Author: esfinges1

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A personal Open Letter.

TL;DR: Read the bold text.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been considering writing this letter since the beginning of the pandemic, and as things have progressed and while things have gotten harder and harder for me, I am as confident then as I am now about posting this. Which means I am still not sure It is the right thing to do.

For those of you who have been long members of the forum or have followed esfinges page over the years, you might have noticed that after the give a girl a sword major project esfinges has been kept on a bare minimum. Minimum posting on the public page, a bit later in response moderation in the forum, messages, and emails unanswered for months etc. I have assumed no one has blink much of an eye since the pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, and with little outdoor fencing, it makes sense things are a little plain. But the truth is, being an online platform, this time should be Esfinges time to shine, and in many ways I very early on promised to uses Esfinges to create a platform and a place to bring a bit of life and provide activities to folks at home for as long as this later. But if that was the case, why hasn’t it happened yet? This is where I hesitate, and this, is when I go a bit personal.

3 years ago, I immigrated to the USA to marry my awesome husband and form a family together, this immigration process was and continues to be a long, LONG, hard, and overwhelmingly expensive process. A process that prohibited me to work for a year, that forces my husband to demonstrate able to provide for us both at all time under the risk of getting me deported when he can’t, a process that required us, for safety as the process is messy, to hire an immigration lawyers for 5k who did great at first, but vanished under the smoke this march when we were ready to continue the second part of the process, forcing us to spend yet another chunk of money both for immigration fees and a new lawyer. It was half way through this time that I got a dream job living as a part time HEMA and Sport fencing teacher at my club where my husband worked as well as a coach and as a manager. It wasn’t much but it was something, and all went manageable, except for the fact that for the second time in his life and in less than 4 years my Husband contracted severe pneumonia, something that led him to various visits to the ER, weeks at the hospital including Intensive care, and so on. For those of you who are not from the USA, The USA healthcare system is awfully expensive. Between this, a sliced finger, a shoulder injury, an elbow injury and other list of unfortunate events we have hit our 7k deductible for 3 years in a row.

And yet we managed, with debt and cards, but we managed, and COVID-19 hit, it hit us with what has been 9 months of unemployment, with the risk of my deportation if we ever dare to request food stamps, with realizing most of the state support also puts me at risk of losing my green card. It arrived with the notion that we’ve only made it through and not lost our apartment because of the love and care of our friends and family to whom we own more than we we’ll ever be able to re pay.

I was eventually able to get a job, not even part time, not even enough to pay rent, but something at least, my husband might be in the chance of finally getting employed after almost a year of searching. But the debt is drowning and we can’t seem to see the end of it making reality quite depressing. And he truth is that even with new jobs we continue to be at risk of Bankruptcy and a potential loss of my green card.

Considering the fact I mentioned I am an Immigrant I almost assume there’s no need for me to explain the overwhelming factor of isolation from my family and the isolation we’ve had to put ourselves being my husband a person at a higher risk.

I have to come to the realization that I’m currently emotionally and economically unable to provide to Esfinges (Don’t panic patron donors, your money is intact for the time I find my strength back) I find my self so out of energy for engaging projects that I don’t even have the energy to delegate work to all the wonderful staff who’s more than eager to be there and help and support and grow Esfinges. Who in fact, alongside our members, are the ones who have kept the page and forum afloat. This inability to care for Esfinges I must had has been another unpleasant blow to my current daily life.

I do not even know if this is a big deal to others or not, but I do want to apologize. For the time being and until further notice, Esfinges will continue to function under minimum steam, you might not see much from us other than a few memes here and there, some old re posts and some happy likes every now and then, I might neglect messages even when I don’t want to. And the truth is I do not know how long this stagnation will last. But I do want to reassure you all that once I am ready to be back, I will be making up to the time lost.

I don’t feel very comfortable sharing this, nor asking people for things, but the truth is, that at this time, reality is to hard for me to hold my pride.

If you are able to help and support me or support Esfinges, this is what you can do:

To support Mariana:
My husband and I have created a donation site, anything at this stage is helpful.
https://fundly.com/save-david-mariana?fbclid=IwAR1lx-G6wbZnoQ6jXZ-mjFU86pvAObdISAANtor5u6P6cFopVTsx5xdRQsU

Support Esfinges:

  1. Help us with engagement! Even if we post random and scarcely, your likes and comments will help us remain relevant on people’s feed, so that way we don’t have to rebuild engagement once were back.
  2. Share content with us: Cool pictures? Nice Esfinges relevante memes? Videos of women/NB people being awesome? HEMA positive content? Share it with us so we can share, having things to keep our page active is half the battle!
  3. Be mindful and kind on the forum. The community is already great, but keeping in mind the humans behind the keyboard keeping things civil might be tired, so try to make life easier by reading and following the forum rules, and reminding other members about them. Knowing the rules would reduce the need of moderation 90% of the times!

Thank you all for the love and support!
Mariana.

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It’s been seven years since Esfinges adventure started. And over the years it has grown into something more than we could ever imagine, and as it has grown so have our expectations and aspirations. 

It is hard to be satisfied with what we have accomplished so far when we can see so much more that we can do. It is also hard to continue a project like this and make it grow when it demands more and more womanpower and time.  Anyone who has been in Esfinges for long knows quite well how Esfinges projects, posts, blogs and support comes in waves. When there’s some extra time, when there’s some money to spare both from our store and personal, when there’s some unexpected resources, when real life doesn’t interfere, when we find a kind soul who can work like crazy for a specific period of time, when things are lucky.

While I try not to stress too much about this considering the nature of how Esfinges work, there is always that feeling that we could do more, that things could be more constant and that things could run better. At the same time there are several projects that Esfinges has had on hold (some secret ones  😉 ) for the past several years,  waiting for the right moment to come to life, but time, resources, staff, and other things always get in the way. And we are DONE looking at how that pile of dust is growing to become mountains on all of those projects. We want to make it happen.  

There are many goals: to give back to our staff, to give back to our community, to grow the wave of positivity and inclusivity, etc, etc, etc.  We are hoping to make Esfinges patreon to become the one thing that release us from the stress of wondering if we will be able to have our website from one more year, to improve our sponsorships, give the people all that fancy merch and content they are constantly asking for, to give an every now and then token of appreciation to our staff members, to prevent more staff members to chip in with personal money to keep things running, to make things happen.

As all we do, we are going with the flow and with no expectation but still trying our best.  We do not know if this will work, but we are certainly going to try!

With nothing more to say, please allow me to introduce you to Esfinges Patron Page! 

https://www.patreon.com/esfinges

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First blood duels

The art of training and fighting while on your period.

By: Mariana López
Note: The following article has not gone through style edition yet, please be patient as a better version is re-updated as soon as it’s available. I have decided to publish it as it is since it’s a blog of interest.

Let’s be honest, periods are the kind of things that we don’t talk about, we assume everyone knows it all and has it solved, or that there’s not much to do to improve the situation. However not only does people deal differently with their periods, there’s also the fact that some of us are too afraid or unwilling to try new things based on lack of information on ways to improve how we deal with the monthly visits, unaware of the difference it can make in our training and fighting experience, and how it can improve our performance as recreational or competitive fencers.

First of all, it is known that the hormonal process women and trans men experience every month can have an effect on performance, while studies are not strong enough to confirm a major difference, there is some proof showing how the fluctuation of hormones can affect to an extent the performance of certain exercises depending on the time of the month, like strength exercise in some days or a mildly increased chance of injury in others (mostly when estrogen is up).

(https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/how-periods-might-affect-womens-athletic-performance/)

However my main goal with this blog is to talk about dealing with menstruation itself; different people react differently to it, some have mentioned that their period makes them more aggressive or eager to fight, other’s go to the depressive side where they lack motivations, some like me have a mix of strong cramps, hypersensitive skin and a constant sense of discomfort while panicking about “what if an accident happens” which used to hold me back for properly doing almost anything! (something that I was finally able to fix!). For the rest of the blog, I will make a list of the different methods to deal with your period, pros and cons and ideas to treat pain and other PMS symptoms.

Regardless of age, working around and understanding your period can be time-consuming, however, the convenience, and comfort is well worth it!

I will list the methods in the following order:

Methods that deal with the blood, methods that deal with cramps or other “side effects” of the menstruation, and methods that deal with how and when the period happens and or its effects. Each method will be graded from 1(*) to 5 Stars (*****), 1 being the worse 5 being the best (personal opinion).

