Women's Sports: Sexist?

[Col. Tartleton]

Naturally I was doing some deep thinking and I concluded that having different teams for boys and girls is sexist. If girls can't make the boy's team they shouldn't play at Varsity or professional level. Why lower the standards just for the sake of "equality." Now if you want to have novelty leagues, fine, but the point should be that we ought to mainstream girls if we want to take women seriously as athletes.

Now, if you want to have an A and B team which nature determines are primarily male and female respectively, that's fine. But having a girls team might as well be a team for people who aren't as good. My high school's girl's basketball was ridiculous compared to other girls teams and our old star player currently plays for Boston College (they're pretty good.)

The point is, she can hardly take on guys who just play hoops recreationally. (She can definitely beat me, I'm terrible at basketball, it's my worst sport.)

I mean I'm not a star athlete, but because I have a penis I'm held to a higher standard. It doesn't follow.

The reality is, that men's sports make lots of money, and women's sports are financed by men's sports...

I'm not saying women shouldn't be allowed to play sports or anything like that, simply that they ought to be held to the same standards as everyone else.

If women can hack it at the same level as the men or even stand above them, then I will applaud them for that. Some women are better than some men and that's great. But competitive sports ought to be about the best competing against the best, and the current situation is seriously flawed and these problems are endemic in our modern western society.

I figure this is political in nature, so let's discuss it.

[SLN445]

You would have to get rid of Mens sports aswell, make all sports Genderless.

Frankly i couldnt realy give a crap though, some sports suit women and some suit men, and we can all get a laugh when each gender tries and plays the others sports

[Col. Tartleton]

You would have to get rid of Mens sports aswell, make all sports Genderless.

Frankly i couldnt realy give a crap though, some sports suit women and some suit men, and we can all get a laugh when each gender tries and plays the others sports

Sports should be gender-less. I mean if the Masters doesn't want women playing golf in their tournaments fine, but that's a specific situation. It shouldn't be the cultural norm.

The reality is, that you can take a women's sport like Field Hockey (I know the Euros play it with dudes) and if you put some college age male walk ons who've never picked up the stick before against their school's team it's going to be worryingly close.

What sports are women better at? I looked it up and the first article I read listed: Yoga, Taekwando, Distance Running, and Swimming.

Yoga is an exercise. Taekwando is a martial art. Distance running seems credible and distance swimming seems credible, but men are better at sprinting and speed swimming.

The main advantage women have over men at sports is being attractive at them to men (obviously male athletes are attractive to women) but the best female athletes frequently are less attractive for it.

[Pinarius]

Sports should be gender-less.

You don't really understand the nature of sports then. Two guys wrestling against each other is actually not much different from male stag beetles or bulls doing that. America is probably the only country, where they think a boy, who doesn't want fight a girl in a wrestle tournament, "must be" indoctrinated by über-conservative parents.

I heard during Wimbledon that the Williams sisters once boasted that they could own any male player below the top hundred, but in practice this turned out to be a wildly optimistic prediction. It was further commentated that professional women players usually lost to their male coaches.

Karsten Braasch (born 14 July 1967 in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a former professional German tennis player. His highest ATP singles ranking was 38th, which he reached on 13 June 1994. His career high in doubles was at 36 set at 10 November 1997.[1] He was well-noted for his service motion and his habit of smoking during changeovers.

Braasch competed in a 'Battle of the Sexes' contest against Venus Williams and Serena Williams at the 1998 Australian Open when he was ranked 203. A decade and a half older than the sisters, Braasch "was a man whose training regime centred around a pack of cigarettes and more than a couple bottles of ice cold lager."[2] He nonetheless handily defeated both sisters, playing a single set against each, beating Serena 6–1 and Venus 6–2.[3] According to his own account of the event, he prepared for the game by playing a leisurely round of golf and drinking a couple of shandies.[4]

[Col. Tartleton]

You don't really understand the nature of sports then. Two guys wrestling against each other is actually not much different from male stag beetles or bulls doing that. America is probably the only country, where they think a boy, who doesn't want fight a girl in a wrestle tournament, "must be" indoctrinated by über-conservative parents.

