We’re all adults here, so I’m going to come right out and reveal my misogynistic thesis: men are better athletes than women, in the sense that if you pick any group of men and an equal number of women, such that the way both sexes are picked is identical, more men than women will on average be found to be better, faster, stronger.
Further, at the highest end of performance men will greatly outnumber women, again on average. Although statistics aren’t kept, it’s my guess that men will greatly outnumber women (on average) at the lowest end, too, since many of my sex are natural practitioners of the gentle art of indolence.
The reason for these gross discrepancies is because the biology, as yet uncontrolled by the government, of men and women is different. This is sad for women, of course, but (again, so far) an inescapable fact. Equality is not written in our genes, however much it is in our hearts.
Now, there lurk among us many who agitate for equality between the sexes (still largely just two). Many of these souls are satisfied if they can discover a strict—it must be strict, even though strict is probabilistically unlikely—statistical equality in employment or in other monetary terms.
The battle having largely been won in this arena, the agitators found themselves without a hobby. And so they turned to sports, where enormous statistical incongruities between males and females still existed. The activists started with money, an arena with familiar rules and turf. And it wasn’t even a battle. Equality, at least for public funding of sports, soon reigned.
But what to do about performance? The statistics of difference were plain, and most activists could understand enough biology to see that these differences were likely to continue even if laws were passed demanding these differences unjust.
Enter the wits: a clever minority who had no patience with activist antics. Or, better said, a too clever minority. They thought they could shut the mouths of the activists by pushing the activists’ arguments to their logical conclusions. Want real equality between boys and girls? Then eliminate separate sports programs and throw the boys and girls together! Don’t have boys’ football and girls’ football, just have football. Don’t create boys’ wrestling and girls’ wrestling, just have wrestling.
The wits thought that the activists would see that since participation on sports teams is merit based, the level of participation of females would drop like an “I voted for Reagan” comment at an Upper West Side dinner party. But the wits were wrong. Activists, whose minds are always in delicate balance, are often unable to appreciate sarcasm. They called the wits’ bluff.
In Iowa, girls can now wrestle with boys—and not just in cars in the parking lot at the Friday night dance. But in the rings and on the mats. The news reports that one young man refused to wrestle with his female opponent in the State final. He did so because he was a gentleman of the Old School. We commend him. But his forfeit allowed the girl to “win,” thus beginning an accumulation of statistics showing equality between girls and boys.
Of course, at the distant end of the 1970s at good old St. Mary’s High where yours truly matriculated, allowing boys to wrestle girls would have produced a surge of enrollment on the wrestling team. But today’s youth are more in tune with the near desperate desire for equality, it having been inculcated in them in every class in every grade. So most will play along.
However, that pesky boy-girl dimorphism will haunt equality efforts. In that same Iowa tournament, the only other girl lost her match with a boy not as reticent as his teammate. Yet equality must be had! So how long before the first sexual harassment charge which will be used to cancel a boy’s win? How many new rules—in football, basketball, wrestling, and on and on—will be instituted delineating just how hard, when, and especially where a boy may touch a girl? These rules will be implemented not just because some women hate the idea of boys touching girls, but to increase the advantages of the girls whose biology otherwise limits them.
Constraining and restraining boys thusly will, of course, bring the object of desire, but it will also hurt the sports themselves. Who would want to watch football game where the boys are not allowed to tackle the girls? Or a wrestling match were the boys must maintain a strict distance between his hands and most of the girls’ bodies?
Remember folks: it was predicted here first.
By football, you mean football, not american football, hey?
Sexual harrassment in football…. you sir are a prophet.
Born Free. As free as the wind blows…
Luis,
I apologize. It’s the last time, I promise.
Luis,
There’s only one kind of football. I know I’m going to make myself mighty unpopular around here, but having lived abroad long enough, I’ve long since come to realize that football is what is practiced everywhere else but here.
But real men play rugby.
Matt,
I practice a rather intense form of karate called “kyokushin.” It’s full contact knockdown karate. While the women are all of course extremely talented, and I personally would not take on any of them given my poor abilities, men and women still fight in different groups. This is good, because if they didn’t, the women would never win. The men who are serious competitors are beasts, and it wouldn’t make it very fun for either party involved.
