself permission for prior to this. Now I was given responsibility for her training today, so my eyes focused on where her foot landed in the middle of the chewed-up leather patch on the center of the bag, how well she pushed through the dented section that was her target with her foot.

“Angie,” I said, between tidbits of discussing the fights from yesterday, “picture your opponent when you teep the bag.”

Angie works part-time in the evenings, so she’s only able to train in the mornings. Her dedication is clear and despite being tired, if Pi Nu tells her to kick the bag 100 times, she goes and kicks the bag 100 times without fail. This is something you’d think is just expected – and it is – but a large number of “part-time” students will crap out, so it means a lot to those who are instructing her that she’s coachable and willing. What means a lot to me in speaking with Angie is that she just wants to get better, and knows that it takes both time and effort.  She doesn’t just wish it, she works for it, and she’s patient.

At article-top is my interview with her on Monday, the day before her fight. I wanted to talk about why she had suddenly decided to take up Muay Thai, a few short months ago, and then only two months ago, decided she wanted to fight. I wanted to know what it meant for her to be practicing something so potentially masculine, when much of her life is dedicated to becoming more feminine. As a muscular female fighter I often find myself on a blurred line between genders aesthetically in Thailand, something that doesn’t always feel very good. Mostly though, I wanted to share Angie with everyone, and give her a chance to talk a little about her experiences and thoughts.

In the above interview I’ve subtitled a little bit where audio might not be so clear, just so nothing is missed. This interview today was actually our second attempt. I had interviewed her the day before this, but we felt that the audio of her voice was just too low. I didn’t want you to have to strain to hear her. (When we tried again today I told her that the chickens at the farm in the back were louder than she is and she giggled.) I also include the first somewhat botched interview too (just below), in case some are very interested in her and would like to see more. Some of the answers were a little different in the first interview.

My First Interview With Angie (Poor Audio)

Part 2 – A Larger Perspective on Katheoy, Thailand and Muay Thai

Kathoey (Ladyboys), Transgender In Thailand – Tolerant Intolerance

I wanted to really make this post all about the interview of Angie, but as I found myself writing it felt like there are more things to say, so what follows is a kind of expansion of what is above.

I’ve read from quite a few sources that kathoey are considered the “third gender” in Thailand and are widely accepted in the social and cultural fabric of the Land of Smiles. Due to Thailand’s prevalence of Buddhist beliefs, from the perspective of outsiders like myself, it appears that the visibility of kathoey – in the form of male-to-female transgender and transsexuals – is widely tolerated. “Acceptance” feels like too strong a word, or perhaps just too imprecise. There is still a large degree of prejudice, and some commonly-held beliefs are downright offensive, and violence against those in the trans community is not uncommon. The stigma around Ladyboys in the closer family circle means that a great number of young gender-queer kids may hide their identities from their families and begin their transitions once they’ve moved away from home. They can face the full spectrum of acceptance by their families upon “coming out,” from being embraced with the “you are who you are” attitude informed by Buddhist karma to the far more painful fate of being at outcast. And a large number of Ladyboys find themselves in the Sex Work industry – which globally is a high-risk occupation and a net for society’s most vulnerable – an image of Thailand which has become part of its trademark. Sadly, Ladyboy humor is pretty much standard in the joke list for many visiting the country.

All of that is just a snapshot of things to consider when asking the question, “what’s it like to be a kathoey?” in any given setting. In the gym it’s complicated. I will say that Angie has been included at Petchrungruang in a way that I would find amazing in the West, but seems to be pretty standard for the gym itself. My first gym up in Chiang Mai, Lanna Muay Thai, is famous for its Thai name, Kiat Busaba, because it is the gym of the very well-known kathoey fighter named Nong Toom, or Parinya Kiat Busaba “the Beautiful Boxer.” (who is mentioned in the interviews). Nong Toom financed her sex change operation through fighting. How’s that for a movie? (It is a movie.) But as much as Nong Toom achieved success and visibility, in that gym there’s a kind of wry response to her image and name being coupled with the gym – for her being what makes the gym’s name so famous. If she were a man, it wouldn’t be an issue; if she’d simply been a Cis woman, the gym probably wouldn’t be famous at all.

