What do you people all think about the lastest fiasco in little league? Apparently a softball team has a couple of boys on it, and some all-girl teams are refusing to play them. One the one hand, you could argue that why should they invade a girls sport when there are boys teams they could play on? What if a male basketball player tried to play in the WNBA? Or an older example, if a white ballplayer tried to play in the Negro Leagues (I only bring that one up because it’s a story in the Onion’s Our Dumb Century book)? But, what happened to gender equality? If Little League told a girl she couldn’t be on a boys’ team, they would be ripped apart in public opinion. But now that boys want to play on a girls team, its ok to say that they can’t? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Personally, I think that Little League tournaments of this scale should be done away with altogether. As a sports writer in a smaller market, I’ve seen quite up close the jerks parents can be over crap like Little League, soccer, etc. If they would do away with tournaments and all-stars and stuff like that (where the coach’s kids all play), they could make the regular season longer, where every kid could play.
In high school a handfull of girls were allowed to play on the boys’ various teams.
I went to my school admin and asked to be allowed “Cheerleader” status (I am male). I was informed I could join pep team. I said no, I wanted the pom-poms, the skirt, ect.
I was not even allowed to try out for the cheerleading squad. I started to ask around and tell teachers, students ect. 3 days later I was kicked out of school for “causing a disturbance”.
Well it is tough. I think that (no offense to women they are my favorite gender) males are generally stronger than females. Usually in sports a person can go up in a weight or age division but never down. That is a high school wrestler can choose to wrestle in a higher weight class but he can never wrestle in a lighter division.
So, if a girl wants to play on a guys team, then she has choosen to play the way the boys play and should not complain. I am fine with girls playing on a guys team, but usually it only happens if there is no girls team of the same sport.
But guys should not be allowed to play on a girls team, just due to the fact that he is probably bigger and stronger and the girls did not sign up for that so to speak. Also, usually there are guys teams available.
I believe the story is that the school did not have enough girls to fill the team so they had to pad with guys, but then someone else said that if that was the fact then why did three girls sit on the bench the entire game while 5 boys played. I think softball has 10 players or at least 9 so at least half the team was male. Now, if it was a co-ed league fine, but it is supposed to be a girls league.
Now, if I were the coach of the opposing team, I would tell the girls that it was up to them if they wanted to play the boy/girl team or not, but I would encourage them to do so. If they lost then they gave it their best and no disgrace, but if they won, then they kicked the butts of boys and girls and could be proud.
The coach of the team that potentially was to face them in the finals said they would not play the team. But not playing would mean the other team would win by forfeit, so either way they would win, I would encourge my team to go out and give them everything they had.
I won’t get into the gender equity/fairness issues (I haven’t seen the teams in action so I wouldn’t know.) Nontheless, anytime children are involved, I believe the people in charge have a responsibility to keep things as harmonious as possible. Not only are the boys disrupting schedules, they’re (from what I’ve heard) a distraction to their own team. As I see it, the amount of harm they’re doing far outweighs any benefits of “fairness”.
Another thing that bears mentioning is the rationale behind crossing gender lines. The reason girls want to get on boys’ teams is because they don’t have their own team (maybe because there aren’t enough girls to form one). The ones that can play up to their teammates’ level survive. No problem there. In the case cited, observers claimed that the boys completely outplayed their teammates, indicating that they weren’t simply unfortunates who couldn’t make the baseball team and needed something easier.
In any case, the boys have got to go. I know it’ll hurt them a little, but the needs of the many always outweight the needs of the few.
Seven - I’m very surprised that your school didn’t allow male cheerleaders, as they’re a part of every high school and college cheerleading program I know of. However, requesting a skirt was a bad idea. The girls wear skirts, the boys wear pants. No exceptions. Remember, a lot of people are going to be watching, including the cheerleaders’ parents, so they never want to give the wrong impression.
If they want to play, fine. They shouldn’t expect the leauge to accomodate them, however, if they refuse to adhere to the spirit, if not the letter, of the rules.
All sports should be gender-integrated in the first place. Performance is performance.
Hell, I might have even tried out for my highschool wrestling team if girls were allowed to fight.
If the kids were approximately the same size, strength and skill, then there is no rational basis of not playing them. However, if the boys were lettering in 7 sports in school, and there are no corresponding athletes on the all-girls teams, then I can imagine the all-girls’ trepidation.
