Talking about violence and sexism in class made me think back to my childhood. When I was younger I was influenced by my dad and older brother who lived and breathed sports. I was brought along to every practice, game, and sporting event my brother and dad attended and I loved it. I wanted to be just like my brother in every aspect of his life, from his clothes to the shows he watched to his after school activities. So, when I was denied the option to play football just like my older brother I was devastated. I always played with the guys at recess, always helped my brother practice, learned the ins and outs of the game from my dad, but when I turned the age when tackle football began I wasn't able to put my knowledge and skills to use. My dad tried to get me as close to playing as possible by entering me and my five tomboy friends into an all boys flag football tournament called Let It Fly.
We were the only girls there, and ended up winning the championship, which resulted in a lot of boys left in tears at the thought of being beaten by girls. The next year they created a girl's league for our age which we were forced to play in, however it was not nearly as fun or challenging.
While I was not scared of being hurt or not being able to "hang with the guys," in retrospect me being part of an aggressive tackle league would probably have ended in injury and defeat. I was not as strong, although just as tough, as my boy classmates, although I didn't see it like that at the time. From an early age, girls are not put into the same violent settings as boys such as tackle football and although it might seem sexist to raise a child with that mindset, I think it is more parents protecting their daughters and keeping them safe rather than setting them up for failure and injury.
In class, we talked about a fundamental feature of sports being safety, however the unwritten rules of the game in sports like hockey or football add an uncontrollable violence that a girl might not be ready for at a young age.
I really think your post is very interesting. While I was also a girl who was very much into aggressive sports like basketball and soccer, I have never played them seriously in a co-ed setting. Having played them up through high school, I was always on the segregated all girls teams. Upon approaching my sophomore year in high school, there was a change; my school had created its first flag football team that was co-ed. A free of my friends convinced me how fun it would be to try out for the team. After two days of try-outs, we realized what we had gotten ourselves into. The boys were very aggressive and the game was essentially a new ball game, one I had never experienced before. While the rules were the same, the mere fact that I was playing with boys, took the aggressive level and competition to a whole new level. What I found as a result was me sitting on the sideline with my other girl friends cheering the boys on. In a sense, I had given up, or rather had been defeated, as I did not really get to play. So while reading your post, I definitely agree with you that being a girl has a huge impact on playing on a co-ed team, especially for an aggressive sport. Safety is definitely a factor to take into account when understanding why most leagues separate boys and girls.
ReplyDelete