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Seconds Out: Women and Fighting
Kicking ass and taking notes—what it’s like to be a woman in the ring.
Alison Dean teaches English literature. She also punches people. Hard. But despite several amateur fights under her belt, she knows she will never be taken as seriously as a male boxer. “You punch like a girl” still isn’t a compliment — women aren’t supposed to choose to participate in violence.
Her unique perspective as a 30-something university lecturer turned amateur fighter allows Dean to articulately and with great insight delve into the ways martial arts can change a person’s — and particularly a woman’s — relationship to their body and to the world around them, and at the same time considers the ways in which women might change martial arts.
Combining historical research, anecdotal experience, and interviews with coaches and fighters, Seconds Out explores our culture’s relationship with violence, and particularly with violence practiced by women.
"An important addition to women’s martial arts scholarship, Dean provides personal insight into the radical space women occupy in sport fighting. Seconds Out is a must-read for all fighters looking for mentors in the complicated world of martial arts." —L.A. Jennings, author of Mixed Martial A History from Ancient Fighting Sports to the UFC
"Dean brings a fresh new female voice to the topic of combat sports." —Trevor Wittman, renowned MMA trainer, UFC analyst, and founder of ONX Sports
"Trained in the discipline and art of both fighting and literature, Dean combines both with style. She honors the fighters, writers, and historians who have come before her and definitively ends the idea of women fighters as a novelty. Seconds Out is a must-read for anyone who feels the call of the bell and reverence for a good fight." —Sue Jaye Johnson
Alison Dean teaches English literature. She also punches people. Hard. But despite several amateur fights under her belt, she knows she will never be taken as seriously as a male boxer. “You punch like a girl” still isn’t a compliment — women aren’t supposed to choose to participate in violence.
Her unique perspective as a 30-something university lecturer turned amateur fighter allows Dean to articulately and with great insight delve into the ways martial arts can change a person’s — and particularly a woman’s — relationship to their body and to the world around them, and at the same time considers the ways in which women might change martial arts.
Combining historical research, anecdotal experience, and interviews with coaches and fighters, Seconds Out explores our culture’s relationship with violence, and particularly with violence practiced by women.
"An important addition to women’s martial arts scholarship, Dean provides personal insight into the radical space women occupy in sport fighting. Seconds Out is a must-read for all fighters looking for mentors in the complicated world of martial arts." —L.A. Jennings, author of Mixed Martial A History from Ancient Fighting Sports to the UFC
"Dean brings a fresh new female voice to the topic of combat sports." —Trevor Wittman, renowned MMA trainer, UFC analyst, and founder of ONX Sports
"Trained in the discipline and art of both fighting and literature, Dean combines both with style. She honors the fighters, writers, and historians who have come before her and definitively ends the idea of women fighters as a novelty. Seconds Out is a must-read for anyone who feels the call of the bell and reverence for a good fight." —Sue Jaye Johnson
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 18, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Did Not Finish
September 18, 2025I opened this expecting a history of women in combative sports along with a memoir of the author's personal experiences. There were elements of each of those but I found the book less than satisfying. It seems more a polemic about male bias against women fighters and against women asserting themselves, in general. Which is fair enough, I suppose, but wasn't what I was there for.
The history bits were mostly sketchy rather than a comprehensive survey. Dean was more interested in the view of women fighters presented in popular culture than in the women themselves, imo.
I did like Dean's account of the training undertaken by some of the early Suffragettes, which I didn't know about but which makes sense in that physical confrontation was one of the tactics they employed.
I found the personal memoir disjointed and I was unclear as to Dean's motivation for taking up martial arts. Full Disclosure: I dnf'd @ about 40% or so. It's possible the author tied everything together neatly and brilliantly in the end. I just lacked the intestinal fortitude (so necessary in combat sports) to stick it out.
So the bout goes to Alison Dean, who knocked me right out of the ring.
The history bits were mostly sketchy rather than a comprehensive survey. Dean was more interested in the view of women fighters presented in popular culture than in the women themselves, imo.