If it was an all-girls league, and there is a team with five boys who coincidentally all start, then there is a problem with that too. The boys generally have more opportunities than girls in sports in general, even after the Civil Rights Act, in the major sports.
Care to elaborate about schedule disruption? Aren’t girls on male teams also a distraction?
That’s not always the case. I’d like to play volleyball, but our school doesn’t have a male volleyball team. While boys aren’t allowed on the volleyball team, girls can(and do) participate in wrestiling, football, and any other male sport. I appreciate the perseverance on the part of the females, but the double-standard really bothers me.
If girls can play on the baseball team, why shouldn’t boys be allowed to play on the softball team?
I imagine you’d have been a major supporter of Mao’s Great Leap Forward.
Seven, if the school you’re attending accepts federal monies (and what public school doesn’t?), the administration was in clear violation of Title IX. You have grounds to sue their pants off.
I think it’s regrettable that there is a double standard when it comes to gender equity in sports. However, there are still far more equity problems for girls than there are boys, especially when it comes to funding. In order to address the double standard and other inequities, we must strive to be honest, fair, and consistent. It’s difficult, though, especially when emotions get tied up in it so quickly.
If the boys are participating because there is no other alternative for them to play baseball, then by all means, keep them on the team. I think it would by wise of the coach to be very, very cautious in making sure that all the players got a chance to be on the field, and that the boys weren’t played to the exclusion of the girls.
For all school teams:
2 teams of a single sport are gender seperated. (Boys basketball, Girls Softball(Baseball and Softball are the same), etc)
1 team of a single sport is co-ed, even if one gender is more abundent in that sport than others. (Football, Volleyball, Cheerleading, Dance, etc.)
Now if this is an individual sport league, every decision is up to them, and if you don’t like that they let (gender) play then you as a consumer should divest your money, time, voulenteer work, etc. from this league and seek another.
First off, I have no idea how you find this situation comparable to an extremely half-baked attempt at industrialization which set back the modernization of China several decades. (From what I’ve learned, what Mao was actually shooting for was “combining ancient technologies with modern ones” or somesuch.) No, I did not support it. I’m sick of ancient technology.
For the record, what I know about the case mostly comes from a Salon article (it might still be there). The point I (and at least two others) was trying to make is that these boys are simply too good. The reason nobody has qualms about a girl trying out for a boys’ team is that there isn’t a concern that she might physically be a lot more capable than her teammates.
And allow me to rephrase my final statement: An organization needs to address the needs of all its members and take the courses of action which do the most good. (Jeez, I really am a Communist. :P) If a team can integrate boys and girls without causing undue conflict, fine and good. However, if there’s a widespread objection to two (or five, or fifty) boys being on the team, and a valid reason for that objection, they should not be allowed on the team. Remember, these are youth sports we’re talking about here; unity and teamwork are FAR more important than getting on the team and making big plays. (At least they should always be.)
Mao killed most of the major landowners and gave their land to the peasants. This was a popular move with the peasant majority, but it didn’t make life too fun for the landowners.
I seems as though women are better at many aspects of gymnastics(although some of the male events are different). There also seems to be some disagreement as to whether the boys had an available baseball team.
Fine, but it needs to be a two way street. I think allowing girls to play football and wrestle(strength and size sports, with lots of grabbing) is a much larger step than allowing boys to play a non-contact sport that doesn’t place nearly the same emphasis on size.
Seven - I’m very surprised that your school didn’t allow male cheerleaders, as they’re a part of every high school and college cheerleading program I know of. However, requesting a skirt was a bad idea. The girls wear skirts, the boys wear pants. No exceptions. Remember, a lot of people are going to be watching, including the cheerleaders’ parents, so they never want to give the wrong impression.
wrong impression about what??
anyway, guess what… there are exceptions. there is no logical reason boys can’t wear skirts. [and some do.] and most girls do wear pants.
if the five good players had been female, but very big females who were a lot better at softball than their teammates and counterparts, no one would be making such a big deal.
even though the same unfairness and ignorance of the rest of the team was present. does this happen a lot? well I know that in my little league baseball games, the good players were favored heavily.
so many of the arguments against boys playing are bullshit. if it was girls of the same ability there would be no stink. don’t say boys shouldn’t play; say that the coaches shouldn’t be showing blatant favoritism.