Angie and Gender in the Gym

I think of Angie as a woman. I think of Nong Toom as a woman as well, as I did when I met her and she cornered for me in Chiang Mai a few years ago (photo below). I totally fan-girled out to have her meticulously tucking this small piece of hair behind my ear between every round, while I was getting my ass kicked – something I’ll never forget. And yet, without feeling a contradiction I still identify with being the only woman at my gym here in Pattaya, (despite having Angie with me in the mornings for the last few months), as it’s not quite the same as having another Cis woman around. I feel a bit like an asshole saying that, but I’m being honest too. It’s like there’s this caveat; and it’s not because Angie isn’t a “real woman,” – she is absolutely a real woman – but rather I believe because of our experiences. We’re not treated the same…socially. How could we be? There are literally countless reasons why there would be disparities, from things as simple as body size, experience-level in the sport, the fact that she’s Thai and I’m American… tons of reasons for us to not have the same experience. And yet there’s this very key experience of categorization that is a division between us, in treatment; we are not categorized the same and in some ways Angie’s “not this and also not that” exclusion in the gym setting makes some things harder for her, but in some ways my “simply not a man, period,” makes tolerance and inclusion harder for me, as a Cis woman. And that makes it more difficult for me to say “we,” even though I consider Angie a woman, and us 100% allies to each other. Again, it’s complicated.

But what’s not complicated is how much I love having Angie at training with me in the mornings. I love seeing her kick the pads and the bag, pushing herself in ways that I don’t see most of the guys at the gym push themselves. I love chatting with her and I’m utterly flattered when she squeezes my arms and says she wants some of that strength for herself. We sit on these opposing stools of constructing masculinity and femininity, but there are tons of overlaps that make us a really cool pair. And I’m excited to work in her corner for this fight, as it kind of brings around this neat little circle of Nong Toom cornering for me and then me cornering for Angie. .

Nong Toom with Den in my corner for a Muay Thai Warriors show in 2013

This morning at the gym, when all of us were discussing the coming fight,  I was put in the very awkward position of being nominated by Pi Nu (the owner and head trainer of the gym) as the authority on whether Angie should go over the top rope (as men do) or under the bottom rope (as women must). Basically it was left up to me to say what was proper. This was something I did not expect. I have written numerous times on my issues regarding the bottom rope and also how I have more frequently than you would think been in the position of having to be the one to enforce this practice on myself among men who don’t know it, or have forgotten. (e.g. when someone pushes down the top rope, I have to stop and point to the bottom rope and wait for him to figure it out and lift it for me. Or in one instance, a genuine Muay Thai legend who was my corner actually thought I was joking when I told him I have to, as a woman, crawl under the bottom rope, and he waited until he saw my opponent do it before he would allow me to do so.) And yet now, today, I was asked by Pi Nu what the answer was – me, a non-Thai and a woman, was asked to clarify for a rather traditional Thai man with 30+ years in Muay Thai practice, what the correct etiquette was in this situation. Does Angie go over the top rope like a man, or below the bottom rope like a woman? To be clear, I’ve wondered about this myself, in the past, and my only answer comes from having seen Nong Toom enter the ring (completely post-op, full transition to woman) by going over the top rope. No tradition establishes the norm, in this case a single person does through their precedent-setting choice: Nong Toom. If you’re being “logical” about it – and traditions seldom are logical – a Trans Woman has none of the biological features which deny Cis women from going over the top rope, principally menstruation, so “logically” a Trans Woman does not threaten the magic of the ring. But this menstruation logic is not iron clad, for instance little girls when entering the ring go under the bottom rope, far from their age of puberty. It could very well be that Nong Toom hops over the top rope simply because she can, refusing to lower herself, though seeing herself as a woman. In any case, all that said and done, I answered that Nong Toom goes over the ropes and there was a short discussion wherein Pi Nu reasoned it out, “because she’s a man.” That can’t feel good to hear on Angie’s part, but as far as the culture and practice of conservative thought goes, that was the arrived at answer.

