5e Monks Should Have Martial Weapons

This post is about the game Dungeons and Dragons, and is not meant in any way to be making any point about real-life martial arts. This post is related to the 5th Edition (5e) Monk class being under powered, but it is more specifically about my problem with this class's choice of weapons. On the 5th Edition weapon's list we see that the only difference between a short sword and a scimitar is that a short sword is primarily a piercing weapon and the scimitar is primarily a slashing weapon. The 5e Monk class allows the Monks to use Short Swords but not Scimitars. This is shockingly out of place with every Monk cinematic or literary archetype I am aware of, as monks are universally more likely to use slashing swords than piercing swords as is the case in the following Shoulin monk sword demonstration:

And the straight swords used by Wudang monks are long bladed, highly agile swashbuckling weapons more like rapiers than short swords:

Shoulin and Wudang martial arts also have all of the rest of the martial weapons on the Martial Weapons list, including numerous flails:

Asian martial arts monks have battle axes:

And great axes:

Great Swords and Glaives:

And halberds:

And pikes/lances:

And long swords:

And morning stars:

And tridents:

And war picks:

Maces and War Hammers:

And whips:

It is also a shame to forget the longbow archery of Zen monks:

And advanced crossbows in their culture wouldn't have even been considered martial weapons anyways:

I will stop short of an argument for their use of shields (which I could easily make) because I think the over all lack of armor is justifiable for monks. But it's clear to me that 5e needs to allow Monks to use martial weapons.

Gay Was Good Enough

I believe that feminism has been watered down with an abundance of competing interests, and as a result of feminism's loss of potency, we are now going to see women lose reproductive rights. In addition, I believe the Gay movement has been watered down, and as with feminism losing political gains, the Gays are going to loose Gay Marriage in the USA. The supreme court does not have to respect impotent movements.

Feminism has always been first and foremost about establishing the rights of women. This is largely about protecting them from males who have access to them. That is primarily protecting women who can become pregnant against their will. Reproductive rights doesn't much apply to women who don't get pregnant. Feminism is primarily about "people who menstruate."

Feminism somehow began to mean women who never had any intention of having children (most lesbians) and women who never under any circumstances would get pregnant (transgender.) Along with these additions to feminism came a whole new vocabulary, the LGBT(F)QIA, even bordering on polyandry. This vocabulary divorced itself from mainstream use of words, such saying "trans girls are girls," when in reality mainstream society does not see "trans girls as girls." Whenever a movement's ability to project it's message is compromised, the strength of that movement is compromised. 

The low point of the movement was in 2015 and 2016. Two issues were blowing up at around this time:

1. After the scorched earth victory of the US Supreme Court declaring Gay Marriage to be the law of the land, the LBGT(F)QIA movement allowed themselves to get distracted by politics around who-can-use-what-public-restrooms. Feminism was completely blind to the fact that Hetero Males were already very uncomfortable using public restrooms, and instead of focusing on getting more single-toilet bathrooms established, allowed themselves to get dragged into a conversation about what bathrooms trans women (but somehow not trans men) should be allowed to use in public. This was a problem because again it muddled feminism's message, and continued to divorce their vocabulary from mainstream English. 
2. Trans women in sports started to create divisions within feminism. On one hand Feminism was supposed to protect people who menstruate from people who don't, and on the other hand Feminism had expanded its mission to protect everyone who identifies as a woman. To really appreciate WHY people want separate sports divisions for women and men, you must take heterosexual reproduction into consideration. In men's sports we can evaluate the fitness of men for carrying on genes forward into the next generation, as sports not only evaluate natural physical talent, but also both the natural mental ability to focus in short term emergent circumstances and long term work ethic focused on a singular goal. Why then female sports? BECAUSE EVERYONE HAS TWO PARENTS, you get your genes from you mom and your dad. This is why the general public can never be expected to accept trans women in women's sports, is it defeats the purpose for having female sports in the first place.

And in 2016 a presidential candidate famous for saying he just likes to "grab women by the pussy" was elected. He chose as his vice president the main culprit behind dragging feminism into the above mentioned bathroom trans politics. This president then spent the next 4 years of his life doing everything he possibly could to make sure people who menstruate would be forced to give birth against their will.

