# Questions about sex and physical sports **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670 "2016-03-20T18:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/41 "2016-03-21T20:31:53Z")
I dont know why it is but at skateboard parks you see maybe 1 girl skating with maybe 20 boys. ---
**Author:** ![pojimba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@pojimba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pojimba)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/42 "2016-03-21T21:14:22Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Curling usually has mixed teams but not at the Olympic level. Curling does not “usually” have mixed teams, at least not at any major curling association here in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/43 "2016-03-21T21:53:21Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Interesting. I’m beginning to wonder if there’s something… _special_ about Olympic sports and sex segregation. yes – the rules for the Olympics are set by a small group of very old, very conservative men. (And apparently rather bribe-able, too, based on recent scandals.) ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/44 "2016-03-22T00:50:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Darts does seem to favour those of a ‘stockier’ build, but on the other hand as one of the few sports to ever feature a morbidly obese player amongst the highest ranks, it is difficult to say whether that is because being stockier confers an advantage or because it doesn’t confer any disadvantage. Certainly there are some male darts players of a more slender build. who are far better than the bets women’s players. > > I tend to think it is a confluence of a number of factors, all of which favour men, and not just pure physicality which lead to women not being able to compete at the highest level of most sports. speaking in vast generalities (which of course are never true on an individual level) men seem to enjoy doing repetitive physical activities that bore women to death. My brother could spend hours running up and down and shooting a basketball; after I shot one successfully I was done and wanted to move on. Same with juggling-anyone can learn to juggle, but first you have to spend three weeks doing the same thing over and over. Very few women jugglers out there. I suspect the same thing happens with darts and lots of other physical activities. The practice required to get good is fun for men and incredibly boring for women. I classify video games in this category as well. ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/45 "2016-03-22T04:05:07Z")
The World Series of Poker Main Event is not segregated. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/46 "2016-03-22T04:08:53Z")
The Alaskan dogsled competition is not segregated and some women have won it. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/47 "2016-03-22T06:31:11Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I think sexism and gender roles in racing plays a big part in whether girls get into racing from the beginning. A person doesn’t just show up one day at the track and starts racing. It’s a long process that starts when they are still a kid. When 5-year-old Pat asks for a go cart, what happens? Little Patrick’s dad probably swells with pride and gets him the best one he can find. But little Patricia’s parents probably dismiss the idea and tell her she’ll get hurt and get her a Barbie Jeep instead. Patrick is likely encouraged to continue racing by his parents and the racing community. Patricia will likely have to continually press the issue, fight gender expectations as she tries to find a team, and deal with derogatory and sexist comments along the way. For a woman to be a professional racer, she will have had to deal with a much more strenuous weeding-out process along the way. This likely means many women who could be top racers are never even given the chance and aren’t in the sport at all. :dubious: Yes parents are delighted that their son is getting into an extremely dangerous hobby? ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/48 "2016-03-22T06:40:24Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > speaking in vast generalities (which of course are never true on an individual level) men seem to enjoy doing repetitive physical activities that bore women to death. My brother could spend hours running up and down and shooting a basketball; after I shot one successfully I was done and wanted to move on. Same with juggling-anyone can learn to juggle, but first you have to spend three weeks doing the same thing over and over. Very few women jugglers out there. I suspect the same thing happens with darts and lots of other physical activities. The practice required to get good is fun for men and incredibly boring for women. I classify video games in this category as well. I can’t help but think of [this](https://youtu.be/3XjUFYxSxDk?t=4m2s) (Video of “The Nothing Box” from Mark Gungor ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/49 "2016-03-22T06:47:25Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > :dubious: > Yes parents are delighted that their son is getting into an extremely dangerous hobby? And naturally there aren’t fathers that would be delighted to share an interest with their daughters? (and conversely no mothers that want to talk to their sons about flower arranging or whatever it is that interests women :p;)) ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/50 "2016-03-22T07:15:15Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > speaking in vast generalities (which of course are never true on an individual level) men seem to enjoy doing repetitive physical activities that bore women to death. My brother could spend hours running up and down and shooting a basketball; after I shot one successfully I was done and wanted to move on. Same with juggling-anyone can learn to juggle, but first you have to spend three weeks doing the same thing over and over. Very few women jugglers out there. I suspect the same thing happens with darts and lots of other physical activities. The practice required to get good is fun for men and incredibly boring for women. I classify video games in this category as well. Except for that there are plenty of female darts players: ladies’ pub teams are almost as common as men’s pub teams and there’s a similar structure of county teams above the level of pub league. The fact there are more male players at all levels certainly must be a factor, but by itself it seems unlikely to explain whilst the female players top out with 3-dart averages over a couple of years of 80, whilst the men top out at a little over 100. ---
