Guys, Girls and Sports
I think girls are wonderful. I live with one full-time. But I don't think playing serious athletics with girls is fun at all. I don't care if I ever do it again.
The cultural project to advance feminism has slyly struck many blows against complementarianism through the medium of popular culture. One of the weak spots it has found involves athletics. I recall seeing a recent Gatorade commercial in which Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm went head-to-head in a number of sports contests that ended with them being basically even in all events. The message behind the commercial, besides being that one should drink prodigious quantities of Gatorade, was that men and women are athletically equal. Now, there are many good female athletes out there, a good number of whom are better athletically than I am. I couldn't touch Marion Jones, for example, in the 100-meter dash. But to suggest that men and women are equal, or even nearly equal, in athletics is absolutely ludicrous. It's so foolish it doesn't really warrant a second thought. Men have been made by God to be more athletic. They jump higher, run faster, hit harder, and do lots of other athletic feats better than women. Men and women are not equal athletically, no matter what the culture may tell you. Not even close.
Aspects of the feminist project have infiltrated even Christian athletics. I'm not talking about the volleyball game after the church picnic. It's great to have everybody, men and women, out there playing ball together. But we do see the false notion of athletic equality when it comes to certain sporting leagues, where men and women play highly competitive sports together. This is a terrible idea. Here are a few reasons.
1) It puts men and women in close physical contact. I have a wife. She is the only woman in the world I want to be in close physical contact with. I don't want to box out another woman out, or have another woman box me out. Boxing out, for those who don't know, involves sticking one's rear into the player behind oneself to better position oneself to get a rebound. I'm not choosing this example to be gross--it happens all the time in basketball, my favorite sport. There is absolutely no way I want any part of that with any woman who is not my wife. That to say nothing of single men and women.
2) It puts women at risk of physical danger. Men are tougher, stronger and faster than girls. There is a higher rate of risk of injury for girls than for guys when they play sports together. So often guys will go easy on a girl because they don't want to hurt her. This seriously detracts from the fun of intense competition. I would also guess it's not that fun for the girl, when she really thinks about it. Better for her to be able to be similarly competitive with those of her own gender.
3) It robs men of the close camaraderie that they may have through shared competition. It is good for men to be with men and do men things, just as it is good for women to be with women and do women things. Each of the sexes need their own isolated times to bond, share experiences, and have fun together. Girls are by definition not part of the guys. It's very postmodern to have guys doing girl things and girls doing guy things. I don't want to be part of that. I want guy time. I want to race down the court and yell at my teammates and slap them on the butt. I don't want to think about any impropriety or hurt feelings or anything like that. Contrary to what the feminist-soaked culture says, guys should have guy time, and girls should have girl time. Sports are a big part of guy time.
Those are some quick thoughts on the subject. In the isolated fellowship of the sexes, when it happens for a period of time, one sees the common grace of God. There is such fun and joy in brotherhood, and I'm sure the same goes for sisterhood. Rather than robbing ourselves of this gift, we should prize it. Let the games begin!
The cultural project to advance feminism has slyly struck many blows against complementarianism through the medium of popular culture. One of the weak spots it has found involves athletics. I recall seeing a recent Gatorade commercial in which Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm went head-to-head in a number of sports contests that ended with them being basically even in all events. The message behind the commercial, besides being that one should drink prodigious quantities of Gatorade, was that men and women are athletically equal. Now, there are many good female athletes out there, a good number of whom are better athletically than I am. I couldn't touch Marion Jones, for example, in the 100-meter dash. But to suggest that men and women are equal, or even nearly equal, in athletics is absolutely ludicrous. It's so foolish it doesn't really warrant a second thought. Men have been made by God to be more athletic. They jump higher, run faster, hit harder, and do lots of other athletic feats better than women. Men and women are not equal athletically, no matter what the culture may tell you. Not even close.
Aspects of the feminist project have infiltrated even Christian athletics. I'm not talking about the volleyball game after the church picnic. It's great to have everybody, men and women, out there playing ball together. But we do see the false notion of athletic equality when it comes to certain sporting leagues, where men and women play highly competitive sports together. This is a terrible idea. Here are a few reasons.
1) It puts men and women in close physical contact. I have a wife. She is the only woman in the world I want to be in close physical contact with. I don't want to box out another woman out, or have another woman box me out. Boxing out, for those who don't know, involves sticking one's rear into the player behind oneself to better position oneself to get a rebound. I'm not choosing this example to be gross--it happens all the time in basketball, my favorite sport. There is absolutely no way I want any part of that with any woman who is not my wife. That to say nothing of single men and women.
2) It puts women at risk of physical danger. Men are tougher, stronger and faster than girls. There is a higher rate of risk of injury for girls than for guys when they play sports together. So often guys will go easy on a girl because they don't want to hurt her. This seriously detracts from the fun of intense competition. I would also guess it's not that fun for the girl, when she really thinks about it. Better for her to be able to be similarly competitive with those of her own gender.
3) It robs men of the close camaraderie that they may have through shared competition. It is good for men to be with men and do men things, just as it is good for women to be with women and do women things. Each of the sexes need their own isolated times to bond, share experiences, and have fun together. Girls are by definition not part of the guys. It's very postmodern to have guys doing girl things and girls doing guy things. I don't want to be part of that. I want guy time. I want to race down the court and yell at my teammates and slap them on the butt. I don't want to think about any impropriety or hurt feelings or anything like that. Contrary to what the feminist-soaked culture says, guys should have guy time, and girls should have girl time. Sports are a big part of guy time.
Those are some quick thoughts on the subject. In the isolated fellowship of the sexes, when it happens for a period of time, one sees the common grace of God. There is such fun and joy in brotherhood, and I'm sure the same goes for sisterhood. Rather than robbing ourselves of this gift, we should prize it. Let the games begin!
posted by Owen at 7:11 PM
2 Comments:
Intersting thoughts. I spent a few years helping my brother coah junior High, JV, and varsity girls BB. We were always careful in our dealings with the grils - having the female assistant do a lot of the demonstrations for, like, boxing out, etc. But we had fun, and the girls were always great.
Which leads me to this observation - women's sports are dull. (afficinados of "raslin" may disagree. They lack the intensity of competition and, in many cases, are void of team competition. There is such a disparity between teams (have and have-nots) - it's like you expect who will win. I agree that iot all goes back to how He made men and women.
It's probably why no women - or very, very few - have excelled in my two favorite sports - football and stock car racing.
In college I played pick up games with some of the girls from the team and at times I had to cover Chandra Johnson...big girl...listed at 185, but she must've lost weight. Needless to say, boxing her out wasn't too much fun.
Check out www.savethemales.ca and my own blog for some sweet information on feminism and male/female dynamics. Peace out!
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