Sure, you can find like a thousand blogs like this on the internet. But one more won’t hurt, and proof of that is that this topic has been a matter of discussion at Esfinges forum since the day of its creation 6 years ago.

Menstruation Pads * :

The more common and accessible method, yet the most “primitive” of methods to deal with periods: humidity, irritation, the risk of infection and the need for multiple methods to keep pads in place plus the constant risk for accidents are one of the many reasons this is in the low bottom of the list. Incredibly they are also the most used method, being the easiest to access and with the lowest learning curve to use them effectively. Unless you have a very low flow period, I am almost convinced anyone using this method struggles at training every time.

Pros: Easy access, small learning curve, many options for material and shape

To consider: Must be changed every 3 to 4 hours making it an ordeal if you are in a tournament and the staffing-fighting-volunteering-living give you little time to restroom visits.

Cons: Can cause irritation or infections, most likely to move out of place and the plastic materials increase sweatiness. The “perfumes” to cover up smell sometimes make the smell worse (IMO)

Tips and tricks:

  • To reduce the risk of accidents during training you can use a pad more absorbent than what you need, downside: might cause extra bulkiness
  • To reduce the risk of movement & accidents, plus reducing the visibility of the pad and extra smell blocking: use a pair of Lycra/spandex shorts/short style swimsuit bottoms to keep extra compression and keep everything in place. Downside: can get a bit warmer a lot faster.
  • To reduce the visibility of the pads if it matters to you: Ignore the usual lovely leggings and go for a more solid fabric when buying capris. Black always helps to hide any possible stain too. However: remember that periods are natural, all women have used a pad once, it’s normal and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. If an accident happens during class, your classmatesshould deal with it (or learn to deal with it)

Similar options:

Reusable fabric pads **:

Same pros and cons as the menstruation pads with the advantage of them being more ecological and save money in the long run plus reduction of sweat

Cons: you must carry the used and pads with you if you are out for the day, or risk not having a place to wash and dry the pad. This can be annoying especially at camping HEMA events! Not a big deal, but not appealing to everyone.

To consider: Might not be a great idea for people who get grossed out by blood and discharge, as you must rinse the pads first before washing.

Knixwear leak proof undies ***

https://knix.com/collections/leakproof

I was incredibly doubtful of this one, but despite the price I went and bought them and now I am in love and own several pairs!

Pros: Unlike Pads, you can wear Knix up to 12 hours or more depending on the heaviness of your period. It literally feels like regular underwear, in fact, is more comfortable than some underwear. There is a lot (A LOT) less humidity helping avoid PH changes or urinary infections due to the constant rubbing, also there’s no risk for the absorbent area to move out of place preventing from leaking.

It is incredibly thin (and yet it handled my regular to slightly heavy flow perfectly) so no one will notice including your self. I also find the smell to reduce a lot compared to the smell you have with pads, you might get a small cent of metal (because blood) but is fainter than the pads perfumes which can get fairly strong.

It’s ecological and will save money in the long (very long) run, and they very little packing space, unlike reusable pads. 

To Consider:  The best way I recommend to try these out is to use them a day you won’t go out so you are not panicking all day.

Cons: While I believe the price is worth it, the product is on the expensive side, and will entirely get destroyed if you accidentally put them in the dryer (talks the voice of experience) so you have to be extra careful when you wash them.

If you have any discomfort dealing with your own blood, blood smell when you are cleaning them (it’s kind of metallic, I barely notice it) or removing blood clot to improve the Knix efficiency during its use then I do not recommend these for you. 

Personal thoughts: Using these greatly increased my personal confidence in training, both as I wasn’t panicking over the pad nor I had to worry about the pad moving and having an accident in the middle of the class (I understand there’s no shame on people knowing you are on your period or on your pad showing, it personally makes me too self-conscious and I don’t have the energy to deal with people who are not so well mannered about people periods).

Tips and tricks:

  • f you don’t mind dealing with your own discharge but rather not look at it every time you use a restroom for reasons, the black Knix do the trick.
  • For extra comfort during training, use the more absorbing Knix

Tampons****:

Tampons are probably the second most known and used method to work with periods and are very accessible. They are not fully leaking prof If wrongly applied or if the persons flow changes drastically (like my case) but they are exponentially more reliable than pads. 

Pros: Low risk leaking as long as you change them on time, they are proven to help deal with cramps as the tampon works as a cushion to the muscle contractions, releasing some of the pain. Properly used and placed and depending on the level of bleeding they last longer than pads. And my favorite part: no dealing with humidity or bulkiness. Both a pro and con is that you can forget you are wearing them!

To Consider: Must be changed every 6 to 8 hours depending on the heaviness of the period

Cons:  It involves a learning curve to the application and you can only learn to apply them while in your period. To some is hard to know when is the right time to remove the tampon, leading to the risk of leaking OR risk of removing a dry piece of cotton that… Let’s be honest, it can hurt. The thread hanging from the tampon can increase the risk of urinary tract infections.

Super absorbent tampons (most of them out of the market in a lot of countries) can increase the risk of suffering Toxic Shock Syndrome, however, TSS is EXTREMELY  RARE and take far more than just a tampon or a sponge to get it. So even if you find and use them, unless you have preexisting conditions, you’ll be safe. If you worry you can always you’re your Gynecologist!

Tips and tricks:

  • Use a Daily super thin daily pad alongside the tampon during trainings, initial tampon leaks are really small and the daily pad will give you enough protection without bulking or adding much hummidity until you can go change.
  • To ease application especially while learning how to use them you can use a WATER BASE lubricant on the applicator, or be sure to be in your heaviest flow day.
  • There are different sizes of tampons for different flows, the smaller size tends to help a lot when learning how to apply them.

Menstrual Sponge (no score since I haven’t tried it)

Of all the methods this is one I really haven’t been inclined to try. The sponge is a more natural method that works exactly like the tampon. Although it’s application can change slightly. It has basically all the same pros and cons as the tampon besides:

Pros: It’s more ecological and reusable. They are more comfortable to wear as they adapt to the shape of the vagina and they come in various sizes. It reduce the chances of leaking, they help deal with cramp pain. Unlike tampons, they are natural.

Cons: What I found the most problematic is that a lot of sponges are ill-treated and can contain sand, bacteria, fungus and other nasty things that we don’t want in our precious vaginas, so if you feel like trying this method please be sure to research, research, research for a trustworthy brand! Some countries health organizations have lists of approved brands. It also might need a little bit more practice to insert and remove safely and properly.

To Consider: Of all methods, this requires the most comfort level when it comes to manipulation and touch of the vaginal area, requiring a longer learning curve of all methods and patients according to what I’ve read. 

Menstrual Cup******:

This is my personal favorite! And when I am worried about ill placement I simply combine this method with the knixwear or a daily pad! Of all methods, this one has given me full freedom while training and during tournaments, to the point of feeling like I almost have no period.  

Pros: The menstrual cup is the only method alongside the Knix wear that can stay up to 12 hours, In fact depending on flux level it can stay longer if needed, though that’s not recommended it can save you if you are missing a few fights. Unlike the pad or the sponge, the cup “catches” the flow rather than absorb it, this also means no risk of TSS whatsoever.

 If properly placed the cup will be 100% leak free, something no other method can promise. While I’ve heard by a few that cramps can  increase, properly placed the cup should in fact help reduce cramp pain the same way the tampon does (in my case it reduced it even more than the tampon) The cup should not cause any discomfort to the point you can forget you are wearing it.

There is no risk of urinary or other infections since there’s no rubbing of a thread or change of PH, as if instructions are followed for the cleaning process (which is really simple), the cup will be entirely safe and sterile to use.

It is latex free, ecological and reusable making it also cheap, in the long run, they also allow you to really understand your period and flow, helping you pick the best secondary method to use if you don’t want to use the cup all the time.

Cons: There’s a learning curve to apply them and remove them, the second one really takes patience. If you don’t want to fall in panic the first time (It might have happened to me) be sure to have time on your hands while using it for the first time. It is also not great for anyone who’s not comfortable with dealing with their own blood. If you need to change while out of home in a public restroom all you need is bottled water to rinse and reapply, or rinse and apply a clean extra cup, the whole thing can be annoying, although for the time the cup can stay in, it is minimum the amount of times you will have to deal with this.

