A Reddit user has gone public with accusations that her former professor, Mike Fowler, sent nude photos to her. She states that the harassment started with Fowler’s unwarranted flirtation and eventually escalated to him sending nude photos. The writer explains:
As a woman BJJ athlete, I want everyone who lives, breathes, and loves Jiu jitsu as much as I do to take the time and hear me out about my experience as a female in this sport. Most especially because I believe that what I went through could tragically happen to you or your teammates and I believe that’s this has been happening to other females in our sport.
I started my journey in 2013 at a local gym with a very well known professor and BJJ athlete at that time. I was so ready to start BJJ. I needed an escape. I mustered up so much courage to be able to step foot on that mat. Everything always starts great. Meet new people, compete and win/lose tournaments, get promoted to blue belt a year later and so on. My journey was fueled by the family atmosphere and my wanting to learn more and more techniques. As I invested my time more into training and got closer to my team members and instructors, I guess attraction comes along with growing together, seeing each other everyday, families meeting families and just getting very personal thru BJJ. Nothing’s really awkward anymore. You’re practically sharing sweat, laughing in between, and trying to kill each other on the mat, but of course, with good intentions. I trusted my team mates and my instructors. I’m sure everyone can relate to that.
So with that being said, my professor admitted to having feelings towards me. He’d constantly message and ask to be together out side of the gym. He kept asking for lunch dates or beach outings. He always asked to hitch a ride even if it was obvious that it was out of the way. As weird as it was, I wasn’t able to read between the lines. As a grown adult, I thought I’ve encountered enough ‘let’s just be friends’ moments to overcome this one. I just let all the inappropriate actions pass because I wanted to train at the gym with the team that I enjoyed being with so much. I didn’t want to transfer gyms or let one person kill my wave. We were all like family at this point, I looked up to my team. I really looked up to my professor.
I’d brush off all his flirty texts and out of line comments. He’d engage and engage until the day came where he crossed the line. It was then that i realized how much of a perverted fanatic my instructor was.
He sends me pictures of his genitals, unclothed and exposed. I was disturbed, confused and hurt. Imagine your own instructor sending nudes to his STUDENTS. Someone we really looked up to. Someone who could help me in jiujitsu. Someone I trusted and considered family.
After he sent those pics, I refrained myself from training. I got really depressed because something I really enjoyed was taken away from me. I couldn’t stand being in the same room or near him, all I could think about was that he was looking at me and perverted thoughts were running through his head. He acted as if he didn’t do anything. I even thought of giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was drunk and sent those pics by mistake. After a week I couldn’t bring myself to go to the gym anymore. I couldn’t see him as my professor anymore. I just stopped coming to class, didn’t bother transferring gyms either. I was traumatized it may happen again and that me being at the gym was condoning his behavior. It’s as if he had done this before. My pain and confusion only increased even after leaving jiujitsu when I heard talk of him sending nudes to other girls in the BJJ community. My suspicions were confirmed when he texted me to apologize if he ever did anything out of line. He wasn’t drunk and it wasn’t a drunk text. He knew what he was doing completely! You hear of these incidents were both parties are guilty and consensual. This was not! I never asked for this and I never flirted. I felt forced upon, weak and scared.
I’ve thought about why he would do this. All I can think is he was trying to get a response or reaction. So if he wanted a reaction then I’ll give him one. I’m calling him out to the whole jiu jitsu community because none of the other girls wanted to speak out for fear of others not believing in them or at the risk of shaming their gym. I could care less if he’s highly looked upon. He’s horrible.
MIKE FOWLER, if you are reading this you’re sick in the head. You are not a good person and you should not be teaching jiujitsu.
I just want every female jiujitsu athlete who experienced some type of sexual harassment that it’s not just your gym experiencing this behavior. We need to embrace the #Metoo movement and we have to use our voices. We need to call out these men who abuse their power and trust so our friends, daughters, nieces and mother’s don’t feel uncomfortable to step on the mat. We need to grow jiu jitsu professionally. And behavior like this needs to be stamped out along with the people in it. It doesn’t matter what your technical level is in jiujitsu if you are a piece of **** who exposes your genitals to unwilling females.
In her post, the accuser also linked to a NSFW photo which she says is Fowler. She also has a set of photos on Imgur which she also claims to be Fowler. You can view them here, but be advised that they are uncensored.
Here is a photo of Mike Fowler from his Instagram page:
Does the guy in the nude photos look like Fowler? You be the judge.
The Jiu Jitsu Times has reached out to the both the Reddit user and Mike Fowler for comment, but no response has been received at the time of publishing.
The post Female Student Accuses Mike Fowler Of Sending Nude Photos appeared first on Jiu-Jitsu Times.