If you have 100 people competing to make the cut and you're going to form 2 ten person teams, and the gender divide is 50:50, you can either form two teams from the top 20 people or make a team of the top 10 boys and top 10 girls you ought to do the former.

If girls aren't good at sports they shouldn't play competitively. Being "good for a girl" is like being "smart for a black man" or the "first *insert ethnicity* _Blank_. Barack Obama isn't the 1st black president. He's the 44th president. We need to stop putting people in those boxes.

If you've got an elementary school type thing where everyone plays who signs up and practices, that's great, put girls in the mix. If it's competitive, don't do it. I've it's rec ball, obviously let anyone play, but don't let girls who suck at sports get their own team because they're women.

I'm basically arguing women shouldn't be considered viable at playing sports competitively purely because they're women. They should be held to the same standard as everyone else.

The best woman in the WNBA would be one of the worst players in the NBA. So why pretend that women's sports are anything more than a novelty?

I shouldn't have to work harder because I'm a man.

[justicar5]

in things like motor-sports etc, go for it, definitely have combined leagues. In fencing, shooting etc, sure as well, same league. When we are talking football, rugby etc, where men by there very nature are going to have an advantage, women's leagues are less well paid for a reason, and since it's entertainment I really couldn't care less how it decides to sort itself out, if you can get an audience for female sports leagues, it's cool.

Especially as in top rank sports you may be talking about the best couple of dozen people at it on the planet, this shouldn't be seen as carrying over.

[Vizvii]

Giving women equal opportunities is sexist now? Females are significantly weaker due to hormonal difference, different skeletal structure, lower muscle mass, body height and so on. They absolutely can't compete with men in sports where physical prowess is required.

If women's leagues can hold their own in terms of popularity and public attention it's completely fine. Women's handball, as far as I know, is quite popular in various Northern and Eastern European countries. Tennis is big as well. So it'd be ludicrous to change the whole system.

[OCWife]

They are held to the same standard, professionally speaking, that is why they get paid less. If they got paid the same but played on a lower level, then that would be holding them to a lower standard.

[OCWife]

I have heard testimonies from women of being molested by men during combined-gender water polo tournaments.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Deep thinking indeed.

Women are physically weaker than men, so women competing with men in sports is not going to be fair. I don't see how women's sports are a "novelty" league though. I watched the women players at Wimbledon this year as well as the men.

[Col. Tartleton]

Deep thinking indeed.

Women are physically weaker than men, so women competing with men in sports is not going to be fair. I don't see how women's sports are a "novelty" league though. I watched the women players at Wimbledon this year as well as the men.

No it is going to be fair because they're not as good and therefore shouldn't be as good.

Women Tennis players could presumably play against male tennis players. Why not.

I have heard testimonies from women of being molested by men during combined-gender water polo tournaments.

Everyone gets molested. It's water polo.

Molestation is a normal part of men's sports. Women just need to "Man Up."

[Vizvii]

No it is going to be fair because they're not as good and therefore shouldn't be as good.

Women Tennis players could presumably play against male tennis players. Why not.

Because they'd lose all the time? Usually women play fewer sets, too - best of three as opposed to males who play best of five.

Everyone gets molested. It's water polo.

Molestation is a normal part of men's sports. Women just need to "Man Up."

We thought you were serious. Good job.

[removeduser_487563287433]

No it is going to be fair because they're not as good and therefore shouldn't be as good.

What?

Women Tennis players could presumably play against male tennis players. Why not.

Because... women are physically weaker than men?

