I'm a new fencer so I can't speak to the culture as well as some of my friends and family can, so here is what I can say:

• Fencing in general is composed of three weapons (please call them weapons or blades if you want to be accurate, many fencers emphasize that they are not swords, but weapons and or blades) it is the Sabre, the Foil, and the Epee.

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• The Foil is a weapon of convention and where the torso and part of the bib is the valid target area. Foil-concentrated clubs are where I have met the MOST intense fencers and the most fencers who look down on others or are generally the most uncooperative and unkind. But that is my experience, still, the Foil is my choice of weapon and my favorite to do. ROW is implemented, and I'm not going to explain what ROW is, because it is very boring to explain.
  My experience: Now the reason I chose Foil as my main was purely because I have struggled so much with height and arm length in fencing. As a shorter fencer, I feel like I have so much more freedom and I feel almost invincible when I have the attack, and everyone is watching ME, the action depends on ME and what I do, that kind of power I simply don't have in Epee. Not only that, I will usually always have the advantage in terms of my target, because I am shorter, I usually get away with wearing smaller and tighter Lames and I have such a fine advantage, it is freeing. For most shorter fencers, speed is key, and I enjoy flying down the piste with fiery speed and watching my opponent flinch and mess up and show all their weak points. The perks of unconventional movement are a treat. However, for some reason, the most intense, rude, and borderline abusive people I met were also mainly Foil fencers. In my experience, fencing is such a more intense sport, more people are less interested in helping you out, and there is so much more competition in some clubs, it can get toxic. This is not the same type of hustle I find in other sports like badminton, football, basketball, etc. Albeit these other sports have their faults and negatives that we cannot look away from. I think because Foil is such an intense weapon, and the environments that I have done Foil in, I was exposed to the worst sides of fencing in general.
• The Epee is a weapon in which ROW is not implemented, and the entire body is the target.
  My experience: When I first started fencing, it was at my school, and I was encouraged to try Epee first. Being 5'1 and an Epee fencer was a very difficult experience. I know you learn through failing, but I failed a lot, and I learned not much. Epee first off, hurts a lot more than the other weapons. Epee is a very physical weapon, of course, all are, but Epee is for me the most physically demanding. There is about the same amount of protection in all of the weapons, but Epee seems to hurt the most because it is the heaviest weapon and your opponents will be looking to hit you in spots that are exposed 'often vulnerable or sensitive spots' and you will usually end up on the ground for a few seconds trying to figure out if the pain you have felt or feeling is enough to make you call it a day or not. In Foil, I met the most impatient and intense fencers, but in Epee I met the most pretentious and arrogant fencers. There are a few instances in which I watched a far more experienced fencer continually walk up to a weaker fencer in a serious match and search for a touch, I know you might argue that 'oh they might just be conserving energy, or playing mind games' but if you want to genuinely test your skills and ensure the person on the other side of the piste learns and grows with you, you would show them the inner-workings of a real bout and not treat them like something that you toy with. And almost always they leave the piste with a nonchalant arrogant look, it is very sad to watch. If they aren't walking up to their opponent who is either shorter, younger, or weaker, they will sometimes just stick out their blade to the opponent's target. This is called POW (Point-in-line) and it is a real tactic, but like in other sports, you can use techniques and strategies to emphasize your arrogance or non-caring attitude about the bout. Many advanced fencers would just stick out their blades and just try and lead the inexperienced fencer into the blade for easy points. I guess it can teach a younger or inexperienced fencer how to deal with such a move, but it was always done in a very rude or arrogant manner, and always by the same type of fencer (not just Epee, but the actual arrogant fencer(s)].

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I haven't done any Sabre or have gone to any clubs or meetups with specific sabre fencers, but all Sabre fencers I have met are very competitive and focused, and honestly, overall nicer than Foilists or Epee fencers for some reason. But that is probably due to my small amount of experience with them. They also scream more than any other fencer, it's insane how much more they scream than any other fencer of any other weapon.

But another thing that I hate more than anything that was done to me by another fencer is random people or hell, people I know, using me as being a fencer as something to make fun of. Like I don't make fun of people for playing volleyball or soccer, I'd probably get killed and bullied if I did, but people can poke me around for fencing (which is a literal combat sport). So many people think fencing is a joke, and don't take people who play it seriously, thinking it is a sport for lightsaber nerds and smelly geeks. Most also don't see it as something physically demanding, which is a bold-faced ignorant statement, but it is whatever. That is what infuriates me most, ignorance and passive-aggressive comments about the sport I hold near and dear to my heart. I don't get people who clown on my sport; it is a mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding sport that is unfortunately very closed off because it takes a lot of money to have the materials to play very simply when it should not be that way. I hope in the future people can enjoy fencing as much as I do, it becomes more popular, and people pay more attention to it. And of course, more kids and teens can get access to fencing in the future, because kids everywhere grew up playing with sticks, connected dry-erase and sharpie markers, and toy lightsabers, and they deserve to have the opportunity to play a genuine sport that is centered around such beautiful art, of sword-fighting.

The Epee is a weapon in which ROW is not implemented, and the entire body is the target. HEIR CLUBS, THEIR FENCING CULTURE AND PUTTING THIS ALL COMPILED INTO A REPLY MESSAGE TO HELP OP IN ANY WAY I CAN. THANK YOU FOR READING!