In Angie’s Corner

Angie has expressed concern over who will be cornering for her in her fight tomorrow. She did not quite understand what a “corner” is, (the word in Thai is “Pee-lee-ang” พี่หลี้ยง) and I really tried to let her know that it is a very minor role, often held by kids. Pi Nu had told her that her corner would be this guy who she has clinched with a few times and she was upset because, as she said, “he likes to play.” I think she means he flirts too much and she is serious about her fight. It’s an interesting issue, because this guy is not gay, but straight Thai men will flirt with Ladyboys a lot because they are symbols of sexuality – like hyper-feminized women in gyms have to face as well. Angie insisted that Lung Piak (“Uncle Piak”) be her corner because he holds pads for her. I had to keep explaining that the word Pi Nu used for what this guy would be doing for her is grunt work, it didn’t matter, that Piak would be in her corner but outside of the ring to give her advice. What a completely normal “lady problem” as a female fighter! And yet it’s somewhat specialized in that as a Ladyboy, Angie faces difficulty in being taken seriously anyway (more so than cis female fighters, I think), so having someone in her corner who is sexualizing her and kind of exacerbating the “side show” elements, which really ought to be minimized, would be a nightmare. But I too will be in her corner tomorrow. In this way, all the efforts by which I’ve carved out a space for myself at the gym, to the point where my individuation is also a kind of independence (going to fights without a corner, or traveling with just Mod Ek to fights I’ve booked myself), all that I’ve fought to accomplish for myself is immediately important for someone else. My position of being a woman, simply being a woman – and a fighter – brings a piece of solace and authority to an otherwise uncertain corner, in Angie’s first fight. One straight line can indicate a limit, but two lines can then keep order between them. That’s me and Angie in this situation – all I have to do is be there, all that second line has to do is be near that other one, and the borders are set – the energy can flow within the lines of where it’s needed. And that’s pretty fucking awesome.

Check back, and I will update this post with the outcome of her fight.

 

If you enjoyed this, you can read all of my Muay Thai Gendered Experience articles here.

 

You can support this content: Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu on Patreon

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Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

The Author Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

A 103 lb. (46 kg) female Muay Thai fighter. Originally I trained under Kumron Vaitayanon (Master K) and Kaensak sor. Ploenjit in New Jersey. I then moved to Thailand to train and fight full time in April of 2012, devoting myself to fighting 100 Thai fights, as well as blogging full time. Having surpassed 100 fights in 3 years here, my new goal is to fight an impossible 200 times in Thailand, as much as I possibly can, and to continue to write my experience.

2 Comments

  • Dylan
    December 23, 2015 2:12 am

    I may have missed it, but will Angie be fighting against a man or a woman or another kathoey? I assume she is fighting in a male division. As transgendered people become more common, this will become more of an issue in the sporting world. I’m curious how this is handled in Thailand.

    Reply
    • Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu
      Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu
      December 23, 2015 12:29 pm

      For this first fight Angie faced a woman from Romania, who outweighed Angie by a good 6+ kilos (13+ lbs). It’s very common in Thailand for matches to be adjusted for experience, strength or any number of things by having disparity in weight like this. What was most important in my mind was that all parties were aware that Angie is kathoey and agreed on the fight with full-knowledge of all the factors involved. Ultimately the fight was very short because Angie’s opponent fell on her own elbow and jammed it, making her unable to continue. So it was a TKO victory for Angie, but kind of due to an accident that was beyond anyone’s control.

