ANST - ANST- Ladies Chest Protection

[Mike & Tiffany Geisendorff]

At 05:21 PM 10/28/97 PST, you wrote:
> I'd like to do a "poll", here. Humor me, please:
>
> There are some discussions going on concerning ladies' chest 
>protection. Ansteorra has a rule stating that women have to wear 6-8oz. 
>leather over the breasts and sternum... while Coorporate says a gambison 
>over the same area is sufficient. Quite a few of us ladies would like to 
>have Ansteorra's rule dropped to the Coorporate rule.
<snip>
> So, what do you think... drop the rule OR mandate chest protection for 
>all men in Ansteorra?
<snip>
>~Lady Vanora Villon de Paris~

Greetings :-)

        When I first started fighting over 2 yrs ago, it ruffled my feathers
(or scales ;-) to think that I, as a female was "required" to wear chest
(not just breast) protection.  However, now having felt the _desensitizing_
effects of being hit several times on the same spot (like my thigh :-( , as
well as having the air knocked out of me by a spear, but no serious damage,
I'm very glad to have been "required" to wear protection.  
        Whiether it be padding, leather, or whatever, I feel it necessary to
have something, but should it be required...  I can't help but wonder how
many women would wear protection and how men would react to fighting women
that did not have any "breast" protection.  
        Honestly, being a smaller fighter ;-), I feel that I'm more fragile
than a good sized, shieldwall smashing man (not that I couldn't kick their
butt ;-) .  Especially now with the new lo-pro tips and the thought of
unpadded glaves, I feel protection is very important to any fighter.  I'm
not as concerned about  my safety when it comes to one-on-one fights, but
when it comes to melees, I feel that I have less control over my own safety
and am glad that someone else, like rules, are.
        My shirt of scales has protected me very well, and does not hinder
my movement and by pouring water down my back, I have overcome the heat
problem. But when I was deciding on my protection, my criteria included
mobility and comfort.
        But like the seatbelt and helmet laws, I don't believe the
government has the right to _make_ me wear one, but I'm stupid if I don't.


Brita MacGregor
Blacklake, Ansteorra

============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.