Maya Nazareth is calling out an uncomfortable trend in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: brands exploiting female sexuality for marketing clout while claiming to support women in the sport.
In a recent podcast appearance on Jits and Giggles, Nazareth shared her concerns about how certain brands contradict their stated mission of advancing women’s jiu-jitsu.
“There’s a lot of brands that are doing it for clout and to get views,” she explained. “It’s funny to like use a woman and make a joke about like oil checks or whatever on the mat and that’s going to get a lot of shares.”
The issue extends beyond crude humor to more subtle sexualization through marketing imagery. While Nazareth clarifies she has no problem with using attractive female athletes in marketing, she draws a clear line between showcasing athletes and exploiting them.
“I think it’s like the angles that you’re using like purposely like drawing more attention to like the body than like the actual product,”
she noted.
Nazareth’s critique gained widespread attention when Alchemize’s post about not sexualizing the sport went viral, generating significant discussion in the BJJ community. Her stance isn’t about policing women’s personal choices but about maintaining the integrity of jiu-jitsu as a martial art.
“Zero issue with women sexualizing themselves,” she clarified, “But it’s when you’re sexualizing yourself in the context of jiu-jitsu on the mat…that I don’t want to enter the sport and have someone be thinking about me that way.”
The problem creates real barriers for women entering the sport. Nazareth points to examples where instructional content features men in standard training gear while women wear revealing clothing that bears no resemblance to actual training attire.
“It’s embarrassing because it’s like that’s not what I’m doing when I’m at jiu-jitsu,” she said. “We’re constantly trying to convince people that it’s not sexual…But it’s a really hard sell when you have reels like that circulating.”
As someone who built her business solving practical problems for female grapplers—starting with poorly fitting gear that exposed women during training—Nazareth understands the importance of treating female athletes as serious competitors rather than marketing props. Her camps and events focus on elevating the technical and professional aspects of women’s jiu-jitsu.
Nazareth also challenges another dangerous trend in how jiu-jitsu is marketed to women: the promise that BJJ alone can guarantee safety in real-world situations. Despite nearly a decade of training and building a successful business around women’s BJJ, she warns against overselling the martial art’s protective capabilities.
“I see a lot of jiu-jitsu advertised or self-defense courses that are using jiu-jitsu advertised as like the way to keep women safe,” Nazareth explains. “I think it’s inappropriate to promise women something that anyone who’s been training jiu-jitsu long enough understands that the more you know of jiu-jitsu, the more kind of unsafe you feel.”
This reality becomes clearer as practitioners advance. Nazareth notes that experienced grapplers understand the countless variables that could render their skills ineffective in a street encounter.
“There are so many variables in the real world, someone grabbing your hair, someone smacking your head on the concrete that could lead to multiple people being involved, a weapon that could lead to your jiu-jitsu just not being a functional thing.”
Even as a seasoned practitioner, Nazareth remains humble about her capabilities.
“I come to the gym, I’ve been training almost 10 years. I’ll come into the gym and sometimes a 200lb white belt man will take my lunch money, you know, or will like just put me in a situation I don’t want to be put in.”
She particularly criticizes short-term self-defense programs that promise unrealistic outcomes.
“There’s no six week self-defense program that’s going to make you safe. And there’s ultimately no martial art that’s going to make you safe. It can only give you a better chance.”
This doesn’t mean Nazareth dismisses jiu-jitsu’s value in self-defense entirely. She believes it forms an important component of a comprehensive safety strategy.
“Do I think jiu-jitsu is part of a great self-defense curriculum? Yes, of course. Knowing leverage, knowing how to use your body, knowing how to protect your head and your neck and kind of the order of operations of being attacked is really really important.”
Nazareth also pushes back against reducing women’s participation in BJJ to trauma recovery and self-defense narratives.
“Many jiu-jitsu women are training because they love the sport. And if you’re staying in jiu-jitsu long term, it’s not for self-defense. It’s because you love this thing.”
The longer practitioners train, the more realistic their expectations become. Nazareth describes how experience teaches situational awareness and humble assessment of one’s capabilities:
“I could look in a room and be like that would be a problem, that would be a problem, if that and that together would definitely be a problem.”
“I want to create a culture where like young girls feel safe in the gym and where they are safe in the gym,”
Nazareth emphasized.
“I think as brands, as influencers, as athletes, as leaders in the space, we have a responsibility for how we cultivate that space.”
Her message is multifaceted but clear: brands can’t claim to support women’s jiu-jitsu while simultaneously undermining the respect female athletes deserve through sexualized marketing or false promises about self-defense capabilities. True support means showcasing women’s technical skills and athletic achievements while maintaining honest expectations about what the martial art can provide.
Her message isn’t meant to discourage women from training, but rather to promote honest expectations and respectful treatment.
“I think every woman should train for that reason and also because it’s awesome,”
she concludes, advocating for training with proper perspective rather than false promises or exploitative marketing.agement.
