Why do some people have a problem with females playing in male sports?

[AlicornSpell 146]

I have seen girls wrestle boys and win. So as long as they meet the requirements, I see no problem with females playing in male sports. 

Edited October 21, 2020 by AlicornSpell

[Justin_Case001 4,933]

Weeeelllllll.....  I think it's complicated.  Now, obviously, if anyone has a problem with females being able to play sports that males also play, then they need to go back to the dark ages and leave the rest of us alone.  But males and females competing against each other at the same time, i.e. co-ed sports is a bit trickier.  I mean, I tend to lean the same way as you, AlicornSpell--I often just think that everything should be co-ed, and it should just be based on the requirements.  Like, the best people make the team or whatever, and sex be damned.  I even feel this way about the Olympics sometimes.  I often think that everything should just be lumped together.  Like, let's just whittle down the competition, men and women alike, until we have the ten fastest people on Earth or whatever, doesn't matter if they're male or female, and just have 'em all race.  Like what if the two fastest people on Earth (or whatever sport we're talking about) happened to be one man and one woman?  I'd like to see them race, but nooooo.  Like, I don't care what their sex is; I just wanna see the best on Earth to compete at the same time.

But, on the other hand, I can completely understand the arguments for keeping the sexes separate for competition, and I could see it being a very complicated and messy prospect to mix 'em all together.  So, y'know, like I said, I think it's tricky.

But, y'know, in the future, if we get our sh*t sorted out, maybe everything will just be co-ed.  I mean, you look at something like Halo for example: it's not like they had male Spartan teams and female teams.  No.  They just got whoever was the best and put 'em on the team.  Blue team was Fred, Linda, Kelly, Sam (and then Kurt), and John.  Linda was the best sniper, and Kelly was the fastest, so they put 'em on the team.  I think that's how everything in life should be.

[Tacodidra 61,698]

I guess it depends a little on the sport... I'd really like to see a female driver in F1 at some point – it's been a while since the last one. Having all the best drivers in the same series (regardless of their gender) is great, though sadly there aren't as many women as men in motorsport at the moment... But Michèle Mouton (in rallying) and several others have shown that the best female drivers can compete with and beat anyone!

[Stardust 645]

18 minutes ago, Tacodidra said:

I guess it depends a little on the sport... I'd really like to see a female driver in F1 at some point – it's been a while since the last one. Having all the best drivers in the same series (regardless of their gender) is great, though sadly there aren't as many women as men in motorsport at the moment... But Michèle Mouton (in rallying) and several others have shown that the best female drivers can compete with and beat anyone!

Yea depends on the sport some sports women and men can compete as equals

[Passion 3,489]

Compare men vs women Olympic world records and see which sex holds more records. I see a pattern there, where physical differences play a major role. Now, as long as there really are no problems with allowing women competing against men, biology sadly dictates that they would not be able to reach top places in vast majority of competitions. It's not a matter of not allowing women to compete. It's about it making no sense from competitive standpoint. The physical differences between the sexes are just plainly visible and reflected in statistical data.

[Miss 6,239]

Pretty much echoing what others have said: The top records in sports in general are mostly held by men, and men on average can out perform most women in most sports. If a woman is able to break into those records/performances then she should definitely be given the option to join the men. 

Sports like track etc. where performance can be measured in time are easier to determine access. 

Sports that require more nuance with judging performance would be like futbol, american football, basketball, etc. are more tricky. In the "tryouts" alley this is a little less dicey because then women would be given the option to play against men and if they are deemed good enough then they could potentially be a part of the team, but in the "scouting" alley of course it would be harder to judge and the scout would have to make their own decision there. Women I feel should be given more "chances" to see if they should be able to compete against men, because there are many women who have broken the barrier and many women who I think are possible of breaking the barrier out there but are never given the opportunity. 

There are some sports that are non-physical that I don't know why they separate the genders/sexes but they do and I feel those could be opened up. 

[AlicornSpell 146]

1 hour ago, flurry said:

Yea depends on the sport some sports women and men can compete as equals

 

1 minute ago, Miss said:

Pretty much echoing what others have said: The top records in sports in general are mostly held by men, and men on average can out perform most women in most sports. If a woman is able to break into those records/performances then she should definitely be given the option to join the men. 

Sports like track etc. where performance can be measured in time are easier to determine access. 

Sports that require more nuance with judging performance would be like futbol, american football, basketball, etc. are more tricky. In the "tryouts" alley this is a little less dicey because then women would be given the option to play against men and if they are deemed good enough then they could potentially be a part of the team, but in the "scouting" alley of course it would be harder to judge and the scout would have to make their own decision there. Women I feel should be given more "chances" to see if they should be able to compete against men, because there are many women who have broken the barrier and many women who I think are possible of breaking the barrier out there but are never given the opportunity. 

There are some sports that are non-physical that I don't know why they separate the genders/sexes but they do and I feel those could be opened up. 

Women aren't usually prohibited from participating in men's sports. Women's sports exclude male participants, but the rules generally allow a girl or woman to play on a men's team if she is talented enough to compete.

In fact, a girl won the boys' North Carolina high school wrestling championship last year in the 106 pound weight class. This was allowed even though being female actually gave her significant biological advantage, specifically, making weight. Fewer than 1% of adult men can weigh less than 106 pounds without being considered dangerously thin for their height. About 30-40% of women can.

[Oleks 1,994]

In sports like athletics or boxing (at least on the top level) physical inequalities are quite obvious, but what I don't understand is why there are still separate men's and women's chess and checkers tournaments.

[CypherHoof 26,483]

11 minutes ago, Oleks said:

In sports like athletics or boxing (at least on the top level) physical inequalities are quite obvious, but what I don't understand is why there are still separate men's and women's chess and checkers tournaments.

Possibly because it was embarrassing when the girls kept beating them?

[Splashee 28,599]

From a male perspective, being born with female characteristics, I can only from my own experience say, sport is biased towards strong athletic people, usually has a lot of body hair, good at sweating, and all that. Maybe I am onto something?

[EpicEnergy 23,245]

Because there are always haters. I suppose it also has to do with gender stereotypes.

[SharpWit 2,854]

8 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

But, y'know, in the future, if we get our sh*t sorted out, maybe everything will just be co-ed.  I mean, you look at something like Halo for example: it's not like they had male Spartan teams and female teams.  No.  They just got whoever was the best and put 'em on the team.  Blue team was Fred, Linda, Kelly, Sam (and then Kurt), and John.  Linda was the best sniper, and Kelly was the fastest, so they put 'em on the team.  I think that's how everything in life should be.

It's not like we allow genetically/artificially enhanced people to participate much either though. It would even the playing field for the sexes but not for natural capabilities

[SparklingSwirls 21,575]

Females can and do meet the qualifications for male sports, but it's pretty rare. It just creates a more equal competition to keep them separate. That said I think there should be more opportunities for females who meet the requirements to compete against males, especially in non-team sports where individual performance is easier to measure. 

I guess some people (mainly men) don't like seeing females compete with males because they see it as a threat to their masculinity.