I once got into a discussion with some people on Jezebel (don’t ask why I was there, I was bored) about why there is still an LPGA and PGA. Some of the ladies were saying that golf didn’t require separation of sexes. I pointed out that while the longest driving women in golf today are far beyond anything I’ll ever manage, they would only be average on the PGA tour. This would mean that none of them would ever be likely to win.
Personally, I think part of what makes athletics fun is the chance to win. Who the heck wants to lose every match? If you put women up against men in some attempt toward “equality,” you’re hurting the women more than the men, because then they won’t be able to win. That’s no fun!
NN, we all heard it. No apology necessary.
Briggs, is it wrong to wonder what possible motivation – other than misguided and abnormal parental encouragement – compels an adolescent female to voluntarily enmesh herself in the very public world of smelly armpits. stinky gyms and soiled mats? It sure can’t be romance or a love of aggressive body grappling and limb twisting. Is it denial, or belief in the doctrine of PC? Will it improve her future? Or her potential for “self-realization”?
I, too, salute the young man. He has courage to take such a public stand.
Ari, re: golf, et al. There are a few tournaments where women and men compete together, using golf’s gender-equalizing rules. For example the Pebble Beach Invitation, known locally as “The Callaway”. You are spot on, sir. Even there – though they all compete by the rules – a woman has never won, nor do any finish high up the leaderboard. They have fun, but I know it’s frustrating to a few of the better LPGA pros.
49er,
Yeah, I know about the Callaway– I’ve seen it. It’s rather depressing for the women, who are all fantastic athletes, to basically end up becoming sacrificial lambs to the “equality slaughter.”
I sort of cringe when I say these things, though, as I worry that some day I’ll be Googled, and someone in the future will accuse me of misogyny. Oh well. I’ll still say this: the female sensei in my dojo would still kick my ass, and that probably won’t change any time soon.
Congratulations to Mr. Northrup on refusing to become a pawn in some whacked-out sexual political game. If he had competed, he would only have the alternatives of (a) losing to a girl with all that attendant mockery, or (b) beating a girl to his own shame and an asterisk in the record books. But instead, he reasoned “This is a no-win situation for me, so f— you, I’m not playing your stupid game,” and he Got Off the Wheel. A man’s man if ever there were one.
Does anybody remember the reality TV show some years ago where teams would compete to climb mountains, canoe down rivers, hike across desserts etc? Did you ever notice they would never pit an all male team against an all female team?
When the military started training male and female recruits together, they really had to reduce the rigor of the physical training because too many women were being injured. When I joined the Navy, the physical training resulted in broken bones, brain concussions and near drowndings. The medical dept hated the PT because so many people ended up in the hospital with injuries. Today it’s a kinder gentler Navy and they don’t allow such rough and tumble PT. I am not a misogynist, I am really looking forward to the formation of that all female combat unit that the feminists so desperatly want.
I wonder why girls are allowed to wrestle boys in Iowa. The girl must be pretty good to advance to the State Final. Anyway, if she is qualified, shouldn’t she be allowed to compete? Isn’t this what “equality†is about?
JH,
I concur, to be in the state final in Iowa, she must be a talented wrestler.
Since wrestling is divided into weight classes, the size advantage that men have over women is neutralized. But men still have more muscle as a percentage of body weight. This woman must hae been very fit.
In the 1980’s there was a woman on the football team. I hear in texas there are a few on the freshman teams. 14 year old girls are as big as the boys.
Lastly, why is billiards segregated?
I don’t get the fuss, and I suspect young Mr. Northrup may someday regret this decision, where he VOLUNTARILY chose to eliminate himself from a competition that could have ended in him being a state champion. Yes, I realize that there were some special circumstances here (religious reasons, as I understand it), but still, this isn’t a big deal.
As others have pointed out, wrestling is a weight-class sport, so much of the size advantage that a boy would typically have is muted. Furthermore, wrestlng, is a very technique-oriented sport, again an area where a girl can excel as well as a boy. And finally, again as others have pointed out, if this girl was competing in the state meet, she must have won or place at some sectional, regional, or district level meet, and therefore must be a worthy opponent.
