Sports that are separated by sex but really shouldn't be

J.A. Samanrach wrote:

One Olympic sport that shouldn't have separate divisions is sailing. I think they have male, female, and open divisions. How on earth is being a male sailor any different than being a female sailor?

Its actually quite a bit different. Competitive sailing at a high level actually requires quite a bit of strength and fitness. On large boats, like the boats they race in the America's Cup, the crewman who trim the sheets (the ropes that pull in the sails) are poached from professional bodybuilding, worlds strongest man competitions, and similar because the amount of force on the lines is huge. Of course any fat old man can steer, but hauling in the sails, and handling all the rigging is hard work.

In small boats, its actually an advantage to be a women in light air are conditions because your boat is lighter. In heavy air it helps to be male, because of the strength factor and because you will spend most of the race hiking out (doing a sit-up over the side of the boat to keep it from flipping). In most cases the open teams are actually the fastest because that is the best combination of strength and weight.

Slow and Steady wrote:

Agree in darts and billiards but being stronger would give you an advantage bowling. Using a heavier ball or rolling one harder makes it easier to knock down more pins so men should be better.

That's pretty funny considering one of the top bowlers ever is Pete Weber who weighs 135 lbs. Bowling is more about reading the oil patterns, anticipating the moves to make when the lanes break down, having the right ball to match the lane conditions, and getting the correct entry angle into the pocket rather than just throwing the ball harder.

While revving a ball up, throwing it 20 mph, and having it hook 15 boards into the pocket looks impressive, it rarely wins many tourneys. That is why Walter Ray Williams, Chris Barnes, Norm Duke, and Pete Webber have been the best bowlers over the last 20 years.

Men and women are equal. Every sport should be men and women combined.

J.A. Samanrach wrote:

One Olympic sport that shouldn't have separate divisions is sailing. I think they have male, female, and open divisions. How on earth is being a male sailor any different than being a female sailor?

Except at the Olympics I do not believe there is a separation of sailing events. Equestrian is also not segregated.

i kinda like running wrote:

There shouldn't be women's division in any sports. Not in professional sports anyways. If you can't hang with the boys, too bad. There is a reason why no one watches women's sports. Because women are not built for athletic competition, so it's boring to watch....

Ok. Obviously, someone doesn't have any daughters... or if he does, they don't get to play any sports.

Mixed rugby could be interesting.

I always thought it was funny that Title IX says there should be no discrimination on the basis of sex in sports. When in reality if everyone were to be treated fairly, there wouldn't be men's and women's sports. There would just be one soccer team and women would have to compete against men for the spots. Somehow seperate but equal wasn't good for school systems, but it is for sports?

macs are so emo wrote:

I always thought it was funny that Title IX says there should be no discrimination on the basis of sex in sports. When in reality if everyone were to be treated fairly, there wouldn't be men's and women's sports. There would just be one soccer team and women would have to compete against men for the spots. Somehow seperate but equal wasn't good for school systems, but it is for sports?

There would be no soccer. Only football. Distance guys would be on the side watching just like you are suggesting for women.

i kinda like running wrote:

There is a reason why no one watches women's sports. Because women are not built for athletic competition, so it's boring to watch.

Boring?

I watch this.

Uh oh, this could open the door for similar uniforms. Do you really want to run the 10k in bloomers? Or sport a big shit eating grin during competition?

I Love Equality wrote:

Men and women are equal. Every sport should be men and women combined.

The sports that are often separated by sex are the first and second halves of a pro football game.

Men have superior reaction time, motor skills, healing rate, physical ability, see everything in more detail, and are far better at noticing moving things and things in general in the corner of our eye. Also the more options there is in a reaction time test the faster male reaction times. This is due to 3 million years of war.

Chess is separated by gender but it doesn't seem like it needs to be.

Bathrooms shouldn't be separated.

I know it's annoying, but you always need to put the caveat "most men" (60% - and maybe even add "most women") or else you'll get downvoted into oblivion when you raise these kinds of points.

It is true, that men tend to outperform women on spatial reasoning tests, whereas women tend to outperform men on verbal/linguistic reasoning and most other senses (hearing, taste, sensitivity to touch, etc) with the exception of abilities related to sight.

Also, it isn't due to 3 million years of "war", but a "division of labour" between males and females over the course of millions of years of both natural and social selection. Males tended to hunt, females gathered and were the primary carers of children. War was a frequent occurrence, but much less a part of human evolution than the constant battle to survive the elements and predators.

They are?

The one sport where women have been winning at the top level is as jockeys in horse racing.

Of course the horse is doing the running but it requires strength to stay in the correct position.. Plus they are not just winning on the flat but have won grade ones over jumps plus the grand national probably the toughest physical test.

Surely darts and some other sports are less strenuous.

There is actually some circumstantial evidence to suggest that Bobby Riggs through that match to cover illegal gambling debts.

espn.com

OTL: The Match Maker

Bobby Riggs, The Mafia and The Battle of the Sexes

Open link

Way more men are competitive so the top ranks would all be men. Women would never get to win