The major con of the cup however is the fact that you must find the right shape and size to fit you, so if you have luck at first or if it takes you several tries is a matter of luck. How ever, some companies offer sets of test cups for free or low charge.

Tips and tricks:

  • Because the menstrual cup does not messes up with your natural fluids, you can safely practice how to insert and remove it without having to be on your period.
  • There are a lot of videos on YouTube with many different ways to apply the Cup increasing the chances yo find a friendly method for you. 
  • You can use a small daily pad or Knix during the learning curve if you are afraid of misplacements. 
  • Some cups have a small Stem to help place and remove, you can actually partially or totally remove/cut said stem if it causes you discomfort, as once you learn how to apply the cup you won’t really need it, some people like the stem some hate it, is entirely optional! 
  • If the cup changes of color with time (which happens most of the times) a longer boil during the sterilization process at the start of every period will help it bring back to its original transparency, if not, it’s ok, you boiled it, it will be sterile regardless of color.

Birth Control as a way to regulate and help your period and get you out of trouble for seminars and workshops.

 

Let’s be clear, I am just going to point you to some of the benefits and things you can do with birth control, you should not do ANY OF THESE without consulting your gynecologist first. I am NOT a doctor so all I can do is give you the information you might have not considered before.

Birth control pills and patches and other removable hormonal birth control:

TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST, that being said:

Pros: Both the pills and the patches help regulate menstruation, in fact, for people like me who struggle with strong cramps, and heavy and irregular periods, this method was a game changer in my daily life and obviously in my training, as you will know when, how and for how long your period is coming.

Most hormonal methods reduce the overall effects of menstruation such as cramps, acne, irregularity, hypersensitivity, bloating and other effects. Consider that you do not need to be sexually active to use birth control, in fact, many women use them to be able to better manage their periods and the PSM symptoms.

Because birth control causes perfectly regular periods, with your doctor’s advice and supervision, you can time and program the days of application/use to be sure you won’t be on your period during Tournaments or Workshops.

 

Cons:  TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST, that being said: If you use your birth control to change or re program your period you are automatically changing the efficiency of your birth control method for the time it takes to adjust it. So keep this in mind if you are sexually active! And because I need to really stress this out: talk to you doctor first! Hormones are not toys, so you really want to talk that one through, as some people are more sensitive than others.

Some people might feel some extra discomfort during the re-adjustment of their period like slightly stronger cramps

 

To consider:

  • TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST! YOU HEARME?
  • Not all methods work for all people and while some will work ok with the pill, they might have a side effect with the patch, or the NUVA ring, so be aware there’s the change you’ll have to try different methods before you find the one that works for you.
  • Hormonal methods are not appropriate to some people, especially for those who have a history of uterine cancer, so please if you live in a country where you can access them without medical care (lucky you!), still seek for a doctor during this process.

Personal thoughts:

Between these methods (I used the patch before going for the IUD) and the cup, I for the first time in my 10 years of practicing HEMA  stop skipping training or holding back during them. That means that for the first time in 10 years I started having a constant effective training which has radically improved my performance!

Hormonal IUD & Implant*****:

Pros: If like me you don’t plan on having kids any time soon, and you really dream to have nothing between you and training and yet periods are something that holds you back you might want to keep in mind that the IUD and Implant can cause for your period to either totally stop or become very, very small (picture like 1 or 2 days of very low fluid). Depending on the person this can take months to a couple of years to fully stop your period (without damaging your fertility! As soon as you take it off, the blooming time will be fully back in all of its glory…). The IUD and Implant can last from 3 to 7 years!

The implant helps reduce other menstruation-related effects the same way as the other birth control methods.

The Hormonal IUD will reduce or remove cramps completely!

To consider: There are a lot of horror stories out there about the IUD, notice that medicine and science have improved a lot in the past 15 years… there are far more options now to choose from and placement is a lot safer!

Of all the methods the hormonal IUD is the one that delivers the least amount of hormones to your body, this can be a pro and con depending on the person, however, this also means that while the IUD will help with flow and cramps, it won’t help (or not that much) with any other period-related symptom like acne or humor shifts.

Cons: The placement of the IUD is quite awful (again, experience) and I might involve one day to a week of discomfort depending on the person. The first months of adjustment can also be a struggle to some as there can be a lot of irregular spotting (Knix are great for this time!).  Again, not all methods work for everyone and some of them can have side effects or not being eligible for people with some kinds of cancer records or hormonal reactions. But it’s good to know your options! So. TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST! (Well, in this case, you literally have no option)

If you do wrestling, using the Implant might not be the best option for you since half of the places where we do most of grips and throws are where the implant is placed. But the best way to know is by TALKING TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST.

Tips and tricks:

  • Hot pads, hot baths, Ice packs, ice-cream or hot tea/chocolate are great ways to treat yourself for the cramps from the application.
  • If you are getting the IUD you can ask your doctor for local anesthesia.

Extra tips to deal with the consequences of menstruation:

 

Cramps:

  • Hot baths will calm or even remove your cramps, if you can afford to take a long hot bath before your training, will help you get on the mood to go train, and once you are there exercise will help reduce the pain.
  • Grab an old sock, fill it with rice, or other seeds, put it in the microwave for 15 to 40 seconds and you’ll have an instant hot pad, consider the seeds can heat a lot so be sure to put something extra like a towel if the bag gets too hot, also the bigger the bean bag the longer it will keep heat, you can use this as you drive to class to calm down cramps. You might smell like popcorn after, but who doesn’t like popcorn? (Just please don’t use popcorn seeds tho!)  You can reuse the same bag/sock until the end of times.
  • Against all logic, cold can also help with cramps to some people, instant cold packs can be your option!
  • Controlling cramps can help improve intestinal issues during PMS to an extent, as the constant tension and releasing on the pelvic area can cause disruption on the colon area.


Lower back pain:

  • Doing core and pelvic strength exercises can help a lot! A lot of PMS lower back pain get worsen by poor postural habits or weakness on the pelvic area.
  • To some people, lower back pain is strongly related to cramps, if you tend to “just handle” your cramps you might want to consider changing that.

Humor changes:

  • Hormonal treatments tend to help a lot with these to some people (some can’t take hormones because it makes it worse), but a lot found that something as simple food or a specific substance imbalance (such as some types of metals that are naturally on your blood or vitamins) can make this worse or better… talking to your doctor about options is the way to go! Maybe the main reason you cry every second and then want to stab teddybears is not your PMS but the fact that during PMS you don’t have enough magnesium or iron or something magical like that.

PH balance/odor and others:

 

  • Baby or intimate wipes can help you feel clean, fresh and free of odor, be careful to pick ones without any form of perfume or oil, as you want to keep your PH under control! 
  • The best way to keep yourself free of PH changes and help with odor is to avoid commercial intimate deodorants and literally clean with water. Europeans have this wonderful thing called bidet, it allows you to clean your intimate parts with water without needing to take a shower every time. You can buy bidets that you can install on your WC fairly cheap. If you suffer from PH Changes during your period or strong odor or discomfort over it, something as simple as getting one of these and gently rinsing with ONLY water as needed will help wonders!. It will also help prevent other infections that pads can cause like urinary tract infections.


Pimples or skin sensitivity:

 

  • There is no shame in telling your classmates to fence you lighter for the day, if they don’t listen, talk to your coach! Teammates need to learn how to be understanding!  You can also talk to your coach and do only the drilling part and skip fighting if that’s a thing for you, better some exercise than nothing!. 
  • If you like me suffer from hormonal pimples (I get them in my chin, makes the fencing mask a pain) keeping your gear clean and disinfected helps tons, something as easy as cheap vodka with some water, spray on the fabric of your mask bib gently after every training will help. Hormonal pimples don’t go away with all treatments, but keeping your skin clean will help them go away faster and have a few less or smaller.
  • Personally, as someone with a lot of sensory integration issues like hypersensitivity, having extra sensitive skin during PMS is a torture. Baths have always helped as they block all the multiple sensory information and reduces it to one single sensation. It might not remove the sensitivity… but it will give you a break.
  • You can help any skin irritation taking oatmeal baths, and no, is no Mombo jombo magic, I learned this from a doctor.