As to why she wrestles, it seems to me to be obvious: she’s good at it.
I am an old retired warrior. I was in the military when they decided to bring women into most career fields. Prior to this they were mostly in the medical field as nurses and such and in the admin field as typist and secretaries to the generals. Two observations about the changes: 1)The women are pretty capable in the jobs requiring intelligence. In fact the education enlistment standards were initially set higher for women to make sure they would not fail. For the most part they did their job well. 2)The inevitable happened and women found themselves in those fields that involved combat or risk of combat. They don’t do that well, they don’t have the physical strength required in combat. So to cover for them the military changed the standards, mostly the physical standards, and made it certain career death if any commander in the field actually treated them as equal and expected the women to do the same thing the men did. Now don’t get me wrong, the women were gung ho and wanted to do what was required but they could not. They physically could not hike 20 miles with a 90 lb pack. Let me give you a concrete example: If you are the gunner in a Humvee with a .50 cal gun mounted on the roof and the Humvee is disabled by enemy fire you are supposed to grab the gun, the mount for the gun and the ammo and run for cover and set up a defensible position. This is well over 100 lbs!! And the enemy is shooting at you!! Now this may or may not suprise you but every male soldier can do it. Even that skinny 120 lb pimply faced 18 year old can do it. And virtually every woman could not. I really don’t need to explain this to anyone who has raised a son. I don’t know why it is but the guys can climb and run and dive off cliffs and carry 100 lbs and they will even try to do it all while drinking beer if you let them but the girls either will not or can not. But it gets worse. The guys want to protect the girls so in combat instead of doing what they were trained to do they will often put themselves at risk to go rescue the female. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not intentionally and blindly trying to be a misogynist I’m simply reporting “what is”. So far this hasn’t created any major problems but it has consistently created problems which are mostly covered up. My fear is someday when it will hurt us the most it will create major problems. If we cannot find some way to prevent the “creeping” intergration of women into every field in the military, including combat, then we need to return to placing women in medical and admin only. Just my opinion.
Shouldn’t someone point out that for adolescents – people going through a mess of hormones and discovering their sexual identity – that wrestling with the opposite gender might be a very confusing and nerve-wrecking ordeal?
Such things will have untold unintended consequences that will be most hilarious to cynics like me.
If everybody drank a bottle or two of Mike’s Maccine, we wouldn’t have this kind of problem.
As a former high school wrestler and afficiando of other sports including handball I am all too aware of the equality of my betters; but, they’ve always been of the same sex playing by the exact same rules. Change the sex and expect a change in the rules. Ergo, I conclude, Dr. Briggs has, once again, hit the proverbial nail directly on its head.
I take it with a laugh, Nomen, don’t worry ;).
Matt,
re:
You mean he was pretty chatty compared to his teammate?
And the girl wrestler was not able to make it to the finals:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/short_reign_for_girl_wrestler_cGLE5vHZcQA9aHWCOffUkO
And the purpose of high school sports is?
o Field the best team possible in order to defeat (all) other schools which means that players are the biggest, strongest and fastest – sorry girls
o Provide a learning experience for students — everybody plays grouped by physical characteristics (size and weight, maybe gender)
o Improve physical condition of students — everybody plays grouped by physical characteristics (size and weight, maybe gender)
Why does wrestling have weight classes? So all (male) students can participate. A side effect is that female students as well as small/light boys can compete.
Why do boys refuse to wrestle girls? Rationally, there is no reason why a boy should prefer to lie on the ground and grope another boy rather than a girl. There are places that girls would rather not touch boys in public just like there are places that boys would rather not touch girls in public. Same for boy-boy and girl-girl matches.
Early reports on this suggested that some boys don’t want to risk being beaten by a girl.
There have been cases where female high school tennis players were so outstanding that they had to practice against boys to improve their game.
Speed says: “There have been cases where female high school tennis players were so outstanding that they had to practice against boys to improve their game.”
And thus proving Brigg’s point- it is a rare event as biology dictates it must in sports that rely on speed, strength and mass. I note you did not say the girl tennis phenoms had to play against the best boys to get better- just boys.
