IN-DEPTH: Jujitsu Associations ‘Lead by Example’ in Barring Males From Competing in Female Matches

‘We cannot continue seeing these kinds of stories in which girls are getting ... put on a jujitsu mat with men,’ says former NCAA swimming champion Marshi Smith

Ansleigh Wilk and Jayden Alexander had to compete against a male in a July 2023 jujitsu tournament. Courtesy of Ms. Wilk and Ms. Alexander

Three national jujitsu associations have recently enacted policies prohibiting males from fighting in female brackets after several competitors went public with their experience in fighting a male opponent who identifies mentally as a female.

“It was a huge turnaround in a really short time,” Marshi Smith, a former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimming champion from the University of Arizona and co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), told The Epoch Times. “We’ve never seen a sport enact change as quickly as jujitsu has.”