Why Is It So Hard To Watch A Woman Get Beat Up?

No bones were broken in the mangling of this arm.

Yup, that’s Miesha Tate’s elbow getting broken(well, maybe not broken but whatever is just short of that). Ugh.  The video is even worse.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

I’m a big mixed-martial arts fan.  I’ve watched it pretty much since the beginning (here in America at least).  I’m fairly desensitized to the squirting blood and pulsating hematomas.  The only thing that really makes me cringe anymore is when fighters refuse to tap out once they’re caught in a submission.  The result is always the same; joints get hyper-extended, dislocated, or flat out broken; people get choked unconscious.  It’s all bad.

Newly crowned 135-pound Strikeforce women's champ, undefeated "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey.

It seems even worse when it’s a woman.

Now Miesha Tate is about as bad-ass as it gets.  In fact, she slapped her own vicious choke on Marloes Coenen to win the 135-pound women’s Strikeforce title last year.

Unfortunately for Miesha, she just lost that title in an even more brutal fashion.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as open-minded as it gets when it comes to women’s rights. Hell, I’m an all out lib.  Pretty much anything a man can do a woman should be able to do.  If you say she can probably do it better I’m likely to agree.  My grandmother, mother, aunt, sister, female cousins and nieces are all smart, strong-willed, and capable.  I was raised by and around strong, independent women.

However, pugilists they were not.

I don’t feel bad watching women fight necessarily.  I just feel awful if one of them catches a beatdown.

It feels a bit hypocritical, I guess.  I can watch guys punch each others’ brains out until the cows come home.

With women, I just feel sorry for them.  I guess I shouldn’t feel that way (if I’m half the lib I claim to be).  Miesha, to her credit, looked more hurt by the loss than the injury–at least until the adrenaline dumped.  I, on the other hand, would have bawled shamelessly from the outset.

Anyway, I figured I’d share my psychological nightmare with anyone who had the misfortune of clicking on this post.  Misery loves company!  🙂

Miesha Tate has been on both sides of her t-shirt slogan.

(Arm Break image from: http://www.mmamania.com/2012/3/4/2843487/pic-miesha-tates-broken-arm-after-submission-loss-to-ronda-rousey-at.  Ronda Rousey image from: http://thepugilista.blogspot.com/2011/11/inspiration-thursday-ronda-rousey.html.  Miesha Tate image from: http://www.thenextgreatfighter.com/profiles/blogs/ring-girl-of-the-week-who-s-hotter-miesha-tate-or-ronda-rousey)