I did like Dean's account of the training undertaken by some of the early Suffragettes, which I didn't know about but which makes sense in that physical confrontation was one of the tactics they employed.
I found the personal memoir disjointed and I was unclear as to Dean's motivation for taking up martial arts. Full Disclosure: I dnf'd @ about 40% or so. It's possible the author tied everything together neatly and brilliantly in the end. I just lacked the intestinal fortitude (so necessary in combat sports) to stick it out.
So the bout goes to Alison Dean, who knocked me right out of the ring.
September 17, 2025
The book cover needs improving. The page number on page 150 is missing. The author's advocating for safe female spaces rings hollow because she favors biological men competing in women's combat sports. The writer's virtue signaling that this book was created on unceded land comes across as unwanted pandering to this reader. The author did not mention the movies Girlfight or Million Dollar Baby and what effects they had on women's sports.
February 1, 2022
"I want so badly to be in control, to have some power over the world around me and my place in it. And yet, as a woman, I am also constantly told how vulnerable I am."
I picked up this book on a whim, while browsing the very limited 'combat sports' section of the bookstore I work at. In that entire section (read shelf), there were only two books that were even remotely about women in combat sports: Mia Kang's Knockout, and Alison Dean's Seconds Out. After reading through the blurbs on the back, I elected to try this book first, because from the first sentence alone, I saw myself in Dean's shoes: a women with a history entangled in higher education who also just so happens to want to box.
Now, I've never taken up a combat sport, but I've bought my first pair of boxing gloves and hand wraps in preparation for my first kickboxing class this month. Seconds Out didn't exactly inspire me to take up kickboxing, so much as it made me feel more confident about something I was already curious about. Dean hits so many points dead-on in this book that resonated with me, and my copy is entirely covered in highlighted portions that I clicked with.
What I'll say of this book is that it reads like, well, academic text - not like a thesis paper or a study, but something that would have fit in seamlessly with my fourth-year Women and Gender Studies readings. Given that Dean has a PhD in English and teaches at universities, that's completely understandable, and as someone relatively fresh (ish) out of university, it wasn't a difficult read in terms of the flow, pacing, and language. The downside of this, unfortunately, is that some passages and chapters are a bit too reminiscent of those dry, required tutorial readings. Some of them are too-packed with specific histories of specific boxers, and points become lost when you can barely remember the names of all of the boxers brought up in this book.
Still, Seconds Out is the perfect read for someone like me: a female, Women and Gender Sutdies university grad that wants to take up a combat sport. This book felt validating in so many ways, even outside of talking about combat sports specifically - it examines what it means to be a woman in a world still rife with sexism and misogyny. For me, one of the most interesting and engaging discussions is Dean's consideration of women and violence: what it means for women to engage in combat sports, how that can be unfairly equated to situations of domestic abuse, and the struggles of still being made to feel powerless by assholes on the internet even when you're kicking ass in the ring.
Despite the occasional dryness or dragging of certain chapters, Seconds Out is an undoubtedly empowering read.
I picked up this book on a whim, while browsing the very limited 'combat sports' section of the bookstore I work at. In that entire section (read shelf), there were only two books that were even remotely about women in combat sports: Mia Kang's Knockout, and Alison Dean's Seconds Out. After reading through the blurbs on the back, I elected to try this book first, because from the first sentence alone, I saw myself in Dean's shoes: a women with a history entangled in higher education who also just so happens to want to box.
Now, I've never taken up a combat sport, but I've bought my first pair of boxing gloves and hand wraps in preparation for my first kickboxing class this month. Seconds Out didn't exactly inspire me to take up kickboxing, so much as it made me feel more confident about something I was already curious about. Dean hits so many points dead-on in this book that resonated with me, and my copy is entirely covered in highlighted portions that I clicked with.