While I don’t have percentages, there is a population amongst practitioners with vaginas that fail to classes due to their periods, and that can really take on the way of improvement or just how they are perceived as fencers even if, let’s face it, some people are on the unlucky chart of the PMS that their periods are an entirely acceptable excuse not to leave home.

All of this being said, we still have to remember that menstruation and periods are there to stay for a long time for a lot of us, and no matter if every birth control or method to deal with menstruation works for us or not, we still have to remind us and our peers that menstruation it’s totally normal and it’s most likely not going to change until we reach menopause.

I am no longer afraid to tell my classmates when I am on my period either to ask them to slow down if the pain is really taking its toll, or tell them not to panic and stop fighting me every two minutes because I’m making pain faces at times. Also coming at peace with the fact that accidents happen and there’s nothing to be ashamed of can be all you need to have the boost to get out there and fight like there’s no tomorrow even on that time of the month. Sure, culture makes it so when I started saying opening that I was on my period several of them were a shock at first, confused or really uncomfortable but now they are used to it and see it as normal.

Learning to understand your period not only helps to fence more, it helps life! So go, research, go to your doctor, take advantage of science, and make of shark week fencing week!

 

esfinges1 2 comments

Those who are familiar with the history of Esfinges and the work of Esfinges, are very familiar with Fran Terminiello. Shortly after Esfinges creation, Fran was one of the very first members to be invited, and by very first I mean that she literally joined the same day we started inviting people, she probably was the first or at least on the first five to join.

It didn’t take long for Esfinges to start needing some help to run the boat and Fran took no hesitation and joined the very first staff team ever in our history. It was with time and effort that she became more than a staff member and joined as a strong member of the administrative team. In fact, once Ruth left to seek her dreams elsewhere, it was Fran and I who started building what you see today (which wasn’t easy!)

She created many of the amazing and successful projects you see today, Give a Girl a Sword, 30 Days of HEMA study, and she created thousands of memes and imagery you see on the site, and god we know the headaches she got trying to find people to write a blog entry for our blog!. She has been part of almost every task we have in Esfinges: posting in the main page, moderating the forum, promoting the store, inviting people, come up with projects, training new staff… the list is endless.

What people don’t realize it’s the fact that all the heavy work she did was for no other reason but her own wish and her true believe in this project, we get no payment, we get no benefit from doing this. If anything we lose nights of sleep, gain headaches and sometimes we get into very frustrating moments. The road isn’t easy, there were ups and downs and in many ways, I can assure that she prevented me from simply closing Esfinges at least more than once (anyone who runs anything knows who tempting is to burn projects to ashes every now and then).

It is hard to find words to thank her. More than part of a team I have always considered her a close friend. She has always been there, for the fun and for the awful, for Esfinges the project, and for every member of the staff as a person. She connects and bonds with people beyond projects.

It’s been 6 years since she joined the team and yesterday was the day she decided she could no longer devote the time necessary for a task that is in no way simple.  For all she did, all she is and for all she continues to give to Esfinges and the community. I’ll always be thankful. Me personally and the Esfinges Staff team wishes her the best of luck in any project she finds in her path!

While Fran is still part of the members I thought her leaving the Team required more than a private thankyou a few words, as she has been a huge pillar on the building of Esfinges. If you know her and value her work, please go to her and tell her!

 

Thank you Fran

Mariana.

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By: Mariana López Rodríguez.

 

TL, DR.: Read the text in bold.

I get it. There are things that you don’t necessarily feel like sharing with your instructor, especially when you are new. Things like not wanting to do X exercise because you are on your period, or that after your baby was born your levels of testosterone or aggression went down (I’ve heard that happens to guys), or something like that.

However there is one thing students need to understand: For every misunderstanding, for every time you feel there was some disrespect, every moment you feel insulted, ignored, conflicted, angry, sad, shocked, confused or disappointed in your trainings, if you ever feel there’s an attitude or a comment that’s out of place, for every concern or question, every time you feel unsure, you need to understand: YOU MUST TALK TO YOUR INSTRUCTOR FIRST.

I’m about to share one of the most embarrassing and shameful stories that happened just recently (TW: Mis-gendering): I have this one student who has very queer features, a neutral name, and a neutral way of dressing. This caused me to change the pronouns I used to refer to this person all the time, it was a struggle, she/he/they… I was all over, English not being my first language I LEGIT don’t know how to talk without using pronouns and I was babbling more than usual, I was terrified I was being the most disrespectful person ever, and yet invading the person’s privacy by asking was also terrifying. This was new to me, I really like this student and I was acting so awkwardly I felt it was obvious to everyone, it was the first time I was in this situation. At the end of the 7th class I got brave enough and for the first time in my life, I asked for their pronouns. I was so scared to screw up and so anxious I’m 99% sure I came across very VERY rude, but by the time I noticed I messed up the person (who gently and calmly answered the question) had left. I did everything wrong, I asked the person to come with me for a second to have privacy in the wrong way, I was so anxious I used the worst wording of all time, I dismissed the conversation extremely awkwardly and by the time I realized I had made the biggest mistake of my life, the person had left.

The next class the student didn’t show and while I’m still hoping it was coincidental, a part of me is well aware that I might have just made someone’s day miserable, and to leave HEMA with a bad experience, all due to my inexperience, communication barriers and lack of tools. And believe me, I didn’t start the conversation lightly.  I talked to people, asked for advice, spoke with more experienced instructors, and I still ruined it. I learned my lesson by possibly hurting or offending someone.

In this instance, I understand if the person gets the worst idea about me, and I understand if they never want to approach me ever again, and while obviously they did nothing wrong and this was entirely my fault, it got me thinking about this issue.  I was deeply frustrated knowing that this is not who I am and that that person does not deserve that bad experience and that I could’ve done better and now I won’t be able to apologize. 

What am I trying to say?

INSTRUCTORS ARE HUMANS. Think of it like this: Sometimes there are misunderstandings when your instructor is demonstrating a move to you, let alone the possibility of misunderstanding while explaining something or talking, or tweeting or facebooking, etc, etc, etc.

Depending on the size of the club, we can’t be everywhere. We don’t hear the talking in the changing room, or what happens with the people behind us while we were correcting someone else’s technique. There’s a chance we are missing someone misbehaving, or because no one told us, we have no idea the substitute instructor is mean, or sexist or racist or such.

Now, I want to make a quick pause at this point and make something very clear first: It is every instructor’s OBLIGATION to be approachable and constantly remind students that we are there to solve any questions, clarify doubts and solve any problems. Instructors must be vocal and clear about how important it is for students to come to us with all the questions and needs they have. We can’t ask to be approached when we do not make ourselves easy to approach. As instructors we must work and seek to empower our students so they have the confidence to talk to us, the same way we approach students when there is any concern. And honestly this topic has enough material to write another blog specifically about it, but in this blog I want to specifically focus on what happens when students still decide not to approach their instructors, regardless.

And yes, there are times in which we make mistakes serious enough we probably lose the privilege of being approached by our students (Like my story). But to be fair, those instances tend to be rare, extreme and incredibly obvious, and yet obviousness is highly subjective. As an example, I know of an instructor who is Jewish, and English was not his first language. He was substituting for a class at a university, and having a dark sense of humor, made a sarcastic/ self-deprecating remark about Jews, not realizing that no one knew he was Jewish and that he was trying to crack a joke to break the ice. He was reported by one of the students and ended up being investigated by the university for anti-semitism.

As instructors, at least once in our lives we will encounter a person who is mad at us and won’t want to see us ever again because we did this one thing that we:

a) Never recalled doing.

b) Didn’t realized was bad (ignorance is not a sin as long as you are willing to change once you learn).

c) Meant in an entirely different way but the person didn’t understood or took out of context.

d) Were too inexperienced and had no clue how to handle it properly.

e)Never took action because we had no idea something was happening with other instructors/students (because we are not omnipresent/omniscient!).

 

By not talking to your Instructor FIRST you are causing several troubles:

1.- You can slow down your learning and improvement process: Sometimes the things we feel shy talking about are as simple as not wanting to train with this person who keeps mansplaining everything, even when they are less experienced than you; or you are asked to help with new students so often you feel your own training is being damaged; there’s also the chance your instructor is not pushing you harder as they are unaware you are interested in being more competitive rather than just a recreational fencer. If you don’t alert your instructor, you are removing yourself from the opportunity of having more successful and productive training. On that same note: We can’t read minds:  There’s no way for us to know all your needs as a student if you don’t communicate it to us. If you are frustrated because you feel we don’t care about something, maybe, just maybe, you should consider that it’s not that we don’t care but that we don’t know.