And the same mechanism being used to trample female reproductive rights, that supreme court, will trample gay marriage soon enough. But let's look a little closer at how the Gay movement was watered down itself. Looking at the letters, with each additional letter we see a weakening of the movement: G was the original for "Gay": men or women called gay had same-sex attraction, clear definition, solid, still exists today in the phrase "Gay Pride." L was for Lesbian, and here we see the Gay movement being conflated with feminist issues. B was for Bi, highly problematic for three reasons: 1) it falsely suggested that most Gay and Lesbian had absolutely zero opposite sex attraction in addition to their same sex attraction, 2) so-called Bi's had an easy time of passing as heterosexual in mainstream society and in so far as they ever were oppressed it was only for their Gayness, and 3) Bi's quickly became the problem children of the Gay and Lesbian movement as they developed a reputation for swinging and home wrecking, disrupting what domestic stability the Ls & Gs were able to establish. 

T for Trans? Trans isn't even a sexual attraction issue in the first place, it is a totally different issue, and is not relevant to the original issue of Gay: rights for people with same-sex attraction. Q is for questioning and is only there because of the stigma against Bis in the Gay community. I is for intersex which is a legitimate medical condition which could be grouped with Trans identity, but again not a sexual attraction issue. Asexual is by definition 100% irrelevant to same-sex attraction issues.

What has happened here is the Gay and Feminism movements allowed themselves to be diluted, primarily by being allowed to be driven together into a single vulnerable herd to be culled. In no way should the movement meant to protect people who menstruate be lumped into the same category as the movement meant to protect people with same sex attraction. This is a classic problem of what I call "Solidarity = Autonomy," where when groups fail to define themselves, the natural consequence is impotency.

The fearsome hydra that is Feminism + LGBT(F)QIA is now only bark with zero bite. Trump's supreme court is putting a quick end to it. Trump has put the movement to the wall and had his way with them, because they allowed their movement to be diluted and weakened to the point where it could no longer stand up for itself.

Clinch Crisis

From my perspective as a martial arts consumer advocate, one of the biggest problems in martial arts instruction today is what I call the "Clinch Crisis." There are two parts to the Clinch Crisis:

1. For self defense purposes (and injury prevention purposes,) it is best to train to remain standing when you trip or throw someone, because when you are attacked on the street the attacker is likely to have an accomplice near by. 
2. For self defense purposes (and ergonomic purposes,) it is best to train to get up from the ground when you are ground fighting.

These are two sides of the same coin, because if you train to avoid going to the ground then you aren't training to escape from the ground, and vice versa. The one art that attempts to do both is called Combat Glima (Viking Wrestling) and it is missing a lot of self defense aspects you would expect to see in other martial arts:

And that's the best case scenario. "But doesn't Judo cover standing throws rather extensively?" ONLY IN THEIR KATA. Most of the time in sparring, and much more of the time in competition, they are going to the ground when they throw or trip, regardless of what Judo was like 30 years ago. Judo also doesn't cover clinch striking. Kudo, Combat Sambo and to a lesser degree MMA add significant clinch striking to Judo but are still slamming their full body weight down on their opponent in hopes of maximizing the effect of the throw, failing to stay on their feet for techniques designed for self defense.

Likewise Muay Thai doesn't cover sprawling against single and double leg takedowns, even though gets a lot right Judo does not, with lots of standing throws and trips and clinch striking. Beyond a lack of sprawling, Muay Thai's limited clinch time is a significant problem. 

And the two second clinch time is also where Sanda fails at this, though they are one of two arts that combine clinch striking with single and double leg take downs while trying to remain on their feet, unlike MMA and other Judo based combat sports. But what grappling options are there if the sport isn't historically rooted in Judo? American folkstyle wrestling has a very high emphasis on training escaping from the ground to their feet, even though they are generally unconcerned with staying standing while throwing or any sort of striking:

Maybe the best clinch option is Sumo, as they try not to go to the ground when they throw, and include head buts, palm strikes and forearm (think elbow) strikes in the clinch, and have unlimited clinch time. Best of luck to you if you want to go train Sumo casually for self defense purposes, because the closest you are going to get is full contact Tai Chi if you can even find that:

But the part of the clinch crisis is the effect this all has on the ground game. Again the only arts that are serious about getting back on their feet from the ground are Combat Glima and American Folkstyle Wrestling. The problem with both of these arts for self defense reasons is they train these escapes while facing absolutely zero threat of submissions, or far more importantly striking attacks. 

Escaping to the feet has become a more popular strategy that is now studied and practiced in MMA gyms. However this is not going to be emphasized to beginners over the striking, take down defense and basic submissions. Furthermore most casual self defense students do not have access to MMA training.

No one is teaching appropriate grappling for self defense to beginners when they walk in the door. Casual self defense students should not be expected to have to participate in a cage fight before learning the self defense appropriate grappling they showed up to learn in the first place. This lack of access to adequate self defense grappling for casual students is what I call the "Clinch Crisis."