      For her next fight, Pi Nu says she will probably fight a man who is smaller than Angie by 4 kilos. When I interviewed Angie the first time she told me, “you know, I should fight with a man,” because she has not fully transitioned yet, despite having been on hormones for 10 years already. The most famous kathoey fighter ever is Nong Toom, who fought men all the way up until she had full sex-reassignment surgery and pretty much retired. She very seldom now only has what they call “exhibition” show fights against women. I’m not sure entirely what that means in terms of any adjustment to rules, but the one I saw there was no winner announced – like it would be a “draw” regardless.

      Reply

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This post is in the spirit of this site, showing things in progress, as if passing reading notes so others can think along (and even train along) with me. I’ve thought a lot about this clinch since first witnessing it about 3 years ago. I’ve finally gotten myself to the position where I can teach it to myself. I first wrote about Tanadet (Poda) 2 years ago.  The extended film clip below Kevin made as a study film for me, so I could figure out just what it is that Tanadet was doing. If you want a very good sense

Sylvies Tips - Clashing of Knees

How to Avoid Kicking Knees or Elbows in the Basic Muay Thai Kick

This above is a little video help to Benjamin who wrote me about a basic problem he was having in sparring. It seemed like the best way to answer him was in a quick video. I try to help people who write in to me as best I can. Once I filmed it I realized that this is something a lot of others are probably having issues with. I know I still run into it after 3 years here, so I thought to turn it into a “Sylvie’s Tips” video. Hopefully it helps others. Benjamin asked about how his knee

How to Practice Muay Thai Knees on the Rope - Sylvie's Tips

Sylvie’s Tips: How to Practice Knees on the Rope: Goh Teaches His Daughter Bai

The real instruction doesn’t come until minute 1:40 but the thought to record Bai jumping in to practice knees with the boys was simply because it was pretty cute.  Then her dad came over to correct her form (she was imitating the boys, mostly one who is a few down in the row).  Bai is 9 years old and has a few fights; this drill is something all the kids do at the start of training as a warmup and conditioning drill.  I’m pretty sure they do a thousand repetitions.  As Bai first starts out, her father Goh (who is

Some of My Best Posts

Violence in Muay Thai

The Importance of Violence in Muay Thai

I’ve written before about how Muay Thai and fighting, to me, isn’t “violence.” My argument was that I have experienced real violence, the above is the story of my rape as a child, and that the consent and preparation involved in fighting isn’t the same. There is, however, a flavor of violence in Muay Thai – it is, as my old boxing coach Ray Valez would say, “the hurt business” and ultimately any fighter pushing for the highest form of the art of Muay Thai has to embrace this. Yesterday there was a young woman at my gym, Petchrungruang, who

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The Fighter and Unconscious Tension – Recognize and Release

I just had to do my annual visa run, which requires sitting in a van full of total strangers for the 11 hour drive up to the border with Laos, an overnight stay, then the 11 hour drive back down to Pattaya. It’s grueling. Sitting in a car or a plane for this number of hours takes a toll on anyone. It’s astonishing how tired sitting on your ass makes you. I’m not very social, so I always put as many hours of podcasts and audio books as possible on my player so I can leave my headphones in the

Mental Training - People Pleasing and the Fighter

How Many Fucks? Zero. The People Pleaser and the Fighter

Apologies to my younger readers, this post is laced with profanity. Sometimes profanity has a special power to describe things in ways other words can’t. The plastic stool underneath me is too far out from the actual corner and my body kind of tips backwards as my cornermen lift my legs into their hands and rub icy cold water on my thighs and shins. I try to balance myself on the ropes but it’s more awkward and I reposition my forearms to the tops of my thighs; the cold water is going over my head now, which feels nice because

Chiang Mai Best Female Fighting in the World

Why Chiang Mai Has the Best Female Muay Thai Fighting in the World

This article is about the flourishing Muay Thai of Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand, becoming the best female fight city in the country and very possibly in the entire world. No other city boasts such a complete native female Thai fight scene: it’s fed by side-bet (gambling) fights in the outlying provinces, stabilized by Sports Schools, hosted at a large number of local stadia (all of which allow women to fight in them) which hold fights every night of the week, and supported by the Thai Muay Siam media coverage. If you are a female Muay Thai fighter, this