What I'll say of this book is that it reads like, well, academic text - not like a thesis paper or a study, but something that would have fit in seamlessly with my fourth-year Women and Gender Studies readings. Given that Dean has a PhD in English and teaches at universities, that's completely understandable, and as someone relatively fresh (ish) out of university, it wasn't a difficult read in terms of the flow, pacing, and language. The downside of this, unfortunately, is that some passages and chapters are a bit too reminiscent of those dry, required tutorial readings. Some of them are too-packed with specific histories of specific boxers, and points become lost when you can barely remember the names of all of the boxers brought up in this book.
Still, Seconds Out is the perfect read for someone like me: a female, Women and Gender Sutdies university grad that wants to take up a combat sport. This book felt validating in so many ways, even outside of talking about combat sports specifically - it examines what it means to be a woman in a world still rife with sexism and misogyny. For me, one of the most interesting and engaging discussions is Dean's consideration of women and violence: what it means for women to engage in combat sports, how that can be unfairly equated to situations of domestic abuse, and the struggles of still being made to feel powerless by assholes on the internet even when you're kicking ass in the ring.
Despite the occasional dryness or dragging of certain chapters, Seconds Out is an undoubtedly empowering read.
May 4, 2021
I love how this narrative repositions fighting from being about self-defense to being about learning to find a different way to be in the world. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to feel a boost of of empowerment, even if you're not a fighter.
June 21, 2023
This is as much a memoir as about fighting itself. The subjects are woven together perfectly. She knows what she's talking about historically and experientially. Far better than The Gift of Fear or whatever is generally recommended in self-defense and women in sports. And less like a textbook (more of a narrative) than Real Knockouts - though it's a good one too.
There are good discussions on a variety of things - self-defense (myths, studies, she has the same misgivings I do), blood (period=bad; man's face bleeding=impressive; woman's face bleeding=unacceptable), tears, existing/working in male dominated spaces/sports.
Hilariously mentioned early on are writers that write passionately about boxing but don't really do it - Ernest Hemingway, Joyce Carrol Oates, Norman Mailer. Also there's a beneficial discussion of masculinity - the ideas of gyms or sports becoming diluted (by women's participation) and the idea that masculinity needs to be carefully guarded - if proof it shouldn't be preserved.
Mental toughness is a great section set up by the question: "How are emotion, empathy, and vulnerability connected to the drive, focus, and aggression required of a fighter?" The three part definition of the term was useful too: the ability to understand yourself and your capabilities and to own them.
I always appreciate calling attention to the knowledge gap in medicine - science/health research generally is one size fits all with male as the default.
She takes a much needed swing at the transgender panic as well, exposing it as policing women's bodies. They test for xx chromosomes - she notes women are tested for testosterone but men aren't tested or banned for higher natural testosterone. Michael Phelps wasn't banned for his long arms and flexible joints or Ian Thorpe for his flipper feet.
Often seen as a weakness or loss of credibility in male dominated spaces, this is a better explanation of tears in training.
Quote from von Duuglus Ittu (of There is Crying in Muay Thai): "isn't a response to anything directly but more the general need for release after feeling quite pressured and bottled up by being ineffective in any varying degree for the past hour, minutes, days, weeks, years, whatever..."
The author is a kickboxer and boxer but i think all woman who do any combat sport for fun or professionally would enjoy and relate to much of it.
Yeah, this dry summary doesn't reflect how much I loved and related to this book, so the stars will have to do.
There are good discussions on a variety of things - self-defense (myths, studies, she has the same misgivings I do), blood (period=bad; man's face bleeding=impressive; woman's face bleeding=unacceptable), tears, existing/working in male dominated spaces/sports.
Hilariously mentioned early on are writers that write passionately about boxing but don't really do it - Ernest Hemingway, Joyce Carrol Oates, Norman Mailer. Also there's a beneficial discussion of masculinity - the ideas of gyms or sports becoming diluted (by women's participation) and the idea that masculinity needs to be carefully guarded - if proof it shouldn't be preserved.
Mental toughness is a great section set up by the question: "How are emotion, empathy, and vulnerability connected to the drive, focus, and aggression required of a fighter?" The three part definition of the term was useful too: the ability to understand yourself and your capabilities and to own them.
