Quote:
Originally Posted by Lioness  Of course, there have always been great female athletes. But the stars in the WNBA can't compete with the stars in the NBA. None of the Olympic sports I can think of have males competing against females.
I think sports will be eventually be integrated, we're already seeing it in wrestling, and a girl recently made headlines by getting on her junior high football team.
But here's the problem. Let's say the boys and girls basketball team have been abolished in favor of one team for all. I used to be on the girls team and I want try out for the new team. Now I'm going to be competing against guys that have a natural advantage, if only because they are taller. If the players are selected by merit only, very few girls will be able to make the team. If you try to even the playing field; guys with better skills will be unfairly left off the team. I don't think that's fair to the girls or the boys. |
This seems to have ventured pretty far off the original topic--or at least, content-wise started to focus on minutiae--but there are several answers for this "problem" and it is not nearly as black and white as you make it sound. There is the option of unisex teams as well as segregated teams for those who desire them. There is the fact that there already exists levels of teams and unisex teams would not abolish this--it is not as if those who don't make the top cut wouldn't have the opportunity to play.
Furthermore, this isn't a legislative issue. These are private recreational organizations, with the exception of public schools whose individual boards make these types of decisions. Private interests like that--when the only concern is the interests of the participants (the "boys and girls" as you put it)--do tend to self-regulate decently.
But I feel the most glaring problem with this post is what you haven't addressed: you just took a small point and blew it up into a whole argument.