The women’s category in HEMA tournaments was originally created to provide meaningful challenges for women. The ultimate aim of providing them has been to: allow fencers to test their skills in a situation without routine physical disadvantages; understand their progress relative to their peers year on year; give greater access to tournaments to an under-represented gender in our sport; ensure people realise that their gender does not prevent them from participating in HEMA.
While the primary intent in the past has been to support women, we recognise that many of considerations above apply equally to many non-binary fencers as well. Therefore, this tournament is open to:
a) Women (for the avoidance of doubt: cis or trans)
b) Any non-binary fencers who feel the issues above also apply to them, and that their presence in the tournament wouldn’t detract from the aims in regards to women
We recognise that there are a wide range of non-binary genders, and not all of them will feel comfortable participating in the women’s tournament. It is entirely up to the fencer in question whether they think the Women’s+ is suitable for them. The Open tournaments are all open to any gender.