The other day, I was talking with some friends about high school and how I played a sport and our girls team wasn't very good, so I went to the athletic director to see if I could join the boys team to have better competition and a better team. I was told I was unable to because our girls golf team had enough players to make a full team and that girls couldn't play on a boys team if they have a girls team available. I didn't necessarily think that was fair, but I went on and played on my girls team and qualified in most tournaments just as an individual, my team never winning.
One of my friends that I was talking to about this said they didn't have a girls team at their high school, but had girls that played golf. They also weren't allowed to play on the boys team. My friend told me that girls had to be on a girls team or they couldn't play the sport, the only thing they were allowed to do was be a manager for a boys team.
I found that highly unfair. Being a female who plays a sport, if my school didn't have a girls team, I would do everything I could to be on the boy's team. It isn't fair to shut down a girl just because there aren't enough to start a team. Females aren't seen as athletic just because of our sex and it isn't fair for us to be treated differently for that simple matter.
If men and women are supposed to be treated equally now, why are females not allowed to play on an all male's sports team, when there isn't one provided for them? Is there truly equality after all?
I think that this is a very valid argument. When I was in high school, I went to a boys' wrestling tournament. One of the schools had a girl on their team. She was dressed in the team's uniform, had on her wrestling shoes, and yet she just sat on the sidelines for the entire tournament. My best friend's Dad helped to coach my school's wrestling team & I asked him why that girl was not out there competing even though she was clearly a team member. He stated that to have her wrestle a boy would be inappropriate! That day has always stuck with me because I feel like that situation was just a big slap in the face to that girl. They let her on the team, let her wear the uniform, and then they wouldn't even let her compete because-this is the conclusion that I drew from my friend's dad's statement-it was too "sexual" of a thing (to have a girl and a boy wrestling). I have to agree with Erika that females aren't seen as equal to men when it comes to athletics, and I think that it is very saddening. I'm not sure why women still are not treated equally when it comes to sports, especially in high school. I think that people still have this mentality that women are little "weaklings" and thus they can't play certain sports like males can. I do not think that is true at all, and I have to agree that this inequality in sports for men and women is only reflecting how society really views men and women: as unequal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment of men and women participating in sports together as being perceived as a somewhat sexual act, and I think that this is more so the culprit of gender inequality in sports than women being considered as "weaklings". My boyfriend has told me on several occasions that when women have male friends, they get to a point when they no longer think of them in a (potentially) sexual manner, but rather, they start thinking of them as a brother and put them in the "friend zone". Men however, always think of their female friends as being a potential girlfriend and/or sexual partner. I think this is a big reason why women can't play on men's teams in sports now-a-days - men involved and/or in charge within the sport are afraid that having a woman on the team will "distract" the other members and/or complicate the team dynamic by adding a sexual component. Any thoughts?
DeleteI think it's a mix between the two. "You got beat by a girl!" "Yeah, well, her boobs distracted me." "Oh, she shouldn't be allowed to play, then." It's always the woman's fault because 'we have the power to incite sexual excitement in others'. It's a double whammy. A woman can be strong for a woman and that's fine (not the ideal, because the stronger a woman is the more masculine she is, and therefore less sexually attractive), but to compete against men is bad because it opens up the opportunity for a man to be weaker than a woman, in addition to being less of a sportsman because he's distracted by her sexuality.
ReplyDeleteI know personally, most of my male friends and my brothers have not enjoyed playing sports with women(formally, IM or just dicking around is another story) because they're pushing themselves to the limit and are afraid of hurting her. I know that carries a level of sexism with it (women are weak and they'll hurt them, despite everyone who plays football wearing pads or whatever protective measures have been taken for that sport), but it at least comes from a place of concern, I think.
It's possible that concern is just a rouse for their more insidious motives, but I think the three play together in a very muddy, inseparable way (isn't that life, though.)
This sad part about your story is that high school is probably the place with the BEST chance for a woman to join a men's team. Once in college and beyond, the chances plummet, since most places do not do coed teams.
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