2.- You might lose the opportunity to be better student:  None of us are perfect, and by that, I mean that you as a student are not perfect either. We as instructors have reasons for our actions. It happens more often than not, to have students that are entitled or who see a reward as a punishment or who believe they are ready for something they really are not. And from time to time we think these things are obvious to you. To us it’s obvious that we make you work with the new students because you are really good with them and you enjoy it, or you are not being asked for certain thing because you are more needed elsewhere or that you are not given a certain job because you don’t have enough experience or knowledge yet. Maybe you think you are ready and are really good at something but you are really not. By not talking to your instructor you might be losing the chance to realize you were wrong and you could be better student and training partner, and therefore, to be a better fencer and person.

3.- You lose the chance to confirm whether your instructor is a bad person or not: Yes, there is the chance your Instructor is an absolute jackass and won’t do anything about that one classmate or meant the awful words you thought you heard. But both by just leaving or giving the benefit of the doubt without talking to them you are missing the chance to confirm the reality. You could be walking away from a good person and loosing what could be your favorite hobby, or you could be staying for a toxic bad experience to come.

4.- You don’t allow your instructor to right their wrongs: We could’ve kicked out that one student, we could have learned to talk about weight and gender and how it relates to grappling/strength/training in a different more respectful way, we could’ve made the club a friendlier environment, we could’ve apologized. By not talking to us first, you are removing  from us a growth opportunity and you are removing yourself the chance to have a better experience in your training.

 5.- You can hurt your instructor unfairly and permanently: There ARE misunderstandings, they WILL happen. There is the chance that you’re so angry for this one thing, and complaint behind their backs to everyone, people are horrified and decide Coach Harry is a total Voldemort. Then you go back to your HEMA class and realize it was all a misunderstanding. But by the time you realize you were wrong, it won’t matter if you tell people Coach Harry is, in reality, a Saint of all Saints…. the HEMA village already heard the rumor and the Instructor will have to fight a myth for all their years to come as an instructor.  

6.- You could put you or your classmates at risk: Maybe you never talk to your Instructor of this problematic classmate that they just didn’t noticed, maybe they never heard the one dude who kept making misogynist comments, maybe you weren’t sure to ask to your Instructor what do they mean when they said X thing.  By not making your Instructor aware, he won’t be able to take action in time, and he won’t realize what was going on until something major happens.

The only instance in which you should NOT talk to your instructor first, is in the instances where the instructor or student (in which case you should alert the instructor as well) is doing something that should be alerted the police or authorities. And if that’s the case then GO TO THE AUTHORITIES FIRST before doing anything else.

Communities are social environments and we will face the common problems that any place with more than one person will have: language barriers, lack of understanding, lack of experience, ignorance, naïve people, doubts and mistakes. Communication is the one tool that we have to work through all of those, and so we might as well use it.

Instructors are there to guide you, teach you, and give you an enriching and fun experience. Help us reach that goal! TALK TO US!

esfinges1 2 comments

 By Emilia Skirmuntt 

Our community (for those of you who came here just by chance and don’t know what the hell I’m talking about it is HEMA- Historical European martial arts community) tends to bring up the same topics with amazing regularity. 

 

Quite recently, this topic was again brought up: “why do white, middle class men dominate our hobby and what to do (or what not to do) to open to a larger group of minorities?”

 

Undoubtedly one of these minorities is women and of course the same annoying old opinion appeared – “If women wanted to, they would come to us on their own and we wouldn’t need to do anything to make our activity look more appealing to them”. As a female fencer and as an instructor I beg to differ with such opinions.

 

With more than half of my life spent first in professional sports and now in less official and recognized, but still quite institutionalized physical activity, like historical martial arts, I’ve seen a significant number of things that could and should be changed or looked at differently. This could bring more female students into it. Sadly, some of those things are so engraved into our culture and upbringing that it will take a lot of time before we will get rid of it for good, if ever.

 

During the last few years I have had the privilege to teach people from very different backgrounds, with different levels of skill, and very often people who have never held a sword before, and probably would never do it of their own free will were it not for taking part in a LARPing (Live Action Roleplaying) event. That alone gave me a perspective that I haven’t had before, and most notably, has shown me something very worrying. I was able to compare the performance of women and men, absolute beginners with no martial arts background. Many women seem to be just less fit and less sure of themselves in sports. So let me talk a bit more about the whole issue.

 

Women from a very young age are told that physical activity is generally not very ‘ladylike’. Of course, that is a huge generalization and people are very different but several studies look into that, which have found that women are, on average, less physically active than men [Edwards and Sackett, 2016; Telford et al., 2016]. Why? Excellent question, because there is no reason why women should be less attracted to exercise. Apart from one – our society sees physical activity as more of a ‘boys thing’. With martial arts the issue reaches new depths – since it is more of a contact sport that requires a lot of physical contact with the intent of attacking another person. We discourage girls from partaking in sports of such nature, putting in their heads that it is not something girls should do. With time it pays off, women who have never exercised will be less coordinated than their male counterparts who do some light exercises or even do nothing in adulthood, but had a lot more physical activity in their early years. Women who start martial arts without any preparation or experience in sports tend to be less sure of their moves and to have problems with applying drills and exercises. This phenomenon has nothing to do with being female. It has a lot more to do with our approach to gender as a society. Who hasn’t met with the (not very wise) notion that boys are more naughty and aggressive and sometimes fight with each other while if girls behave similarly, it is just not accepted. I heard from many women that they don’t like any idea of hitting people. There is nothing wrong with that, of course. But I never heard anything like that from a guy, although I’m sure many of them think the same. But again, this concept has been put into our heads; fighting is ok for boys but girls should not go around hitting people.  

 

Some of you would say that this is not only gender stereotyping and culture: “clearly, women are less aggressive than men!” There are just two problems with that. Being more aggressive shouldn’t be a reason to train martial arts or to be drawn to weapons. Almost all sports premise on defeating your opponent or the other team. Almost all of them require you to be bold, confident and ready to overcome your limits. Do you need to be aggressive? It depends how we define aggression, and interestingly men and women tend to view aggression differently.

 

Men see aggression as an exercise of control over other people – which sounds like something that would help in martial arts, while women experience aggression through excessive stress and loss of self-control, which does not sound so helpful in comparison [Campbell & Muncer, 1987]. Girls receive much more negative feedback during their developmental years about physical aggression and there is no cultural acceptance of aggression in girls. And I guess we are coming back to the cultural stereotyping part…

 

But again, another ‘argument’ repeatedly appears in such discussions. Hormones! It’s all the fault of testosterone. Biology! Science! You don’t discuss that, right?

 

Ok, so what about testosterone? Yes, men have higher levels of it so that must be why many women are not as happy to fight. Well, again… there are some problems with that. First of all there are many female martial artists (although way fewer than men) who are perfectly ok with fighting others and do not have higher levels of testosterone than other females.  That might mean that testosterone is not a sole indicator for liking or not liking to fight.

 

But there is an even more basic problem when it comes to testosterone. We still don’t have a full grasp on how testosterone levels influence the likelihood of being more or less drawn to martial arts. Research is inconclusive, and you can find studies that contradict each other [Archer, 1991; Batrinos, 2012; Inoue et al., 2017; Kasper et al., 2014; Mims, 2007-which is more a magazine article and not research but you still might find it interesting!].

 

In fact, when it comes to fighting, we should be looking at the whole array of hormones and not only testosterone, which both males and females have, although in different amounts. Also, significantly higher or lower levels of testosterone may point to an underlying medical condition that requires professional attention. It can be fixed with medications but I assure you it’s not that all men who train martial arts have such problems.

 

Obviously there are certain differences in our anatomy which just make men more effective in the short run – on average they have greater muscle mass, and because of that they are stronger and faster than average females [Miller et al., 1993]. But starting with an obvious – average does not mean everyone. Differences between one man and the other can be as big as between the average man and woman. Techniques used in martial arts are not only designed to fight people of the same size as you. There are many that teach you how to fight people heavier and bigger than you. In martial arts, overconfidence is a very easy trap to fall into. Some people seeing smaller and weaker opponent are sure that they have already won. They couldn’t be more wrong. During my fighter career I’ve seen quite a lot, when a petite person won over a tall, big one just by sole skill and not excessive force. Women tend to be much better technical fighters cause they cannot rely on their strength, like some fencers or martial artists, they need to find other ways of landing a hit and think more on strategy.

 

So on average men are stronger and faster, that is true, but women have better endurance [Fulco et al., 1999; Hicks et al., 2001; Lanning, et al., 2017]. A higher percentage of body fat in women means that they can fuel their muscles for longer [Knetchle et al., 2004]. Differences in times in endurance sports between men and women starts to be smaller and smaller the longer the event lasted. Women seem to deal with pain better than men [Fillingim et al., 2009]. While men have better depth perception, distance vision and better sight than women during the day [Li, 2014]. But women are better at night vision, have better visual memory and are better at sensing moods of other people, which in turn can help in sensing weaknesses in their opponent. Women are also much better in retaining balance and can generate quite a lot of power coming from the hips, which is not that easy for men and caused by the differences in center of gravity for both sexes. So, of course, there are differences between men and women in martial arts but all of us can use those traits to our advantage. Although the strategies we work out might be different.

 

Beginners in HEMA (both men and women) most of the time don’t know that it is a sport in which you need to use your whole body and many times you need to use many different groups of muscles at once to deliver a hit, parry or dodge. For men, having more muscle mass and higher upper body strength, it might be easier in the beginning even if they don’t know that they should use other muscles too. They can deliver a strong and quick hit even using only muscles of their arms. For women it is much more complicated. Women need to use many more muscle groups and especially their hips during a movement to deliver hit of considerable strength and quickness. In the case of female martial artists most of their strength will always be derived from hip rotations and not from the upper body. Fencing instructors are often more male student oriented and don’t see that difference most of the time. They teach both male and female students body mechanics in the same way, which puts female students in a worse position than male ones.  Female students should be taught from the first day to use their whole body and not only upper body. In fact all students should be taught that in the first place but while men will be ok with that in the beginning, women won’t because their movement will be significantly weaker and slower.

 

The last thing is something I cannot stress enough – if you want more minorities and variability at your trainings and in your club you cannot joke around and bully others. Even if you think it is completely innocent, funny and the person you are doing that to is your friend since nursery. New people won’t know that. For many of us going to a completely new environment, with unknown people is a challenge in itself, especially if we are going there on our own. It is coming into a completely new close-knit group as a stranger, an outsider. It is a sad truth that most women face unwanted attention and verbal and physical attacks in their lives. It is not something that should be joked about. For many of them coming to a club, into an activity dominated by men, to a group they don’t know is an act of courage, and even silly jokes might drive them away. If you want to have a larger diversity of people in your club, please try to reach out to them, even coming an extra mile and spending a bit more time with them and trying to help, is better than being cocky.

 

And last but not least, we don’t want to be treated as a club mascot, something special. Even if you have one woman in your club, or one just visits your club, don’t treat her as something exceptional. We want to feel equal as fencers, martial artists, and scholars. Not special snowflakes.

 

  1. Archer, J., 1991. The influence of testosterone on human aggression. British journal of psychology, 82(1), pp.1-28.

 

  1. Batrinos, M.L., 2012. Testosterone and aggressive behavior in man. International journal of endocrinology and metabolism, 10(3), p.563.

 

  1. Campbell A, Muncer S. Models of anger and aggression in the social talk of women and men. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. 1987 Dec 1;17(4):489-511.

 

  1. Edwards, E.S. and Sackett, S.C., 2016. Psychosocial Variables Related to Why Women are Less Active than Men and Related Health Implications: Supplementary Issue: Health Disparities in Women. Clinical Medicine Insights: Women’s Health, 9, pp.CMWH-S34668.

 

  1. Fillingim, R.B., King, C.D., Ribeiro-Dasilva, M.C., Rahim-Williams, B. and Riley, J.L., 2009. Sex, gender, and pain: a review of recent clinical and experimental findings. The journal of pain, 10(5), pp.447-485.

 

  1. Fulco, C.S., Rock, P.B., Muza, S.R., Lammi, E., Cymerman, A., Butterfield, G., Moore, L.G., Braun, B. and Lewis, S.F., 1999. Slower fatigue and faster recovery of the adductor pollicis muscle in women matched for strength with men. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 167(3), pp.233-240.

 

  1. Hicks, A.L., Kent-Braun, J. and Ditor, D.S., 2001. Sex differences in human skeletal muscle fatigue. Exercise and sport sciences reviews, 29(3), pp.109-112.

 

  1. Inoue, Y., Takahashi, T., Burriss, R.P., Arai, S., Hasegawa, T., Yamagishi, T. and Kiyonari, T., 2017. Testosterone promotes either dominance or submissiveness in the Ultimatum Game depending on players’ social rank. Scientific reports, 7(1), p.5335.

 

  1. Kasper, S., Kranz, G.S. and Lanzenberger, R., 2014. Testosterone, Neural Circuits, and Male Depression. Biological psychiatry, 76(4), pp.272-273.

 

  1. Knechtle, B., Müller, G., Willmann, F., Kotteck, K., Eser, P. and Knecht, H., 2004. Fat oxidation in men and women endurance athletes in running and cycling. International journal of sports medicine, 25(01), pp.38-44.

 

  1. Lanning, A.C., Power, G.A., Christie, A.D. and Dalton, B.H., 2017. Influence of sex on performance fatigability of the plantar flexors following repeated maximal dynamic shortening contractions. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 42(10), pp.1118-1121.

 

  1. Li, R., 2014. Why women see differently from the way men see? A review of sex differences in cognition and sports. Journal of sport and health science, 3(3), pp.155-162.

 

  1. Miller, A.E.J., MacDougall, J.D., Tarnopolsky, M.A. and Sale, D.G., 1993. Gender differences in strength and muscle fiber characteristics. European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology, 66(3), pp.254-262.

 

  1. Mims, C., 2007. Strange but true: Testosterone alone does not cause violence. Scientific American, 8.

 

  1. Telford, R.M., Telford, R.D., Olive, L.S., Cochrane, T. and Davey, R., 2016. Why Are girls less physically active than boys? findings from the LOOK longitudinal study. PloS one, 11(3), p.e0150041.

 

 

 

esfinges1 4 comments

By: Mariana López Rodríguez

Last month I refereed for the first time in the USA. I had refereed before in Mexico, but it had been a while since that happened. I was slightly nervous, yet since I´ve been judging for so long and on such a regular basis I was confident I could do it. And I did it, and I got an unexpected response.  Not only did I give more red and yellow cards than I’ve ever seen any other ref give during the initial pools, people, including some of those who were carded, thanked me for it. (Some others, not so much.)

Now, if you don’t want to read this entire (long) blog, here is the abstract( and going forward just read the sentences in bold):  Giving penalty cards should be normal, it should happen often, and without mercy. Regardless of the intentions of the fighter, rules are rules and you stick to them. Whether the foul was intentional or not, whether you’re a famously nice fencer, or the dark lord himself is irrelevant. Because that’s how rules work.

 As a ref I did not discriminate. I yelled at absolutely everyone on an equal standard, to men and women, to new fencers and experienced, to known popular people and to fencers I had never seen before in my life. I got hated and loved for it, and people called me the “meanest ref” and made comments to me like “I made very clear who was in charge” (which shows that, in fact, refs can be overpowered). This attitude of mine came from the following self-awareness:

1.-  I’m 1.53 meters (4”ll) tall, and I weight about 43 kilos  (96 pounds). I was, and still am not willing to let a fight go past the point in which I can control it, and by that I mean, before I need more than a stick to separate them. How to do that? If you reach the point of having to use the stick, that’s a clear verbal warning.  If it happens again, or even if you feel the first time was out of line, that’s a yellow card (or whatever warning system you use).  

For those worried that someone as small as me shouldn’t ref as a safety measure: my judges (who were specially selected for me due to their size and strength) had the instructions to just drop the batons and help me tackle them if the situation came to that.  To be honest, the fact that we can easily imagine that happening (because it IS happening at events) is embarrassing and unacceptable. What we do is an inherently dangerous activity.  I’m unwilling to put other people at any further risk, so again, my first goal is, to not let things get there.

“BUT BIG GUYS PLAY HARD” Honestly? Controlling your anger, blows, and yourself in general is a better display of skill than showing how creative in the field you can get with the displays of intimidation, strength, desperation or piñata blows, and if you can’t control yourself either deal with the consequences, or don’t fight.

2.-  If it feels wrong, it’s wrong. If during a fight something happens that gives you an adrenaline rush, and you have a moment of panic then you should pay attention to those alert bells. Don’t just exhale thankful nothing happened, it is your task to do something that exact second, or else something WILL happen. There is a very bad habit of rushing against the other opponent like we are playing rugby, to force them out of the ring, and or intimidate them. This not only is dangerous to the opponent, is dangerous to the public. There was a fencer who barely avoided running into the spectators. The second time,  yellow card.  Third time, red card and loss of the match. I heard he did that again in other pools… in mine? He stopped. And while I know that fighter probably hates me for life. I don’t care, I have in my conscience that the public was and is still with their faces intact.

This specific habit is not that uncommon and yet almost everyone recognizes it as dangerous.  Why do we keep seeing it? Because we let it go, and we keep awarding the points for it. Give them their well-deserved yellow or red card for rushing (intentionally or not) and let´s see if they keep doing it.

3.- It’s not my problem that they didn’t read the rules.  A lot of people either don’t read the rules, or “test” breaking them at least once per fight as they only get a “reminder” before they get carded, while also getting the score. Verbal warnings should be given when something is borderline and there’s no definitive way to do the call. Yellow cards should be given at the first incident of breaking rules, regardless of how intentional or accidental it was.  If you didn’t read the rules? Not my problem.  You forgot?  Not my problem. You got too excited and couldn’t control yourself? Not my problem. Can’t hear out of adrenaline? Well, you better calm down, because: not my problem, you still get a card. (Heck, I can even tell you right now I know I’ve earned a card or two for forgetting to stop after the halt)

4.- All of a sudden an event is full of people who got yellow carded? CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT! We shouldn’t be scared to give cards, giving cards should be a habit, regardless of you looking at tournaments as test for a martial art, or as a pure sport, the fact is that the competitive environment gets to everyone, and all of us will and have made mistakes and stupid decisions at tournaments. Everyone gets mad at some point during their HEMA career. It is nearly impossible to find someone who hasn’t lost it at some point in a fight, including all those fighters you admire. In fact, let me repeat: DO NOT HESITATE TO GIVE A YELLOW CARD TO A FIGHTER JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE A GOOD REPUTATION.  If their reputation is real, they will deal with their mistake and move forward.   

“But refs will abuse this! And it will get out of control! And they will manipulate results!” And blah blah blah.  If a ref is going to manipulate a fight, they will do it with or without cards. “IT´S TOO SPORTY! IT ENDANGERS THE ART! THIS IS FIGHTING NOT SOCCER! YOU´RE ALL A  BUNCH OF SISSIES!”: No! Part of martial arts is supposed to be about self-control and discipline: It endangers the art and peoples lives that you don’t learn to behave like a decent human being and have the self-control to stop when you are fighting dangerously.

We have to face it, carding is a common and regular practice in any kind of competitive activity for a reason, and the truth is that we won’t be able to grow as a healthy (larger) community if we don’t have the pants and skirts to tell someone they are going overboard. Carding and calling out people for misbehaving won’t break the community/family environment HEMA has; allowing people to fight unsafely and unjustly while getting away with it will.

 

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HEMA on a budget for the first time international young traveler.

By: Mariana López.
The views and opinions of this blog do not necessarily reflect those of Esfinges 

As a recently graduated college student of México who has been for the most part unemployed due to college schedules and daily live complications, I’ve been fortunate to travel to international events far more than people (including myself and my parents) would expect.

I won’t deny I’ve had plenty of luck over the when it comes to HEMA traveling, but to be honest there are several “obvious” tools on HEMA traveling that I’ve seen tons of people to avoid out of either procrastination, laziness or just because miraculously they never thought of it.
My first HEMA event was Fetchshule America in 2012 I made it to this event thanks to a ginger community (yes a redhead community I know it’s not common) who made a surprise donation program to get me to go to this event after I failed the prior year and was about to fail again for that year despite a lot of efforts. Once I made it there, I couldn’t think of not keeping on the international scene… there was just so much knowledge that I felt out of reach as the Mexican HEMA community was very young and I felt the best way to actually grow as a fencer was to commit to this events, once started my journey here are a few key points to make international traveling easier:

Note: Consider and understand my pieces of advice may be limited in countries with higher price rate difference and distance (plane cost) at the beginning of my HEMA journey the rate change was 1 USD to 10 pesos, now it’s 1 USD to 20 Pesos.

Tips to HEMA travel on a Budget:

1.- Volunteer: VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER!!! “but! Then I have to work too much and I can barely take a few workshops” Stop it! That is BS. Those few workshops from outstanding instructors are already more knowledge and opportunities than the ones you get by not going. Only one tournament? With only one tournament I got the honor to be invited to teach my first workshop (and that trip was fully paid !! 😉 ) Volunteering sometimes will give you full free entrance to an event and sometimes even a meal (LESS MONEY!) this can make a difference on affording a trip, besides, all the networking you get equals to more people to ask HEMA questions with ACTUALLY knowing if they pull off what they preach.

2.- Find a host: ¿First event and you don’t know anyone? E-mail the organizers, tell them your situation, HEMA people is so kind they will welcome you as if you were family, without a second thought, Hotels are the second if not first most expensive part of traveling. Just remember, give them a thank you gift, they are already saving you tons of money, and second, be a guest your granny would be proud of, don’t close future travelers the chance to spend a weekend with a HEMA family by being a poop guest.

3.- Track Flights daily on the official sites: Despite what you see, airlines often have cheaper prices than the ones offered in “cheep-flights-lies.com” you can use this tools, sometimes they do have good deals for sure, but don’t buy without double check with the prices of the original airline. For Latinos, sites like “mundo joven” have student discount seats.

4.-Search for flights daily: There’s plenty of theories on in which day and in which hour you’ll find cheaper flights… Start tracking the flights within 6 to 4 months in advance on a daily basis. Miracles happen and you might get that one flight that you can actually pay.

5.-For desperate cases: If the Budget is really limited, don’t be scared to take those nasty flights… yes, traveling with 3 scales sucks hard, but if this is the one chance for your first International HEMA event, JUST DO IT, we don’t get the fancy life because we are not rich, but the experience is worth the airport hell.

6.- Cut useless expenses: Ok, not everyone is willing to have a more humble social life. I was. I got the nickname “the buss girl” while I was in high school for about a year, because every time a classmate suggested to go to X or Y place after school by bus, I would answer “a bus is 8 pesos, that’s almost a dollar on a trip, no thanks” and so I either walk to as many places I could and put those coins into a box, take a lift from a friend, or I just didn’t go to the place. Also cutting alcohol expenses save a ton!… Now, I’m way to extremists, but other savings I did weren’t that hard: Reduce the movie theater nights, go to a coffee instead of a bar (much cheaper) and instead of going out, plan things in your place, cheaper AND you avoid those “annoyng friend of the friend” you don’t want to see, etc.

7.- Make deals: If like me, you’re still a student and parents can help, make a deal with them “I want to go to –X event, it costs X000 money, I can make  X000, can you help me out with the extra?- My mom would often times make the deal with me that if I paid the plane and got where to get hosted she would pay for my food! It worked wonders!.

8.- Make sales of about everything: I sold my artwork and later on, I started freelancing. Up to date this pays almost all of my HEMA expenses, A friend afforded a flight to Italy after a full year of selling Candy in college on a daily basis, a frees bee freak friend made it to all his national and international tournaments by daily selling 10 homemade brownies, 10 pesos each.  It requires realistic goals and A LOT of dedication, but it’s not impossible.

9.- Get gear loans for SEMINARS: Note: for the most part I don’t agree on much loan gear for tournaments for security reasons (starting with proper fitting and such), but for seminars getting loaners is a great deal, some airlines are cheap but won’t allow the needed suitcase space. Bring the minimum gear with you, and find someone who can lend you the weapons for the workshops or tournament (they take the most space… thanks, longsword!) Just let them know ahead to avoid “passing the gear back and forth” during the event. Also remember: is cheaper to pay a second bag than pay overweight!. 

