Quote:
Originally Posted by PIMking
My question is if a boy sucks at baseball will he be able to play softball? what about a soccer player can he play with the girls? Why is it okay for the other way around?
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Here's why it's okay: from the time they are born boys are socially conditioned to engage in athletic activities (yes, this is a generalization). There is also a biological element where human males are (generally) bigger and stronger than females, giving them an advantage at sports.
The end result of this is that the level of play for men's sports is generally higher than women's sports. Women, however should be encouraged to pursue sporting activities for all the reasons men are, health, personal growth, learning to be part of a team, etc. etc.
Since, in most cases if the threshold for participation in any sporting league was simply talent and skill men and boys would be extremely dominant and women would be significantly marginalized, hugely reducing their opportunity to participate in sports.
To carry your "if a guy sucked, could he play softball" idea to its conclusion, you'd end up with two games, almost exclusively played by men, with a few women sprinkled around the edges. You'd have the higher skill players playing in the "men's" division and then the less skilled, but still on average more skilled than most women, playing in the former "women's" division. This is not a desirable outcome.
Therefore it becomes ideal to given women a space to participate in sports where they do not have to compete for playing time against a group of people who have biological and social advantages.
Now, there are situations where individual women, either through exceptional skill or lack of other opportunities may play sports at the same level as the men. Michelle Wie is an excellent example of a woman trying to achieve the requisite skill to play her sport against men. Danika Patrick is an example of a woman who has achieved that skill and
also does not have the opportunity to participate in a women's division in her sport.
The counter argument I can already hear is that "what about a guy who wants to play softball? Or field hockey?" Well, I would agree this is a reasonable argument, but one which must be considered on a case-by-case basis, in the interest of maintaining competitive balance. If a young man who used to play men's field hockey in Europe moved to North America and wanted to continue to pursue his sport at his new school and there was only a woman's team I would argue that he should be allowed to do so, so long as his skill is not substantially greater than the rest of the league. If he had been a world-class player back in Europe and now wanted to play in a middling high school league he should not be allowed to play for reasons of competitive balance. It would be similar to letting a 27-year-old Kobe Bryant decide he wanted to play NCAA ball.
In the case of Paige Sultzbach I don't know if it's exceptional skill or lack of opportunity or a combination of both which has resulted in her position on her schools baseball team. My guess would be a combination of both if she's the starting second baseman, also Mesa Prep does not have a girls baseball team, nor do they have a softball team at the High School level.
I hope this rather lengthy post has explained why it's okay for girls to play boys sports, but generally not okay for boys to play girls sports.
School forfeits championship rather than play against a girl.