I always appreciate calling attention to the knowledge gap in medicine - science/health research generally is one size fits all with male as the default.
She takes a much needed swing at the transgender panic as well, exposing it as policing women's bodies. They test for xx chromosomes - she notes women are tested for testosterone but men aren't tested or banned for higher natural testosterone. Michael Phelps wasn't banned for his long arms and flexible joints or Ian Thorpe for his flipper feet.
Often seen as a weakness or loss of credibility in male dominated spaces, this is a better explanation of tears in training.
Quote from von Duuglus Ittu (of There is Crying in Muay Thai): "isn't a response to anything directly but more the general need for release after feeling quite pressured and bottled up by being ineffective in any varying degree for the past hour, minutes, days, weeks, years, whatever..."
The author is a kickboxer and boxer but i think all woman who do any combat sport for fun or professionally would enjoy and relate to much of it.
Yeah, this dry summary doesn't reflect how much I loved and related to this book, so the stars will have to do.
Read
April 28, 2021I haven't actually finished this yet... but I really want to. I am thoroughly enjoying what I have read so far... notwithstanding that 'fight club' is totally alien to my own personal interests and/or experience. That's only just the tip of the iceberg vis-a-vis this title. It's so much more than that...
I have an early digital review copy - courtesy of the publisher and Edelweiss - but I am finding it very difficult to read. No matter how I adjust my screen view, the text is very small and densely packed, with little to no white space of visual relief of any kind on the page. Trying to read this - as much as I want to - is giving me a terrible headache and eye strain. I am stopping.
I have put a hard copy on hold at the library - which will arrive in due course once it actually gets released. I look forward to reading this in its entirety then.
In the meantime... if you can handle the digital edition, do read this. it's quite fascinating.
And to the publisher... Do you have another digital edition of this formatted to be more reader friendly? If so, I'd be delighted to get my hands on it. Thanks.
I have an early digital review copy - courtesy of the publisher and Edelweiss - but I am finding it very difficult to read. No matter how I adjust my screen view, the text is very small and densely packed, with little to no white space of visual relief of any kind on the page. Trying to read this - as much as I want to - is giving me a terrible headache and eye strain. I am stopping.
I have put a hard copy on hold at the library - which will arrive in due course once it actually gets released. I look forward to reading this in its entirety then.
In the meantime... if you can handle the digital edition, do read this. it's quite fascinating.
And to the publisher... Do you have another digital edition of this formatted to be more reader friendly? If so, I'd be delighted to get my hands on it. Thanks.
May 23, 2021
In “Seconds Out” the author has provided an extensive and comprehensive review of the history and challenges faced by women in the world of fight sport. Throughout the book she intersperses historical research with her personal experience as a novice fighter gaining skill and recognition in the world of boxing, kickboxing and MMA. Her perspective is always one of brutal honesty, tempered with humour. One cannot read this book without recognizing the huge commitment required by these athletes, all of mental, physical and psychological, in order to live and fight in this arena. Also evident is the huge opportunity for personal growth of confidence, self-worth, and skills for self-defence.
I was hooked by this author from Chapter 1 and became immersed in her world until the last page of the book. I highly recommend this book!
I was hooked by this author from Chapter 1 and became immersed in her world until the last page of the book. I highly recommend this book!
February 1, 2024
I really loved this book. I’ve read quite a few books about fighting and combat over the last few years but found Dean’s book to be one of the most intelligent and honest of them all…if not the most. Her personal experience combined with the larger themes of the female and human experience in boxing/Muay Thai made for such a fascinating, compelling read. As a guy who took up Muay Thai in my late 40s with zero experience, and a fairly non-aggressive, macho-averse personality, I really related to the description of the fish out of water feelings of beginning training, finding a gym that suits you, and trying to find your place within the sometimes confining tropes of what it means to fight. Dean’s articulation of the power of training, of devoting yourself to these sports and finding personal reinvention within really resonated. A book I will read again.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews