In class on Monday we continue
talking about sex, gender, and sexuality. The class just finished talking about
sexuality and then a statement was brought up. According to McDonaugh and
Pappano, “We should not sort athletes by what sex they are, but rather by their
skill, interest, and ability in relation to the particular sports they wish to
play” (Mcdonaugh,2008,p. 10). After Dr. Spencer presented this statement she
had a few questions on this statement which included if we agreed or disagreed
with the statement and why or why not?
In my
opinion I do not necessarily agree with there statement. In some sports I can
see this being possible but in the same respect in others it wouldn’t. This
especially in the higher levels of sport because of the strength and speed of
the athletes. I don’t think many if any females would be able to reach the
level and some of the male athletes and this is not based of just a male’s perspective
because I know some females that would agree with me. In non contact sports
such as tennis or golf girls would be able to compete because it has been
proven but such contact sports such as football or soccer where natural speed
and strength is needed to compete day in and day out. I would like to see girls
compete at a higher level but I don’t see it happening just due strength and
speed and not talent because there are plenty of girls that have a lot of
talent and even more than guys.
My question
to whoever reads this is would you agree with my thoughts, and if you do is
there anything you would like to add? If you don’t agree please explain your
thoughts and maybe it would change my thoughts on this topic.
McDonagh,
E., & Pappano, L. (2008). What’s the problem? In Playing with the boys (pp. 1-37). Oxford, NY: Oxford University
Press.
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your sentiments on this topic, and feel that based on the physical build of each sex, it would not be fair to compare them equally in competition against one another. However, with that being said, I am not negating the concept of females being more skilled than males in some areas of sport. For example, when Billy Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," it was a huge testament to the physical and mental capabilities of women in sport. Also, I would love to see Caster Semenaya run track against some of the fastest men in the world to see how they would compare. From a personal example, it was an accepted fact when I was in high school that the absolute best player on our ice hockey team for my first 2 seasons was a girl. In fact, she dominated the sport in just about every facet, including physicality, and she shared a very harmonious atmosphere with the rest of the guys - whether it be in-game or in the locker room. So, to conclude, there is no argument that some females are and will always be better than some males in sport, but at the same time, there are some levels that women are just not meant to compete in with men.
I agree with everything that Matt K. has said. I do respect women's professional sports, but they do not have the speed and physicality to play contact sports with men. I do not believe it is in the best interests for women to play with men. Today in class we talked about how the merger of the AIAW and the NCAA, combined with Title IX, drastically cut the number of women coaches and administrators. Same thing happen to the blacks when they integrated the two baseball leagues. I believe it is smart to keep men and women separate in professional sports.
ReplyDeleteMatt McCarroll
I also feel the same way as the other members of my group. While male and females have different characteristics and their bodies mature at different rates, it is not fair to have them compete against each other on a professional level. It was more of a possibility before Title IX that men and woman could compete on a collegiate level together. But now that they have equal opportunity there is no need to even really consider it. In today's sporting world woman can find all girl leagues for contact sports that did not exist twenty years ago. On campus at BGSU they have a woman's rugby and hockey teams.
ReplyDelete-Derek Flores
DeleteTo start off this comment I would just like to say I am happy that our Blog is working correctly so we must have done something right. On another note I like everyones comments and agree with your guys thoughts. I liked how Matt brought up his point on when Title IX integrated and cut the number of coaches and administrators. With that being said maybe it would have been better off to keep the leagues separate which could have helped with the development of women's sports. That is only a theory though... Another thing Neil I agree with your thoughts and how some women will be better than males. But with the Battle of the sexes, I might be wrong with saying this but wasnt Bobby Riggs was out of shape when he played her? which she could have had the edge with conditioning. The last thing i would like to ask is does anybody think that a girl professional tennis player could defeat a male professional player? I think it would be cool to see a modern day "Battle of the Sexes."
ReplyDeleteMatt Konyesni
First let me say that I too am glad that your blog is working and that everyone is posting comments. This is a great discussion that your group has going. However, now that the "Battle of the Sexes" has been brought up, I feel that I need to enter into the discussion:-) I want to clear up a few things about that. For one thing, Matt K. had the impression that Bobby Riggs was out of shape and Billie Jean King may have had the edge with her conditioning. In preparation for the Battle of the Sexes, Riggs famously bragged about taking hundreds of vitamins per day before he played Billie Jean King. He was a hustler so he wanted to get every advantage that he could. He later admitted that he did not take King as seriously as he should have, perhaps in part because he had beaten Margaret Court so handily before he played King. If she won because of better conditioning, that does not diminish her accomplishment. If anything, it proves to me that she was more mentally tough. Another thing that many people say about the match-up was that King had an age advantage since she was 29 and he was 55. However, again, he had recently defeated the No. 1 player in the world (i.e., Margaret Court), 6-2, 6-1. So it was not out of the realm of possibility that he could have won.
ReplyDeleteAs for a modern day Battle of the Sexes, there have been attempts to stage one. In 1991, Jimmy Connors played Martina Navratilova in Las Vegas. Unlike the King-Riggs match, Martina was allowed to hit into Connors' alleys and I believe he may have had only one serve. He ended up winning that match (I think it was 7-5, 6-3). Their ages were more comparable. More recently, Venus and Serena Williams put out a challenge to play any man in the locker room when they were at the Australian Open (about 10 years ago). They had a taker in a German player, Karsten Braasch, a chain smoker who was not in the best of shape. He may have been ranked No. 100 or 200 at the time, but he beat both Venus and Serena by scores of 6-1. Later, the McEnroe brothers challenged the Williams sisters in what was to be a modern-day "Battle of the Sexes." However, the match fell apart for some reason and there ended up being a lawsuit.
I could probably go on but will save some of it for class.
Hi guys :)
ReplyDeleteI don’t think there’s any question that in general males and females are just made differently, that’s why we have the separation of sexes in the first place. I found an article online that explained a little more in detail how they are different. “The remaining sex gaps in performance appear biological in origin. Success in distance running and sprinting is determined largely by aerobic capacity and muscular strength, respectively. Because men possess a larger aerobic capacity and greater muscular strength, the gap in running performances between men and women is unlikely to narrow naturally” (Cheuvront 2005). The only problem I have with our interpretation of this is that it sounds like we’re saying that men & women will never be equal so let’s not even try. If there was an option available for the exceptions of that rule to compete in the men’s category then we might see a shift in the abilities of women, or at least the elite women. It would also give the Caster Semenya’s of the world a real challenge and opportunity to improve. I don’t think we should expect to replace 50% of the NFL with women and see positive results but I don't see why there can't be some alternative for a woman who wasn’t challenged by other women. Who knows, we might eventually see an elevation in competition in general.
Cheuvront, S. N., Carter III, R., DeRuisseau, K. C., & Moffatt, R. J. (2005). Running performance differences between men and women: An update . Sports Medicine, 35(12), 1017-1024.
Lauren, Thanks for sharing this article. I am glad to see a women's point of view infused into this discussion:-)
ReplyDelete