Two givens. I’m old and high school wrestling has changed a bit since I wasn’t old. That said, in my day wrestlers mostly worried quite a bit – and took precautions against – painful, instantly debilitating sudden movements, blows and pressures applied to their own crotch areas – to what Jeremy Clarkson refers to as “gentleman’s vegetables”.
It would seem to me a competitor who did not physically possess such an “Achilles heel” would have an advantage of sorts over one who did, all else supposedly being “equal”. And therein lies the fallacy that weight class, alone, is a fair method of equalizing competitive advantages in the sport of wrestling. If women need to compete against men in body contact sports let them first grow functional testes. And to distaff readers who might be curious, wearing the ubiquitous “cup” helps out some but doesn’t actually eliminate the impediment. Sometimes it makes it worse, depending…..
Political Correctness is once again scientifically proven to be stupid. No offense to the nominally stupid intended.
Speed: “… there is no reason why a boy should prefer to lie on the ground and grope another boy rather than a girl … ”
Some of the boys at the Queen’s Club may not agree with that statement.
—
I don’t think it would be very PC for PC sentiments to start making sense. For example, from what I’ve heard, Obama canceled National Prayer Day because we are no longer a Christian nation and, of course, we don’t want to offend although I don’t think there was anything about Christianity when it was instituted.. He then turned around and participated in a National Day of Prayer with Muslim’s. Now that wasn’t an “official” day but it surely amounts to one. So go figure.
“Further, at the highest end of performance men will greatly outnumber women, again on average. Although statistics aren’t kept, it’s my guess that men will greatly outnumber women (on average) at the lowest end, too, since many of my sex are natural practitioners of the gentle art of indolence.”
This is a classic example of DAT – Doghouse Avoidance Tactics; having pointed out the indisputable superiority of men to women in some field of endeavour the man must then gratuitously denigrate his sex and/or himself in some other way so as to escape or at least mitigate female censure. It’s a version of the “some of my best friends are XYZ” and about as sensible and effective. The quote is also nonsensical. Since, as Briggs says at the very beginning, “men are better athletes than women”, this remains the case whether at the top or bottom end of the performance scale. Furthermore, athletes of whatever ability, are hardly indolent, else they wouldn’t be athletes in the first place.
Ari says “While the women are all of course extremely talented [at karate]…I personally would not take on any of them given my poor abilities….” Why are the women *all of course* extremely talented? Ari himself has “poor abilities” yet no woman in the group is anything other than a star! Not a single one. A conundrum indeed.
Similarly Ari goes out of his way to advertise his non-threateningness to the sisterhood by pointing out that “the longest driving women in golf today are far beyond anything I’ll ever manage”, which is neither here nor there as regards their ability versus the male professionals. This self-abasement is simply a timid white flag to the feminazis in the hope that they wont take his lunch money. In addition he dehumanizes the alpha male fighters by describing them as “beasts”, as if the only way a man can physically excel a woman is to conjure up his brutish inner Hulk. What Dworkinesque trash!
The old grunt, GoneWithTheWind, is right: “Even that skinny 120 lb pimply faced 18 year old” is physically more capable than all the Amazons of beta men’s febrile fantasies. Ari may be a lost cause, but the rest of you men stand tall and take *unapologetic* pride in the achievements of the sex to which it is your honour, privilege and good fortune to belong.
BTW, though chess is a completely non-segregated non-athletic activity, there is a World Chess Championship for women alone. We’re not just all brawn, boys.
Except there’s no being alive that doesn’t have that “achilies heel”. Women still have a mess of nerves down there just like men do. It will still debilitate them to hit them hard there. (unless perhaps they are so experienced they’ve developed callouses).
DAV: You say, ” … Obama canceled National Prayer Day … ”
This is not true. Rather than simply assert this I’ll provide some links.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2010/04/15/national-day-of-prayer-2010-canceled.htm
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-06/politics/obama.prayer_1_national-day-prayer-observance-prayer-task-force?_s=PM:POLITICS
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/05/obama-cancels-national-prayer-day-service.html
I will assert that Obama did not ” … participated in a National Day of Prayer with Muslim’s [sic] … ” since I can find no reliable, official and/or trustworthy source that says he did. I leave it to you to prove me wrong on this point.
