Focus Striking Descendant arts Shoot boxing | Hardness Full-contact | |
Famous practitioners see list of female kickboxers Parenthood Karate, Muay Thai, Boxing | ||
Women have participated in kickboxing since the 1960s in Thailand. But there has been a superstition and prejudice women have often being prevented from participating in the major tournaments in Thailand.
The World’s Muay Thai Angels is one of the first organisations to be a place for women to participate in and the first tournament was won by Chommanee Sor Taehiran.
Women's kickboxing in Australia has a small but devoted following. In the 1970s women in the United States took up kickboxing as they were prevented from taking part in Women's boxing. In the UK kickboxing has a growing following according to the WMC.
In May 2016 the kickboxing organisation Glory announced the creation of a women's division built around Tiffany van Soest.
In popular culture
In Stieg Larsson's book The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006) and its film adaptation, Lisbeth Salander, her friend and lover Miriam Wu, and their friend Paolo are kickboxers. Lisbeth adopted her kickboxing ringname, "The Wasp", as her hacker handle and has a wasp tattoo on her neck.