Sidelined by Sexism

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Equinox_Boss, Sep 25, 2013.

  1. Today I read a very interesting article about a school's problem with a sport dominating over other sports. Here's the link to it. I'm curious on what you guys think.

    http://www.westlakefeatherduster.com/?p=980

    I know there are comments, but frankly, 'Zach' has to learn his grammar. This further proves this articles' point.

    PS: please do not start a flame war. I just want to know what y'all think. :)
  2. I don't know about your school, but my school gives a ton of credit to the girl's teams. Our girls hockey team has gone undefeated for 3 years in a row and everybody cares about that! probably more than the boys team at our school :p The think I don't like about articles like this is that the writer seems to be extremely angry. Which they have the right to be angry, but I just don't like when people put anger into their work. Try and display your point of view without making the other side seem incredibly bad. Granted that sexism is bad but this article makes it seem that guys are terrible which isn't the case. It makes it seem like its the guys are controlling when it's not their fault. Also when it said that people think that boy's games are more "suitable" to watch, I kind of agree. I wouldn't use the word suitable (I forget what word they use) but from my observations boy's games seem to be more fast paced than girls which can make it more fun to watch for people. This is just my opinion, please do not get in a rage about it.
    cddm95ace and Equinox_Boss like this.
  3. My school is as supportive of its girls teams as the boys teams are supported, and although the boys teams get a lot of credit, this doesn't mean the girls don't get the recognition they deserve. The article seems a little one-sided in my eyes, and the only evidence that the boys are considered the only "true" athletes is pure opinion.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  4. Honestly, whoever wrote that article is far beyond saving, that any comment against it on the site is worthless. Sports are not sexist. It may appear so to someone if they are looking for a fault in the system, but they aren't.

    No matter how much effort is put into it, the WNBA is just not as exciting as the NBA. Someone could campaign all they wanted, but that won't change the reality that the NBA is better. Why is the NBA better? Well, there is a large underlying reason, but I'm not going to go into that. But, it is not because of sexism.

    The problem isn't sexism, the problems is the sports team itself. If women's sports want me to enjoy them* as much as I enjoy men's sports, then it is their job to make it more enjoyable. Don't go waving the sexism flag, that just shows that your (the author's) level of understanding is below 0.

    *I don't mean that all men's sports are more enjoyable. I'm just referring to my general preferences. I personally prefer women's hockey over men's at my school, because they provide a better experience. Same reasoning for other women's sports vs men's sports.
  5. I agree with jk on this. It might be true that the NBA gets more popularity than the WNBA, but there is no sexism element involved with that judgement, the women have just as much of an opportunity to succeed in the WNBA as the men do in the NBA.
  6. But do you think that have a group of just girls doing things for men is a what humans have been trying to get away from for centuries? Women are supposed be strong and independent and not be assigned to things like cooking and household chores. I agree with what everyone has said, but honestly, I don't really know what it's like to be a high school girl because I'm not either.
    I just wish there was more appreciation for different sports and maybe a collaboration between the genders to provide moral support for every group.
    jkjkjk182 likes this.
  7. I think that the school in the article is not a good representation of the majority. At my school, everyone works together. If you looks at trend charts, they show that women's independence in [category/whatever] has been steadily rising and the genders are roughly the same now.

    In the article, it is clear that the author used local examples and local preconceived norms as their evidence, but then they made the mistake of trying to apply it to the world as a whole.
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  8. But that's the thing. UIL sports will not sponsor a girls football team. Women don't even have a chance in the first place. Now I agree with what you said by the article being on a local scale, and it depends on where you live, but these sort of things shouldn't happen at all. That what the author was trying to say I think.
  9. Thats where Title 9 comes into effect though. Technically, women have just as equal of a chance as men do create the best experience. The problem still lies within the team. The team doesn't take that chance to the level that they should.

    Take my local Lacrosse team for example. They get absolutely zip funding from the school, they are 100% fundraiser funded. They decided that they wanted to get the best experience, which in turn gives me as a "fan" a good experience since the level of competition is very high (they are up against highly school funded teams, from suburbs that are wealthy).

    It was their determination that has contributed greatly to their success and popularity at my school. They are also all women.