49er,
Dennis Miller (speaking to the Earth regarding the supposed fragility of it’s climate system to increasing CO2:) “Buck up, and wear a cup!”
I wasn’t sure if you were looking at the comments anymore, so I’ll simply address you here as well as on the blog. Feel free to respond either place, or nowhere. Up to you.
“Ari says “While the women are all of course extremely talented [at karate]…I personally would not take on any of them given my poor abilities….†Why are the women *all of course* extremely talented? Ari himself has “poor abilities†yet no woman in the group is anything other than a star! Not a single one. A conundrum indeed.”
The women are talented because they have all worked hard, they fight well, they practice their kata and kumite, and they are physically conditioned to the point that they can fight well. Kyokushin weeds out the week rather quickly. In a dojo of kyokushin karateka, you might get one or two women out of 10 to 20 men. The women who can make it tend to be upper percentile types.
You don’t make it to shodan or higher in kyokushin without talent. You know why? To make shodan in kyokushin, you need to step into a ring and win. You don’t win without talent, because there is always someone who is just as hungry to win.
The women who make it in kyokushin all earn their way, and are all quite good.
I’m not talking about the white belts, but the shodan or above sensei in my dojo. You are free to impugn my motives, but I assure you, they are all quite talented after years or decades of practicing kyokushin. Those who aren’t just don’t make it past white or orange belt anyway.
“Similarly Ari goes out of his way to advertise his non-threateningness to the sisterhood by pointing out that “the longest driving women in golf today are far beyond anything I’ll ever manageâ€, which is neither here nor there as regards their ability versus the male professionals. This self-abasement is simply a timid white flag to the feminazis in the hope that they wont take his lunch money. In addition he dehumanizes the alpha male fighters by describing them as “beastsâ€, as if the only way a man can physically excel a woman is to conjure up his brutish inner Hulk. What Dworkinesque trash!”
No, it’s not Dworkinesque trash. It’s simply the truth. I will never drive what Michelle Wie drives. I have neither the inclination nor the time to get to that level. So what?
Plus, I flat out said that the men will always beat the women. How is this in any way me debasing anything? I’m a modest guy by nature. Excuse me for not waving my phallus around and declaring myself superior where I am not.
I’ll say it here: on average, men are more physically capable than women. This translates into better athletic ability on average.
However, while I am pretty fit and can run a half-marathon without really being too miserable, I am a bit of a klutz. I’m not terribly talented at sports in general. It is by no means “Dwokinesque trash” (cute) for me to state that all of the high-ranking LPGA golfers are superior to me. This is just a fact.
As for my using the word “beast,” I meant that positively, given how kyokushin works. Being a beast in martial arts is an advantage. Especially in a knockdown style such as kyokushin. The physical stamina necessary to complete the higher level challenges such as the 100 man kumite are far beyond most people, male or female; especially women, though. You absolutely need to be a beast to do that. Hell, it’s something I guarantee most men could never accomplish. You ever watch MMA? The guys who are competitive DO conjure up inner hulks.
So what? It’s not insulting them. Given what is needed to excel, it’s offering a complement. The fact is, physical ability only takes you so far in a martial art: a lot has to do with conditioning, stamina, and your ability to take a hit. The strongest guys who win the most have an almost supernatural ability to take and dole out punishment.
Call it what you want: strength of will, extreme stamina, whatever. Amongst the people I talk to, we call them “beasts” because they’re like powerful animals in the ring. It’s a damned compliment. That’s how you win.
But hey, what would I know, I’m just the guy who gets kicked in the kidneys three times a week by other karateka. Appeal to authority and experience? Yup. But hey, listen, if you want to believe that my female sensei aren’t talented, why don’t you come by and walk the walk? We’re always looking for new members.
It’s nice of you to paint me as some cowering sap, but it’s simply not true. Always fun to have random people who don’t know me insulting me though. I suppose at the very least, unlike most internet tough guys, you at least put your face up so people know who you are. For that I applaud you.