Ok so I'm going to the winter games for cross-country ski racing this week and I noticed that they're making the guys go futher than the girls!! Why can't males and females go the same distance? Don't get it. Have any of you had similar bias in your sports?

Men are usually stronger than women. They could make them go the same distance I guess, but it would probably be harder on the women than the men.

Because the women have to get home and fix dinner.

ZING!!!

When I play co-ed softball, the male pitchers always pitch the ball slower for women batting. That pisses me off, because I'm as good or better than many guys on my team. If I'm lucky, the ******* gets the ball returned to him a hell of a lot faster than he threw it at me.



more sexism-in Canada, curling is a very popular sport, and there are many cash bonspiels (tournaments), but the prize money for the men is always 2 or 3x more than for the women. Also, the provincial semis and finals for the men's championship are broadcast on TV, but the women's are not.

Fix your own damn dinner...hahaha.. your joke was sooooo funny, not out of line at all... (sarcasm).



I played hockey for over 20 years. Always with men/boys as there were no womens teams for them to force me to play on, when I started. And eeegads did I take a lot of crap that wasn't afforded to my male teammates. I could skate just as hard, just as long and although I am sure I wasn't as "strong" as they were, I could score just as well, my accuracy was just as good and my passing skillz were killer..heh..um but anyway, I realize this is not always the case and perhaps it was "harder" on me than it was on my male counterparts. I don't know and I didn't particularily care. If I was a crappy player, I would have sat on the bench. Had I stayed with it, I am pretty sure I wouldn't have made it to the NHL. Not that I would have wanted to, it wasn't my goal really.



Admittedly, even when it is the same sport there are different standards for men and women. For instance, women are not allowed to check, why not? If we are so concerned with how these games are played, why our distances are shorter, our periods/quarters shorter, our overall performance less, why don't the athletes playing the game change it? Probably, because in some sense Peebs is right. We have a different make up about us. We ARE different. Women, if they make their sports a priority, have to give up more as well. We cannot have families and play hockey while we do it. Not unless men start having the babies. Men can do this, men can have children and not have to stop playing for 9-12 months, or more. In this case, women are forced to decide which is more important to them. There is nothing a woman can do about this, except to choose to adopt or choose to not have children. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this. I am just using it as a means to illustrate one way we that we are different.



As far as money goes, you are going to have to change a person's perception of what is exciting. How do you do this? I admittedly would choose NBA over the WNBA, men's hockey over women's, men's baseball over women's softball. It doesn't mean that I wouldnt choose to watch a female sport, it just wouldn't be my first choice. (However, I make an exception for tennis, the Serena Williams rules I would watch her over any male tennis player any day. She is seeing the green, I would say more so than her male counterparts. Not for tournaments mind you, but definately in endorsements and outside projects that she is doing.) Now, I do not choose male sports because I have some sexist issue with female sports, I just find the male versions generally more fun to watch. The money goes where the interest is. Professional sports exist to make money, pure and simple. Collegiate sports also generate a lot of money for schools. Money is pumped into male sports, why?? Because that is what is popular and will generate the most revenue for the schools. Granted, I think women are fighting an uphill battle here. We haven't had the time to develop our sports and make them a part of national and international consciousness like men have. Perhaps, that will only come with time, if it is given the time.

I apologize. You are correct. My joke was out of line. I am sorry.



I should have said that they wanted to get home to watch Oprah.

i think in tennis men are expected to play 5 rounds and women only 3. is that right?



i think that if we want an even playing field, all sports should just be co-ed.

I can't see Davenport keeping up with Agassi for fives sets, nor see the toughest women in the world try to effectively block an offensive line in the NFL. Our bodies are simply different. How is that sexism? (not saying it doesn't exist where physical differences are less of a consideration)

The average man is stronger then the average female.



Ever notice the speed swimmers, skaters, runners, etc are always men? Has there ever been a woman that could go faster then a man at the top of the game? I think that if the sports were co-ed and all genders against each other, we'd almost never see women win anything.



As for liking women's sports over men...I don't like a lot of sports, but some I perfer watching the men instead of women. I perfer men's figure skating over women; I perfer the power jumps the men have instead of the technical style of the women. I perfer watching and LISTEN to men curl. And the money follows, as SDG said.

The original post was about women's competitions having a shorter distance / time / etc. and different rules than men (which is questionable IMO), not about women competing directly with men.



And body strength does not equal endurance. I recall reading an article that women's bodies are actually more suitable for long distance sports than men's (i.e. it strains them less).



I agree with SDG's post. Yeah, remember it is said that we men would die from the pain of childbirth, while women get through it every time.

(You'd have to pass an 8lb baby through a much smaller hole, though. )

Come on now, that was TOO easy

I agree that some sports should be put on a more even playing field, endurance sports being one of them.

I'm 6'3" at 210 lbs fit. Now there is something to be said if I have to go a distance against a 110 lb person whether they be female or male. Aside from just staright gender, you also have to take into account muscle mass ratios to overall body weight. I'm having to push twice the weight over the same distance and length of time as the competitor of lesser weight is. In some instances women can do just as well as men can.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with women wanting to compete against men in many cases. Power to them if they can.



Jeffer

The only (alleged) sport that I play is pool -- and yeah, I get sexism all the time! But it usually works to my advantage. An awful lot of men seem to think that a little girl couldn't possibly beat them, and I love the look on their face when I sink the eight ball 2 minutes later.



I can certainly understand keeping the sexes separate for a lot of physically-demanding sports, but I've always thought it was weird that professional pool is divided into men and women's leagues. Strength isn't really an issue (except on the break, maybe). It helps to be tall, but it's hardly the number one factor.

OK, pool, horse sports, and car racing should be co-ed for sure I'm willing to concede to that

A women's basketball is smaller than a men's...which is understandable, because a man's hand is larger than a woman's, for the most part.