“You know you scare men, right?”
So saith one of my best friends.
“I don’t care! If doing karate scares them off, I don’t want ’em!”
I’ve been single for many more years than I’ve been practicing karate, so I don’t think it’s the karate that’s keeping men at bay. More than likely it’s my sassiness. Or my independence. Or the fact that I haven’t even looked for a man. Who had time? I was busy raising a competitive athlete!
But would a woman practicing karate really scare a man?? Why? What, exactly, would be the intimidating part – the fact that she could defend herself? Would he worry she’d spring surprise attacks on him just for fun?
Now that I think about it, pre-karate I dated a guy I would have been tempted to use as my crash test dummy. He was the type to be intimidated by a female martial artist. But I think that says more about him than it does me, and also explains why the relationship didn’t last very long! 🙂
Personally, I think the strength and grace of martial arts is very appealing, but I know it’s not for everyone. So maybe it does scare some men. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. I’m sure if someone can’t handle that aspect of my life, they definitely can’t handle the rest of me!