10.-Donations and sponsorships: in my state you can find several sponsorships for “entrepreneur” youth, you can try to search if there’s any near you, from leadership to world citizens programs aiming for people to travel to different countries, some NGO’s or such might be willing to sponsor your travel, it’s worth a try, even more, if you are committed and respond well to them, you might even be able to use those same programs to, later on, invite one of the instructors you’ve meet to your  own club.

11.-If you failed your goal: Not getting all the money and missing the event is HORRIBLE, but don’t get discouraged, depending on how much money you managed to gather, track for the next HEMA event in the area or with the instructors you were interested in, worst case scenario: HEMA events are regularly semi-permanent, keep the money and keep saving so you can go the next year, maybe even with some new gear, or with money to buy plenty of things on your trip because you could save more!

Disclaimer: I currently travel from about 2 to 3 times a year to the USA due to extra support I’ve got on the long run, several years ago by using these methods I would be able to travel from Mexico to the USA for about twice a year, now days maybe that has gotten reduced to once a year… but it’s still better than nothing!

However (unless life happens) if you’re not even interested in even trying any of these things. In my book, you don’t get to complain about not being able to make it.

 

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Yes. There is an image of a dog with a sword, and I’m about to explain to you why.

Disclaimer: If you don’t want to read detailed strong notes about HEMA in Mexico and the earthquake, please jump to the title “Now…. About the dog”

On September 19th, Esfinges did something that has absolutely nothing to do with HEMA, we set a donation for the victims suffering on the earthquakes of 8.3 and 7.1 that has taken over 400 lives (and counting). There were 3 reasons for this:

First, because helping is a human thing to do.

Second, because Esfinges born in Mexico and that give us an instant attach and care for it

Third, because of every Mexican HEMA soul in there, was at risk, and once that risk of being eat by a falling building, they became heroes.

And so I’m about to tell you the story of how HEMA in Mexico drop the swords for several days and went to aid. (For matters of privacy I will not mention any names)

Mexico City, being one of the largest cities in the world, also concentrates the largest population of HEMA groups and practitioners. This means that mathematically speaking there was a 100% chance any of them were close to the falling buildings. And Puebla, while with a smaller population, was so damaged, the odds of being affected were very high too.

  • The house of one of them was in the same block of one of the falling buildings.

  • One of them reported the full loss of the house of one of her family members.

  • One ex-HEMA guy reported the full loss of his house.

  • At least 2 of them are presenting symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

  • One of them opened his family psychology center to treat for free the people suffering for PTSD and other disorders due to the trauma.

  • Several of them organized and are currently still running programs to gather aid, transport it and deliver it to the areas in need, by truck, by car, by bike, even by boat.

  • Several of them work non-stop from day 1 to rescue people, watching the joy of saving them, and the pain of not making it on time.

  • At least 1 of them has survivor guilt.

  • One club decided to meet as they usually do for training, to then go as a group to volunteer where ever was needed

  • While a few of them had to go back to work to provide to their families, many of them are still taking their free time to volunteer on the removal of buildings and rescuing people (giving the conditions, there are records of people surviving up to 10 days inside the fallen buildings) help send aid, amongst many other reconstruction activities.

Reading the news feed of many of them was heartbreaking, speaking how people fainted over exhausting themselves trying to help, talking about how they felt reaching a kid and looking at him deprived of his life and future.

This is what HEMA was in Mexico since the earthquakes, flooding, and other natural disasters.

This is why it was the most HEMA thing for Esfinges to do was to help

This is why we owe more than just a “thank you” to anyone who helped us during this donation (which is still obtaining founds!)

I want to finish this by quoting the post from a HEMA practitioner in the rescues

“There was no time for sleep this week. There was no time to rest, to play, to read; there was no time for fencing. There was no time for any other form of love but this one. Every minute was counting to save one more life. And all these people, from the youngest to the stubborn and transparent-eyed old ones, all of us, in the end, embraced a savage loyalty to the buried ones. A loyalty to those remaining under the ruins and who were unknown to most of us”

 

Now… about the dog….

This is the portrait of a beautiful Labrador named Titan, he is part of the firefighters of a very small town named Silao… one of those towns no one know of unless you live there or next to it.  He has saved over 21 lives in Mexico City and keeps going.

The artwork was made by Yolt a non-HEMA artist who has done a lot of imagery and designs for Esfinges.  She learned about our campaign and was SO thankful she drew this for us as a present, to thank for all the support (she has family in Mexico City)

Due to this, we have decided to have Titan on out T-shirts for sale on Esfinges Store.  All the money will go to programs on reconstruction in Mexico. If we, by any chance get more founds than expected, we will donate them as well to Puerto Rico once we figure the best organization to send funds.

While I know most of HEMA is a cat community, please consider giving TITAN a spot on your Wardrobe. Once the needs in Mexico and Puerto Rico needs are covered, Titan will be permanently on sale on Esfinges, using the money gather to be sent to any Humanitarian cause in the world. For one simple reason: If we want to have HEMA people to fence with, the first thing we need is people in this world.

From the bottom of our hearts.

Thank You

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Update 25/september/2017

Thankyou so much for the people who donated this week!!! Here is the last donation sent to the red cross.

The rescue missions are still on, and several replica earthquakes have caused more damage to houses and buildings leaving more families homeless and adding to the rescue missions.  Thanks for helping us support all the heroes saving lives and giving hope to those who loosed everything.

 

Update, 20/September/2017

Donation to topos, rescue brigade group done! We are very excited the donations are keep going. Thankyou so much for your support!

We also want to make a big call to the heroes of the Mexican hema community who have been rescuing people from buildings, bringing food, sharing information, and providing all their time and heart to help people in need

 

Update: 20/09/2017

Showing how critical the situation is in Mexico, we will be sending the donations periodically as they accumulate.

We will also extend the donation to the organization TOPOS (moles) who started spontaneously 32 years ago as a rescue brigade in the earthquake of 1985. They have gone all over the world since then to help rescue people on disaster areas and are again, helping where they started.  However, it seems like their site is saturated and it’s hard to access their donation link at www.topos.mx so the donation will depend on the access to the site.

in less than 13 hours we have received the amount of 429 USD!!! Making a total of 740 USD, this is around 12,863 Mexican Pesos!!!

Remember that with your donation you are also participating on the raffle to win a Cold Steel Bluckler.

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http://www.univision.com/shows/noticiero-univision/reportero-de-univision-narra-como-vivio-el-terremoto-de-71-que-estremecio-mexico-video

As many of you might know, Esfinges started in Mexico, by Mariana López from León, Guanajuato. And Ruth Garcia from Guadalajara, Guadalajara.

In the past weeks, Mexico has been hit by several natural disasters in both, one of the poorest areas in the country (Chiapas), and one of the most populated cities in the world (Mexico City) and all the states nearby. Causing the death of now probably hundreds of people. Fires caused by gas explosions, loosing of energy, lack of food, damaged houses, and fully collapsed buildings. Just as I write this post. There are people searching online for volunteers to search for people trapped in the collapsed buildings, and doctors to treat them. The earthquakes of 8.2 and 7.1 on the Richter scale are likely to create replicas.  Added to this, Baja California, in the north of Mexico, got heavily damaged by the Lidia storm also during this month causing floods, and it’s expecting another one in about 1 to 2 weeks.

This is why Esfinges has decided to donate money to the people suffering in Mexico. However, Esfinges founds are very limited and can currently afford to only donate 300 USD.  We would like to, at least, be able to double that amount.  Esfinges donation will be made immediately and a second donation made with the HEMA community support will be made a week from now.

The donations will be made through the Mexican Red Cross, one of the few institutions in Mexico who has proven to be honest and always on the help.
If you wish to donate through us, you can send us your donation through PayPal to esfinges1@gmail.com

If you do not wish to donate through us you can do it directly on their Website: https://www.cruzrojamexicana.org.mx/

So far no HEMA member in the country has been reported as damaged, in case this occurs, part of the donation will be directly given to a HEMA family member in need.
Whether you donate through us or through the red cross, you will be automatically participating in the raffle of a Cold Steel Buckler.  However, if you donate directly through the red cross website, you will have to submit a screenshot with the confirmation of your payment to the e-mail: esfinges1@gmail.com




If we can save money to buy swords and gear, we can surely afford to donate 5 USD to people in need.

Thank you so much.
Mariana López R.
Esfinges co-founder.