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December 30, 2008
I imagine you won't like where this goes
NPR reports (Gender Barrier Persists At Vancouver Olympics) that a group of female ski jumpers is suing to to force the Vancouver Olympics to allow women to compete in the male-only event.
In this particular instance, it seems that one of the parties to the suit, Lindsey Van would have an excellent chance at winning the coed-Olympic event because she holds the coed-record on the course in question. But if they win, this is going to be a net loss overall for female athletes. As I've discussed before, the top female professional athletes in the world are on par with the best American 14- and 15-year-old boys. If we force every sport currently open to only women to be open to men, then men will win the vast majority of slots to compete in the Olympics in these sports. For every Ms. Van taking home a metal we'll miss hundreds of women who didn't get a chance to compete at all.
Let's acknowledge that we separate the genders in sports because sports competition is about achievement and entertainment, not fairness. We like to see women play certain sports, just as we like to see men play others. There is no shame in that. Second, we like to see people achieve their very best, and separating genders, just as we separate children by age is way to do that.
This nonsense about single gender sports as a violation of human rights is a perversion. It seeks to use the awesome and mighty tyranny of the state to archive a piddling end that few people desire and in any case is contrary to the interests of woman as a group.
Posted by OneEyedMan at December 30, 2008 4:28 PM
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