Sunday’s NY Times Magazine features an interesting article about injuries amongst teenage girl athletes, written by Michael Sokolove. The premise of the article is that girls more frequently suffer serious injuries while playing sports compared to boys that play comparable sports (basically any sport except football). Several anatomical and biological reasons are giving as to why female athletes more frequently tear their A.C.L. or get a concussion than males do. Mostly I enjoyed the article because it takes the unpopular stance that men and women are not the same and can not do everything precisely a like due to natural differences between the sexes.
I was most piqued by the interplay between women’s sports advocacy groups and people that believe that girls need specialized injury prevention training in order to play sports without getting seriously hurt. The advocacy groups look to spread the idea of absolute equality between male and female athletes and to an extent, justifiably so as many critiques of women’s sports will look to snipe at any available target. But the reality of the situation is that girl athletes suffer joint injuries and concussions at a greater rate than boys do and end up impacting some of these girls long term.
The high school female soccer player profiled in the article had already suffered two A.C.L. tears in the last two years and was one of six girls on her team that had suffered at least one A.C.L. tear. That would be a high amount of the same devastating injury for an N.F.L. or college football team, but this is a girl’s soccer team, with a roster probably 20 girls.
The big issue in this topic is that its foolish to think girls can do literally everything boys can do and vice versa because men and women are biologically and anatomically different. I don’t think either sex is conclusive better overall (though I have my biases) but men and women as a group are limited by things they can’t control.
I think thats an idea that many people avoid accepting because we have been drilled from kindergarten that men and women are equal. However, the fact that men and women are ruled by different chemical impulses and naturally develop physiological differences means that they can’t possibly be exactly equal. Each sex must be better at somethings and worse at others. Thus, girls might need training to prevent injuries that boys don’t have to worry about.
Again, I’m not saying women should be home, pregnant and barefoot, and that men are to be the sole breadwinners, but that our differences should not be ignored.
Tony
Wallace
enice5555
kingstamper
Matt
4 responses so far ↓
Matt // May 14, 2008 at 6:06 pm
“The big issue in this topic is that its foolish to think girls can do literally everything boys can do and vice versa because men and women are biologically and anatomically different.”
Good job being sexist. You are right that there is a problem with saying that “men and women are equal.” It’s the same problem with what you’ve said here, which is that you claim that “men and women are different.” The problem: generalization.
While there are obvious anatomical differences between the sexes, the point of telling girls that they “can do anything boys can do” isn’t to imply that the sexes are exactly identical in every way. The point is that gender is not itself a limitation.
Men may have a tendency to be taller, stronger, faster, less injury prone, etc., but that is obviously not the case for every woman vs. every man. That is why it is important to make it clear–especially to young girls and women–that they should not feel limited. It probably makes sense to educate both boys and girls about sports injuries, and perhaps to spend more effort on girls, and perhaps more effort on protecting them during play.
But it is important to note that there are women who are taller, stronger, faster, less injury prone, and more athletically skilled than the vast majority of men. They’d never have a chance to find out if they are told from a young age that they can’t be as good as boys.
Wallace // May 14, 2008 at 9:15 pm
One I would argue that Anthony’s article isn’t sexist though it could be construed as a bit extreme. While it’s true that the women and men are different, women can do many things that men can do. When it comes to sports women just need to be cared for more than men. Young girls probably shouldn’t be pushed as hard to play sports year round. They should be taught the proper way to run and to play their sport as to avoid injury and they should be watched closer than a young boy. While I think the increase in year round youth sports is not the best thing for anyone, male or female, it seems clear that young girls are hurt the hardest by the overexertion.
Perhaps Anthony wasn’t clear with his point but I don’t think he’s saying girls shouldn’t try to do the same things as boys. It would seem that perhaps girls shouldn’t be pushed as hard.
Tony // May 14, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Maybe, I could have presented a more developed argument than I did, so let me rephrase it:
It is foolish and dangerous to train girls to the same extreme physically that boys are pushed to because it is clear based on scientifically asserted norms that the female body was never designed with this type of physical exertion in mind. Girls should not be training to this level without consideration for their physical limitations. Clearly, based on the injury rates, there is something to be said for this.
Furthermore, I think this example is one of many that show that men and women are so different are a very basic, anatomical, biological, chemical (however you’d like to describe, I think they all fit) level, that their are definitely things that neither sex will generally do as well as the other can.
The reason I make this statement in the PC 21st Century, we have lead boys and girls and consequently, men and women, that they are exactly equal and equally capable of performing all the same tasks the exact same way, gender notwithstanding.
However, its clear that their are some tasks men will generally be better at and others that women will be generally better at, and many of the reasons for this have much more to do with science then archaic social stereotypes.
I am not saying men shouldn’t stay at home and nurture children (generally a task that society and the law according to most custody cases thinks women perform better at) and that women should not aspire to become great athletes.
What I am saying is that its impossible to have the gender-neutral world many of us think is possible.
To simplify things, the point of my argument is that men and women are very different, and they are very different on a very basic, innate level. I don’t think either sex is superior, because both are clearly vital for human existence, else we would lack one sex or have many other sexes.
This has nothing to do with machismo and everything to do natural science.
I am not okaying the wage gap or worldwide abuses towards women, just making an argument that to treat boys and girls precisely the same can work to their detriment.
RABIA ZAIDI // November 2, 2008 at 5:39 am
who does not that man is stronger than womanbut on the other hand woman is made to exploit man to use his strength om the basas of her beauty.thus,physical strength of man is balanced by the beauty and delicacy of woman.