    I agree that things like what the author portrays shouldn't happen at all, but the unfortunate reality is that it will happen, and that it can't be stopped. I don't know if you have taken an economics class yet, but it can be compared to the economics of crime. The fact that there are limited resources makes it so that there is a point in which we just don't want to pay for more crime prevention, which means there will be crime. Well, thats the case here too. The majority of the public doesn't want to spend the money to "fix" the schools that have the problems described in the article, so there will be your rare school that exhibits the issues stated in the article. But in general, there is no issue of sexism.

    If the article was aimed at the local population, I wouldn't be so against it because at that point, the target audience statistics are completely different. The issue I see with it is that they are trying to bring it to the global stage. Its the same tactic that politicians use, the one which makes the six months prior to an election media hell.
  10. I see everything differently now. Thanks. :)
    cddm95ace and jkjkjk182 like this.
  11. I go to an all guys school. If we started caring about our "girl's team" we would have a serious problem.
    jkjkjk182, 72Volt and Equinox_Boss like this.
  12. I also just wanted to say that people overuse sexism as an argument. For example, at my school we had to hire a new head of the upper school or high school. There were five candidates and 4 guys and 1 girl. The one girl was the worst choice because she had no personality and didn't know how to run an upper school. But because of people complaining about sexism they had to choose the girl even though she was the worst choice by far. There was one of the guys who was fantastic and knew exactly what he was doing and knew how to connect with the students and make them happier while still following the school rules. Yet the girl was chosen. People shouldn't abuse sexism because people should chose on who does the better job or who's sport is more interesting to watch.
  13. whats really sexist honestly is that we dont allow females to participate in most normal "male dominated sports" now comparatively the best wnba basketball players dont quite match up to the top nba but im sure they can compete and outdunk rondo. i think every sport except hockey and football should be integrated. and the only reason i dont think those should be is because it is proven that men are more likely to take it easy on a woman in a contact sport (or injure them horrifically due to differences in bone density) but baseball, soccer, tennis, running and basketball all should be integrated. the problem i see a lot with the "W" version of things like the nba is a lack of competitive spirit. male teams you see a lot of fights (within sportsmanlike conduct) if you watch a wnba game theres a lot of feminine comradery going on and that disinterests the majority of people who are intrigued by conflict, struggle, and strife. put men and women together and the dynamic changes. the competitive spirit gets turned up. the internal drama becomes apparent etc. people dont watch reality shows to see who the winner is they watch it for the drama and the same concept applies to sports to a smaller degree.
  14. I kinda agree with Bitemenow but I kinda don't. I don't think all sports should be integrated because girls and guys (for the most part) are on different physical levels. Also girls and guys don't work the same way and can't cooperate as well in a group making it harder to play the sport and making it less interesting to watch (also there are other sports besides football and hockey that are contact sports).
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  15. True, but what about things like girls volleyball? I guess no one cares about female sports as much.
  16. What do you mean like girls volleyball? I'm sorry I just don't understand what you meant by that because I can be slow and am really tired haha. For the part about no one caring for girls sports, people do care for girls sports like mentioned above (girls hockey over boys hockey). And what if people don't care about girls sports as much? That isn't the guy's fault. We can't force people to care about girl sports as much as guy sports. That's like trying to get someone to like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as much as a BLT (Both are delicious and good but they just prefer one over the other). We shouldn't force people into liking something as much as something else. People should have their own opinions.
    Equinox_Boss and cddm95ace like this.
  17. For sports like football wich is normally considered a "male dominated sport" people are constantly ramming into you. You are constantly being buried under 20 people at a time. Naturally, the way male bodies are built, they are generally sturdier and more full of padding and muscle than female bodies. That is completely natural. Women have thinner bones and less muscle generally because that is just how it is. It is completely natural. It is because of the different hormones that people produce based on their gender. Therefore, relatively "violent" sports like football will remain "male dominated."
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  18. I think the problem is where you live and how your body is built.
    That makes sense.
  19. thats what i meant by contact sports. there are others but most are to a smaller degree of contact. basketball is considered a contact sport
    Equinox_Boss likes this.
  20. But women still play it?