**Author:** ![FreddyJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@FreddyJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreddyJ)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/51 "2016-03-22T11:43:04Z")
I think it would be… shopping 😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/52 "2016-03-22T14:01:09Z")
It could be that the men are simply larger wrt darts. You shoot from the same toe line but my 6’6" Dad always had an advantage over my 5’7" Mom in that when the dart left his hand, it had much less distance to cover. You may argue that a few inches wouldn’t make a difference, but shoot a dart, move back six inches and see if you can hit the same spot. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/53 "2016-03-22T21:08:20Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > It could be that the men are simply larger wrt darts. You shoot from the same toe line but my 6’6" Dad always had an advantage over my 5’7" Mom in that when the dart left his hand, it had much less distance to cover. You may argue that a few inches wouldn’t make a difference, but shoot a dart, move back six inches and see if you can hit the same spot. I think height is an advantage, though I’d think you’d probably find 6’0" is about optimal height. But again it isn’t so huge an advantage either - the best darts player ever is only about 5’7". ---
**Author:** ![guitario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@guitario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guitario)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/54 "2016-03-24T21:04:26Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Yes, but even sports which have a long history of female participation like Tennis and Golf, women cannot play against men at all. Mixed doubles is often cited as an example, but it, in fact ,proves the opposite. Men and women can play together under set parameters; each team has one person of each gender. Mixed doubles is between randomly filled gender teams; you don’t see two women playing a man and a woman or two women playing against two men. I really doubt a mixed doubles team could have any hope against a men’s doubles team, hell I doubt that a mixed doubles team will have difficulty in defeating a women’s doubles team. > > I think people greatly underestimate how much a strength and size impact sports; they hear “size, strength is not everything” as “size and strength is nothing”. > > When in most cases size and strength gulf between the genders is so wide that no amount of skill will bridge it. > > Hell, ignore gender. Combat sports are often segregated by size and weight. There is a reason that Manny Pacquiao, possibly the best boxer of the last generation never fought the Klitchko’s That is very true. There was a video going around several months back with the actor who plays The Mountain in Game of Thrones doing some gentle sparring with Conor McGregor. The difference in size means that should they have a real street fight, Conor would most likely lose. He’s a world class MMA fighter, but the other guy has the same height, weight and strength advantage as an ordinary 6ft man has over a 5ft woman. It’s too much of a gap to bridge. I remember the discussion of Andy Murray taking on Serena Williams in an exhibition match - but both players dismissed the idea as lunacy, as it would be such a gulf in class, Serena would barely win a point, let alone provide competition. And this is a woman who has such a physical advantage over the rest of the women’s tour, she’s dominated for 15 years. I’m struggling to think of any sport that doesn’t use machinery/animals as a primary component that men and women could ever get close with. I suppose, a particularly strong/tall woman could compete with men at golf… as you’re playing the course, not the person, but she would need to be able to hit a comparable distance as the average male golfer to stand any chance. Snooker/Pool could work… but again, it’s a mental skill/sport and requires no physical attributes to succeed, so that’s out. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/55 "2016-03-24T21:18:20Z")
> [@guitario](#): > > I suppose, a particularly strong/tall woman could compete with men at golf… as you’re playing the course, not the person, but she would need to be able to hit a comparable distance as the average male golfer to stand any chance. Nope, no way. The very best women golfers can’t compete with men golfers who can’t even get on the pro tour. Pro women golfers averaged 250 yards off the tee, while pro men averaged 290 yards, according to one study I found on the web. Not only can men hit farther, golf courses are set up harder for male pros than female ones. I think the Serena equation applies to golf - even a woman who dominates in the LPGA will not fare well in the PGA. Female pro Annika Sorrenstam dominated the women’s game in the early 2000s and entered a PGA tournament. She failed to make the cut, and was so discouraged she never tried again. Michelle Wie made the cut only one time in 13 attempts. The disparity is similar on the amateur level. Sure, there are good female golfers, but they aren’t even close to similar club-level male golfers. ---
**Author:** ![DtypeJag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@DtypeJag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DtypeJag)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670/56 "2016-03-25T03:02:36Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > speaking in vast generalities (which of course are never true on an individual level) men seem to enjoy doing repetitive physical activities that bore women to death. My brother could spend hours running up and down and shooting a basketball; after I shot one successfully I was done and wanted to move on. Same with juggling-anyone can learn to juggle, but first you have to spend three weeks doing the same thing over and over. Very few women jugglers out there. I suspect the same thing happens with darts and lots of other physical activities. The practice required to get good is fun for men and incredibly boring for women. I classify video games in this category as well. As a further illustration of this phenomenon, consider that there have been a fair number of women who were quite successful in rallying where the route is constantly changing whereas in circuit racing you are going over the same ground again and again. But then again who are the knitters? A truly mind numbing pastime! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-sex-and-physical-sports/749670.md?page=2)