Overview of women's fighting
Women's fighting has been a hot-button topic in the game for decades. This page exists to summarize the discussion and showcase resources.
Resources for women:
There are a number of resources for women who want to join in the fighting aspects of Amtgard, and for those who support the community. We're out here, we play, we're serious about fighting and you're not alone.
House Lionesse is the leading household to support women in Amtgard combat, with resources, questions and community-building events. House Lionesse is nonbinary and trans inclusive.
In June 2018, House Lionesse held a panel discussion posted here
Resources are available online, focused on skills and questions that are of especial interest to many women fighters.
- Women Warriors, 2018
- Women's Fighting, 2017
- Sir Shadow's youtube channel has good basic videos on body mechanics:
- Sir Glen on range control: https://www.fightocracy.com/ViewArticle.php?articleID=25
Recent results and best practices for women's/nonbinary tournaments are here.
Gamewide discussion:
Research and analysis of the ORK has shown that in today's game, women do not succeed at fighting at the same rate or to the same level that men do. This is true globally across the game, and for every time where we have records. Out of players with a 1st Warrior, the same proportion of women reach 6th Order of the Warrior, as men reach Warlord. Details are presented here
Gamewide discussion of why this is the case often focuses on women's level of dedication, the social environment of the game, and on physical differences.
- Resources on physical differences include:
Ben Glickler. July 10 2017. Amtgard Main Page. Presenting data on women and tournaments in several sports. https://www.facebook.com/groups/amtgardgroup/permalink/1738080242873407/
Ben Glickler, March 19 2015, E-Samurai. Strength Matters. http://www.electricsamurai.com/main_page.pl?action=view_article&file=20150319174717-Guests.txt&dir=General
Glen Mop, 2016. Fightocracy. Women's Fighting, part 1 [researched, cited information on physical differences] www.fightocracy.com/docs/WomensFighting-Part1.pdf
- Resources on social environment include:
Glen Mop. July 14 2019. Amtgard Main Page. Summarizing research on gender and competitive mindset. https://www.facebook.com/groups/amtgardgroup/permalink/2752887188059369/
Alex Missett. July 10, 2019. Amtgard Main Page. Sharing writeup of tournament anxiety survey. https://www.facebook.com/groups/amtgardgroup/permalink/2748767841804637/
- A small selection of resources on women's experiences in the game:
Ellie Apland. October 3 2017. Amtgard Main Page. Presenting interviews with women fighters. https://www.facebook.com/groups/amtgardgroup/permalink/1829685050379592/
Lindsay Parkhurst, November 1 2016. Question about hitting on new female players. https://www.facebook.com/groups/amtgardgroup/permalink/1443635108984590/
Maggie Siegel-Berele, September 21 2015. Amtgard Main Page. Sharing of comic “Battle for Amtgard”. https://www.facebook.com/groups/amtgardgroup/permalink/1149602068387897/
Past online threads:
Women's fighting gets a lot of online attention. Glancing at some of the extensive discussion before posting your own take is encouraged.
Other pages:
The Valkyries are a women-only fighting company based out of Dragonspine.
The Amazons are a longstanding, women-only household.
About Female Fighters, an in-their-own-words page by Anna of the Emerald Hills
