In a candid interview on the Partizan Grappling podcast, purple belt competitor and firefighter Sirena Allen-De Guzman has raised serious concerns about the persistent sexualization of women in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, highlighting how this phenomenon undermines their recognition as legitimate athletes in the sport.
“I think that there’s a lot of sexualization of women in this sport and that’s something that I really struggle with,” Allen-De Guzman explained. “It sets a really sad tone for particularly young girls getting involved in Jiu-Jitsu.”
Her comments come at a particularly relevant time, as BJJ brand Hyperfly recently faced significant backlash after announcing a collaboration with Playboy. Additionally, one of the sport’s biggest stars, Mackenzie Dern, released a series of provocative photos, further blurring the lines between athletic achievement and physical appearance in women’s BJJ.
Allen-De Guzman points to a troubling disparity in how male and female practitioners are portrayed, particularly on social media platforms.
“If you go and scroll through your Instagram right now, if you search ‘BJJ girls,’ I think you’re going to see a lot more photos of women in sports bras or women in very posed positions for Jiu-Jitsu than you are high-level quality grapplers showing techniques or displaying their achievements,”
she observed, adding,
“I don’t feel like you have the same issue with men.”
This hypersexualized portrayal extends beyond social media. Even major promotions like ONE FC have been known to photoshop thumbnails on their channel to attract more views, often at the expense of highlighting female fighters’ technical abilities.
For Allen-De Guzman, who has spent approximately ten years in the sport, this representation creates a problematic environment for upcoming female practitioners. Rather than seeing role models celebrated for their technical prowess, competitive achievements, or athletic development, young women are presented with examples suggesting that appearance might matter more than skill.
“Something that I would really love to see as the sport continues to develop is women who are kind of strong athletic role models for young girls in this sport,”
she stated. While acknowledging positive examples like commentators Kendall Reusing and Adele Fornarino, along with competitor Ffion Davies, who demonstrate
“what it is to be an empowered female that’s not hypersexualized,”
Allen-De Guzman believes there’s still significant progress to be made.
The issues around representation connect to broader concerns about how women are treated on the mats. Allen-De Guzman described experiencing various forms of sexism during training, from having less experienced male practitioners offer unsolicited “corrections” to navigating training with partners who
“struggle with the concept of being tapped out by a woman.”
Female practitioners often face additional pressures in the training environment. Many women, particularly at white and blue belt levels, admit to sometimes deliberately giving up submissions to aggressive male white belts because they’re
“concerned about hurting the egos of particularly aggressive male training partners.”
They worry about potential ramifications if the male partner feels compelled to escalate intensity, especially given typical size and strength disparities.
Allen-De Guzman also highlighted issues around boundary-setting in BJJ gyms.
“There needs to be more space around being like ‘actually I’m good, I’m going to skip this one,'”
she explained when discussing scenarios where women feel pressured to roll with partners they’re uncomfortable with.
“We don’t talk about gym etiquette in that way in any gym that I’ve ever been in. There’s never been a conversation about ‘hey guys, if somebody says no, that means no.'”
Her concerns about representation and treatment of women in BJJ stem partly from personal experience. As a teenager, Allen-De Guzman was manipulated into an inappropriate relationship with her much older coach. By age 17, she was dating her
“40-something-year-old Jiu-Jitsu coach,”
in what she describes as a
“zero star experience”
that eventually evolved into a
“textbook kind of coercive relationship.”
This experience led her to abandon the sport for nearly five years.
For positive change to continue, Allen-De Guzman believes the BJJ community needs more voices advocating for respectful, skill-focused representation of women. Content that showcases female athletes demonstrating techniques, competing, and sharing their knowledge has proven popular, indicating there is a real demand for authentic representation of women in the sport.
“More empowered women—I think this sport will only benefit as we see more of that,” she concluded.
