Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Fairness in Sports

Maybe I can't figure out Jezebel's comments, but, it doesn't seem to want to take my comment  (I don't want to think that there is a delay or something in moderation).  So, I've been reading other comments, I came across some real genius logic.
From bearsandmuppets:
"There is no reason why we can't allow women to use better clubs in golf and compete at the same tees. There is no reason why we can't give women metal bats in baseball (if that would be safe). Or, just impose a 50/50 rule in sports. I don't really care. But, I do care that watching sports is like watching male dominance and homophobia put on display. There is absolutely no reason why we need to continue to glorify these values in society."

So, to conclude, women are just as kick ass as men. Therefore, we should alter the rules to accommodate them at the elite level.

Other commenters called her out on this, to which she replied, " I do want them to play by the same rules. The fact of the matter is you are demanding every current rule to be the essential rules of the game. When you play monopoly with someone who has trouble rolling dice, do you automatically exclude them because they can't do it without help? No. That's foolish. So is excluding major-money golf from women because they can't hit it as far. They put and have a short game that are equal. The heart of golf is how accurate you hit it, it doesn't have to be how far you can hit it"

Ok, the physical act of rolling the dice makes no difference in the game of Monopoly. That's like saying someone with no arms can't play chess because they can't move the pieces. If they can still say communicate "queens bishop to Kings knight 5" (if that makes sense) they can play chess and it makes no difference to their ability to play the game. Giving special clubs or bats to women so they can play professionally with men is more like the way I play chess with my six-year old by starting with no queen.  Perhaps it would be like giving someone Park Place or Boardwalk to give them an advantage.

Now, bearsandmuppets' logic does not seem out of place on an Internet comments board.  Perhaps she's too young to understand fairness.  However, GLP's new post about the Paycheck Fairness Act seems to suggest that the same logic is used in Washington. 

I admit that this Jezebel article is low-hanging fruit and the comments are even lower.  I have many more in depth posts to write, I just don't have time.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Everyone Else Links with Jezebel, Why Can't I?

GLP linked to this zaniness at Jezebel.  Talk about grasping at straws.

My comment posted:
"When I was a kid, there was no WNBA. There were no female professional athletes."

The latter is simply not true - there were professional female figure skaters, skiers, gymnast/acrobats, synchronized swimmers.  Girls usually excel at different sports than boys. Not all of them are big spectator sports.

The study quoted takes a single data point from one sport - freestyle swim times - and extrapolates a wild conclusion - that girls at age 8 are just as good as boys at all sports.  It doesn't warrant explanation that personal best scores at age 8 are more indicative of how much training was done as 8 year-olds are still learning and developing basic skills and technics - despite the assumption that freestyle eliminates the training element and is "more likely to be influenced by muscle function".

I've coached young children in soccer and T-ball and, although there are some really good girls at young ages, most young girls are not nearly as good as average boys at the same age.  This is despite their aggressive, pushy mothers desperate that their 5-year-old girl must play elite-level sports one day.  It was no surprise when a local soccer club decided to split the boys and girls into separate leagues even at 3&4 years old.  I think it will have a positive affect on the girls divisions in times to come since less will be frustrated by playing against boys.

Finally, since when was a tie the same as kicking someone's ass? [end comment]
I guess Jezebel hasn't heard of the trend of injuries among Warrior Girls.
Femaleathlete is sensitive to criticism about her appearance.  Even though she's no model, she is probably at least a 6 or a 7 on the looks scale.  (Realistically speaking, not in the unrealistic scale that guys seem to use - i.e. perfect 10's don't exist and the hottest 2% score above 8 and 5 is average looking).  I distribute all women evenly on the scale - the top 10% are 10's, 10-20% are 9's etc.  Addlington is nowhere near ugly, especially judging by some of the photos posted by commenters [boob-flash].  I imagine that any athlete would want to avoid distractions before the biggest event in her career, so, I can't say I blame her for staying off twitter during the Olympics.  I'll just say that the Internet is a cruel, cruel place.  Don't post pictures of yourself unless you're willing to be humiliated.



Jezebelsuggests that 20-somethings consider freezing their eggs to ensure optimal fertility.  Don't consider, egad, seeking an older, stable mate and having children before you're thirty.  That's crrrrraaaaaaaazzzzzyyyyy talk.


Aging, one-hit-wonder, teen-pop-star, Alanis, reborn-as-pseudo-intellectual-hippie-chick, flash-in-the-pan, alternative-pop-star Alanis Morrisette is into attachment parenting [Boob-flash].  I don't think much of most of the attachment parenting philosophy (Mommy and Daddy need room in bed just to sleep, let alone get busy, so, letting kids sleep in their bed is just not going to work), but, I still love to see feminists so divided about a movement that both elevates The Female and encourages traditional roles at the same time.  There's just something so OPPRESSIVE about humanity since children leach so shamelessly off of their mothers.  If I could design a species, I tell ya, they'd be mowing the lawn by the time they were 12 months old.


Of course, everything about the Alanis piece speaks to her love for her child and the fact that she wants what's best for him, except the fact that she named him Ever.


[update:  I DID post that comment at Jezebel, but, it seems to have disappeared.  So, I've reposted.  See if anyone notices now.]