We had an interesting discussion today in class about Caster Semenya. The issue was that people were saying that she was a male, but she says she is a female. Marcus said in class that people were singling her out and I agree with him. I think it's wrong to just give her a gender test and not give the rest of the track runners a test. Another topic in class we talked about was how to divide athletes. We divide them now by male and female, but with transgender and people being born with both private parts I think it's harder to divide them today.
I think that females should be able to compete with males, but males should not be able to compete with females. Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Candace Parker are all examples of females that I think could play at the men's level. The reason that I think males shouldn't be able to play at the women's level is because we have an unfair advantage. Genetically men and womens bodies are made up differently. Male's are usually taller, faster, stronger, and have twice as less fat as women. Plus women's bodies are specially made to carry babies.
The average NBA player is 6'7" and 218lbs. I don't know too many females that are 6'7" and have 30 inch verticals. There are only two women that have dunked in the WNBA ever, Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker. In the NBA everyone can dunk easily. Even I can dunk and I'm only 5'11"! So it would be unfair if an NBA player played in the WNBA. Basketball is just one example, but other sports are like that as well. The way some guys are built is crazy. Guys can lift 225lbs. 25 or 30 times in some sports like football. I don't really see too many females who are that strong. Don't get me wrong there are always exceptions. That's why I think the exceptions like Caster Semenaya should be able to compete in the Men's division if they choose, but Usain Bolt should not be able to race in the Women's division.
You bring up some very interesting points that we will be discussing further this semester--whether males should be able to compete in women's divisions. There are really only a few instances where that should happen, in my opinion--i.e., where there are no categories available to boys or men (e.g., in volleyball or field hockey). You bring up some great points on these issues!
ReplyDeleteI agree the point you made about females competing in male divisions - to an extent. I feel that this can only take place in games that don't involve contact. So obviously not football, hockey, lacrosse, etc. I think the few sports it could work would be tennis, golf, and possibly other racquet sports. I think males would probably still dominate just because, like you said, men are stronger and faster. Who knows, it might be able to work.
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