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Interview with IFMA’s Stephan Fox | Muaythai in the Olympics and More

Stephan Fox is the General Secretary of the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur (IFMA) and the Vice-President of the World Muaythai Council (WMC).  He is a huge figure in the recognition and development of amateur Muaythai in Thailand, as well as international competition with both the IFMA and WMC. After 20 years of work, the International Olympic Committee has just given provisional recognition for possible inclusion in the Olympics – let me repeat that: 20 years of work for that, and Mr. Fox’s response is, “right on schedule.” above, the full 30 minute interview with Stephan Fox We cover a range of

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The Secret to Great Muay Thai Padwork in Thailand – Get the Most Out of It

What follows is not authoritative, it is just the things I’ve gleaned in my nearly 5 years of full time training at my various gyms, and in traveling around and taking privates from some of the best in Thailand. You can get access to my growing Muay Thai library with legends for a suggested pledge of $5. I read a rant on Reddit that, despite its intense language, does open up that some people do get frustrated training in Thailand, finding a lack of instruction and padwork that be repetitive. I do believe there is no better place in the

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“This Is Business” | The Imitation Game, Playing to the Gamblers

Alex and Note are standing on opposite corners of the ring, wearing shinguards and gloves, hanging out like they’re about to do anything other than sparring. They’re totally relaxed, laughing, joking. Kru Nu is pacing around and there’s a buzz around the circumference of the ring while the remainder of the boys all takes their positions along the ropes as spectators and Goh – one of the padmen for the kids – is hollering for Chicken Man. Kru Nu squats down with his hands on the top rope, peering under the staircase and out into the chicken farm, the most likely

fighting-above-weight-in-thailand

Female Fighters | Fighting Above Weight in Thailand & How to Win

First off, let me say it: weight, its not that big of a deal. There is a strong caveat to this, which is that it is a definite advantage, but so is height, or knowing the scoring system, or fighting since you were 10, or having a fight on your  home turf, and so many other things. So while weight is always a potential advantage, it is just one among many possible advantages. You can beat people who have the weight advantage over you, just like you can with any of those other advantages. I know that in the West

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Precision – A Basic Motivation Mistake in Some Western Training

read my guest post articles a Husband’s Point of View A Husband’s Point of View – Consider this a working theory. I’ve written about the uniqueness of Thai style training before, in The Slow Cook vs the Hack, and this article can be seen as something of an extension of that. But as Sylvie’s husband watching her progress through very earnest training and a hell of a lot of fighting, and seeing numerous westerners come through her Thai gyms, I’ve come upon something I think is pretty important. What led me to this is a very particular quality many serious

Guide to Muay Thai Gym Etiquette - Not Offend

Guide to Thailand Muay Thai Gym Etiquette – How to Be Polite

Below is meant to be a helpful guide, something that I wish I had when I first came to training Thailand. These are just things I’ve noticed in my 4 years of training and fighting here and are not hard and fast rules to follow. If you want to be polite in Thailand gyms, in a culture that is different than your own, these are just a few things to look for. There are of course a wide variety of gym experiences in Thailand, and things that are impolite in a small, family Thai-style gym might very well be common

Pitbull - Fear and Agression in Muay Thai

Fear of Escalation in Sparring and Training Aggression as a Skill

A lot of us feel that aggression comes with an “on/off” switch, and that we should be able to flick it back and forth based on context. Many of us who are learning Muay Thai struggle with aggression, perhaps because we don’t feel that we are “naturally aggressive,” and it’s frustrating to watch those who are seemingly naturally gifted with aggression succeed in ways that we don’t see in ourselves. But aggression isn’t natural, even if it does seem innate in some more than others. I contend that aggression feels natural to some due to having spent years cultivating it before they

Dracula Guard position - Muay Thai

Padwork with Daeng at Lanna – Dracula Guard (Long Guard Variation)