[Himster]

Unisex sports, all sports should be unisex.
The average woman is weaker than the average man, sure, but I've seen some pretty beefy women.
Obviously if we only made sport unisex then it wouldn't be 50/50 because there wouldn't be enough women to keep up with men. Even in a sport where one wouldn't consider gender an issue like fencing in unisex tournies women are still under the 20 percentile.
I guess it's kinda sexist either way.

I have heard testimonies from women of being molested by men during combined-gender water polo tournaments.

I didn't know straight men played water-polo. I stopped doing water-polo when I entered my homophobic phase.
Real polo is far cooler anyway, I always did want to combine the two, you know having horses in a swimming pool: stupidly epic.

[Col. Tartleton]

Because they'd lose all the time? Usually women play fewer sets, too - best of three as opposed to males who play best of five.


We thought you were serious. Good job.

Men could play best of 3 or women could play best of 5. I've played Lacrosse under girls rules against girls. I was playing Attack so I had 2 defense girls covering me. Frankly it's not as fun of a sport. While I respect girls for not wearing helmets, in my career I've taken a lot of ball shots and balls shot at my face and I'm not worried about it.

Unisex sports, all sports should be unisex.
The average woman is weaker than the average man, sure, but I've seen some pretty beefy women.
Obviously if we only made sport unisex then it wouldn't be 50/50 because there wouldn't be enough women to keep up with men. Even in a sport where one wouldn't consider gender an issue like fencing in unisex tournies women are still under the 20 percentile.
I guess it's kinda sexist either way.

How is it sexist if there are less women athletes than men athletes? If they make the cut they play, if they don't they don't. It's not sexist if someone who isn't as good at basketball doesn't make varsity. He just doesn't deserve a spot more than the guy who is better than him. Maybe he needs to work harder, maybe he should stick to his day job.

I didn't know straight men played water-polo. I stopped doing water-polo when I entered my homophobic phase.
Real polo is far cooler anyway, I always did want to combine the two, you know having horses in a swimming pool: stupidly epic.

I feel like Hippopotamuses would be the ideal water polo mount. Yeah, the few times I've played water polo casually ended in some dangerous horseplay that almost killed someone and some heavy petting.

[justicar5]

female athletes already get paid less, (oh and most sports teams already have a b team, for the up and comers, or the slightly past it guys, so they stay in shape if they need a call up)

[removeduser_4536284751384]

That means many people won't be able to play sports because of their sex. The only other job people can't do because of their sex is soldiering. Obviously that restricts people's career opportunities based on things they can't control, which is a bad thing, but an be tolerated for soldiering.

The fact is there are two vastly different types of H. sapiens in the World, and one is far more physically strong and fit than the other. They're two different categories of the species, so why shouldn't they be sorted into two different categories for sports?

They are held to the same standard, professionally speaking, that is why they get paid less. If they got paid the same but played on a lower level, then that would be holding them to a lower standard.

But atheletes aren't paid based on how capable they are compard to athletes in a completely different sport. They're paid based on how much commercial attention that sport attracts. Male football players and golfers are paid a lot more than female ones because they are more popular. But there are sports where the female version is more popular and brings in more money, even if none of them are as big as the biggest male sports. Tennis even seems about evenly divided betweent he sexes.

[Aanker]

Sports mostly test specific areas of the human body. Strength, swiftness, agility, etc. As with all traits, these can be improved through training and exercise, but being so heavily dependant on one's initial conditions (especially gender), it is simply not justifiable to have unisex sports. Where is the point? In the majority of cases where it comes down to pure strength, the men would beat the women. Where is the excitement if the outcome is next to predictable? Where is the competition?

Unlike other areas of society, such as business management or social life, sports test only a few set of traits. The ability of an individual to compete in his/her working life is not determined to a significant extent by gender (unless there is bias, of course), so an attempt to draw parallels with other areas of society is unsuitable. With sports, it's a different thing.

[OCWife]

If you give women enough steroids, they will turn into men.

[Soothsayer]

If you give women enough steroids, they will turn into men.

More like into freaks.