First a Little Bit About Daeng Daeng is one of the most fight-focused trainers I’ve trained with. When I was training at Lanna Muay Thai in Chiang Mai, it was Daeng who invested the most in diagnosing and fixing weaknesses in my fighting. He wasn’t my main trainer, but he’s a very good teacher and has a keen eye for finding how to improve on existing strengths and correct errors. I’d initially gotten a bit stuck with a technically brilliant but lazy and unmotivated trainer – that guy was a great trainer for some, just not for me – and Daeng

Arjan Surat - Dejrat Gym in Bangkok - Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

Arjan Surat of Dejrat Gym – 1 Hour Private | Coach of the Thai National Team

Join and Study my Muay Thai Library of Legends This is a full video of a private I took with Arjan Surat, Head Coach of the Thai National Team, and owner of the esteemed (but lesser known to the west) Dejrat Gym in Bangkok. I did a short review of the gym when I interviewed female fighter Kaitlin Young, and it was then that I met Arjan Surat for the first time: an absolutely extraordinary teacher and life-force of Muay Thai. The man is Old School-Old School, telling me that he’s been holding pads longer than I’ve been alive (he’s

The Gendered Experience

Onyx MMA visiting Petchrungruang - Chocolate and Sylvie-w1400

Interview with Female Fighter Chocolate of Onyx MMA – Singapore

my interview of Chocolate at Petchrungruang in Pattaya (above) Chocolate lets out these “oh-hoy!” exclamations when I land a good knee or give her a quick turn in the clinch. They’re similar to the “oi!” of calling out a point in the Thai habit, but there’s a small hint of protest in the sound as well – it’s joyful, but it’s got this wonderful, “oh no you didn’t!” hint to it as well. And she’ll get that point back, no doubt. Chocolate doesn’t stop. We were in the smaller ring at Petchrungruang, where the kids tend to gather and just

Apollonius - Boxer at Rest Toughnes

The Fragility of Western Masculinity

Some of the questions raised by this article were followed up here: Do Women have a Commitment Advantage in Muay Thai This post also lead to me writing about the Myth of Overtraining and how Endurance is a Skill. There’s a type of dude who frequently appears in the gym in Thailand, looking to fight in Muay Thai.  Usually these guys already have a few fights under their belts and are in close-to-fighting-shape.  I specify that they’re “close to” fighting shape because these guys rarely identify themselves as being already in shape, or where they would want to be to

Fight Like a Girl - Female Boxing Movie

Fight Like A Girl: My Review of Jill Morley’s Documentary on Female Boxers

This is something of a personal response review of Fight Like a Girl, written as a female fighter. Jill Morley’s film “Fight Like A Girl” opens with a bare-bulb lighting figures as they spar in a ring.  Their white gloves and headgear swing and bob out of the darkness as a voice-over initiates the thesis of the film: people always want to know why female fighters want to fight.  Throughout the rest of the documentary, Jill Morley points her camera at her training partners, her family and herself as they all shadowbox around that question.  Nobody ever seems to hit

colorado field

Leaving Trails – Leadership and Following in Muay Thai

Growing up in Colorado had innumerate perks that I only came to appreciate long after I took them for granted.  City kids in New York and Philadelphia learn how to handle themselves on public transportation from an early age and kids like me in the wilds of mountains and deserts learned how to “pack out what you pack in” with equal diligence.  The first rule of backpacking in the mountains of Colorado and deserts of Utah is to leave no trace of yourself, the foremost lesson being to preserve the world you’re exploring. When I was maybe 12 years old

Kaitlin Young Interview - Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu-001

Kaitlin Young Left MMA for Love of Muay Thai – Interview, Bangkok

We pulled the car around a corner in a maze of suburban small streets and panned the lane in an attempt to locate the Dejrat Gym – this is an out-of-the-way gym which we could only find with GPS and a map location (below). At the far end of the street there was a pile of colorful equipment laid out in the driveway in order to dry it in the sun – a sure sign of a gym if I’ve ever seen one. So we park the car and I get out to greet the three older men who are

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Bad Feminist | All the Fighters That Inspire Me Are Men

I don’t have female role models. I don’t look at other female fighters and think, “I want to fight like her.” But I have strong examples of both that are men, and intellectually that makes me feel a little guilty. As a Feminist through and through, as someone who believes that women cannot afford to not support one another, that’s a shitty thing to admit: that I don’t look up to women as idols, people I want to be like. And if I’m being completely honest, I never have. I admire individual women and I’ve written at length about the political or

Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu - Muay Thai

1 Year Completed in Thailand – 28 Fights, Just Starting

Anniversary – 1 Year April 6th was the one year anniversary of our arrival in Thailand.  It feels quite monumental, which is perhaps both strange and ordinary since I don’t really pay a great deal of attention to anniversaries (ordinary) but this one feels like it marks the accomplishment of both goals and dreams that seemed at a time unattainable (strange).  What is most peculiar about the feelings I have surrounding this anniversary is how fast it seemed – it’s like the calendar is lying to me that it’s been a whole year and yet when I look at how

Hyper-Masculinity - Muay Thai

Do Women Have a Commitment Advantage in Muay Thai? – Hyper-Masculinity

The responses to my latest article The Fragility of Western Masculinity has been very interesting and somewhat unexpected. It has been, already, my most widely read article, and surprisingly has been embraced by a lot of men, a group that I’d anticipated would take offense. There have been the usual “shut up! you don’t know what your [sic] talking about!” comments with more or less expletives to add flavor, but they’ve been largely drowned out by sincere male fighters who recognize something in both kinds of masculinity examined in the post and who want to push themselves for more.  (I see

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Risking Your Beauty – Female Muay Thai, Brutality and the Beauty Aesthetic

Preface: I wanted to write on this topic right after reading the Lion Fight interview with Tiffany Van Soest prior to her fight with Caley Reece on the Lion Fight promotion.  It ended up taking me longer than I’d expected to make the time to actually sit down and write it.  Female fighter and blogger Natasha Sky also was inspired by this same interview (the question of risking beauty was also posed to Caley Reece, facing Van Soest on that card) and she wrote a piece on her blog, including questions to other female fighters on their opinions on this

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Act Like It – Confidence In A Performance Culture

Either Side of the Ropes Something happens when a woman steps into the ring.  It’s not universal and I cannot speak for everybody,  but I’ve both witnessed this phenomenon on many occasions in other women and I’ve experienced it myself.  Women who are fantastic in training – padwork, bagwork, shadowboxing all with really sharp technique – seem to fall apart in sparring or in fights.  I’ve seen men do the exact opposite, looking pretty sloppy and borderline bad in training and then suddenly get it together when within the ropes of the ring.  What the hell is this? The most

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Clinch Hell – Breaking Points, Crying and Growing Stronger

When Taking Pity Takes Too Much We have a new woman at the gym. She’s only trained a handful of weeks, ever, and will have her first fight at the end of the month. So Pi Nu is really putting her through the trials to get her ready and I suspect that part of his Draconian directives that she clinch everyday comes from him watching me have success with clinch over the past 1.5 years that I’ve been under his instruction at the gym. He watched me go from unable to unstoppable, so I think he’s become a real believer

Lobloo Female Protection Groin Guard Review - Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu 8 limbs-w1400

The Lobloo Aeroslim Female Groin Guard – A Review | My Amazon Strap

The Lobloo Aero Slim Female Groin Guard inexpensive very well designed – light weight, simple, effective, comfortable could improve technique – groin confidence in clinch, kicks, knees free shipping, arrives fast I love the Lobloo female groin guard. For the most part, I think women don’t even wear groin protection because there are so few options for us – my friend Emma Thomas wrote about these nightmares here – btw, she’s getting one now too – and of those available very few are functional and/or comfortable…but the Lobloo is both. While I obviously like that this groin guard protects me

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