Mixed gender sports teams.

[Randomnity]

It only works that way because that's how the spectator machine works. That's a problem with team ownership and the franchise being a money maker rather than some inherent gender problem.

Women's teams don't HAVE to be cut but they are because people are less interested in watching them on the whole. That isn't the fault of those who want to play competitively in the game itself, or of those who just want to play.

Exactly....they're already underfunded, and I'm guessing get more money from grants or whatever than from actual ticket sales (usually income negative rather than income positive like the men)....so if there's even a theoretical option for women to play on a "co-ed" team (i.e. something they can point to if there's an outcry), I'm guessing a lot of universities etc. would start thinking about cutting their women's teams.

Ticket sales are lower because most people want to watch the very best athletes and for nearly all sports that is men. Plus there's the established culture of "pro sports=men" around it, which has arisen in part due to sexism when pro leagues first started and women were actively discouraged from physical activity (so in that sense discrimination has played a role), but sexism isn't a major factor in maintaining this status quo, IMO.

I think funding sports teams for women is a positive thing overall, though. Not everyone would agree (you may not).

 

[Randomnity]

It only works that way because that's how the spectator machine works. That's a problem with team ownership and the franchise being a money maker rather than some inherent gender problem.

Women's teams don't HAVE to be cut but they are because people are less interested in watching them on the whole. That isn't the fault of those who want to play competitively in the game itself, or of those who just want to play.

Exactly....they're already underfunded, and I'm guessing get more money from grants or whatever than from actual ticket sales (usually income negative rather than income positive like the men)....so if there's even a theoretical option for women to play on a "co-ed" team (i.e. something they can point to if there's an outcry), I'm guessing a lot of universities etc. would start thinking about cutting their women's teams.

Ticket sales are lower because most people want to watch the very best athletes and for nearly all sports that is men. Plus there's the established culture of "pro sports=men" around it, which has arisen in part due to sexism when pro leagues first started and women were actively discouraged from physical activity (so in that sense discrimination has played a role), but sexism isn't a major factor in maintaining this status quo, IMO.

I think funding sports teams for women is a positive thing overall, though. Not everyone would agree (you may not).

 

[sprinkles]

Exactly....they're already underfunded, and I'm guessing get more money from grants or whatever than from actual ticket sales (usually income negative rather than income positive like the men)....so if there's even a theoretical option for women to play on a "co-ed" team (i.e. something they can point to if there's an outcry), I'm guessing a lot of universities etc. would start thinking about cutting their women's teams.

Ticket sales are lower because most people want to watch the very best athletes and for nearly all sports that is men. Plus there's the established culture of "pro sports=men" around it, which has arisen in part due to sexism when pro leagues first started and women were actively discouraged from physical activity (so in that sense discrimination has played a role), but sexism isn't a major factor in maintaining this status quo, IMO.

I think funding sports teams for women is a positive thing overall, though. Not everyone would agree (you may not).

I think women's sports teams are fine and there could be more of them and they could get more attention, so yes, fund them.

I don't even see it as a binary sex issue. We have different leagues anyway, so this one issue seems irrelevant.

We don't see people complaining about AAA baseball or different weight classes in boxing, or the training camps. These somehow manage to survive without the massive following. In a professional fight the heavy weight contenders will typically be the main event on the card but this doesn't mean they got rid of the smaller weight classes.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

I continue to object to any position that amounts to "I don't think it's likely to happen, so officially keep it from happening."

 

[Such Irony]

I've read that ultramarathons are one sport where woman could outdo men.

http://running.competitor.com/2011/...omen-more-suited-for-endurance-than-men_28063

Also read this article:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/7-sports-in-which-women-have-beaten-men

 

[Beorn]

I've read that ultramarathons are one sport where woman could outdo n.

http://running.competitor.com/2011/...omen-more-suited-for-endurance-than-men_28063



Also read this article:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/7-sports-in-which-women-have-beaten-men

It happens, but I think it's largely due to the sport being young. As the sport grows it will attract better athletes and I think we'll see a larger gap in performance between the top men and women. Still it's great to see the women ultrarunners perform exceptionally in a sport that pushes people harder than any other and they deserve all the accolades they get (and they really don't get enough compared to other athletes).

 

[cafe]

I think the physical sexual dimorphism in our species is still too great to make this practical. This may change the future, but probably not for generations.

 

[A window to the soul]

What do think of the idea of have mixed gender teams in sports such as baseball, soccer, or basketball?

I thought it mildly interesting that sports are some of the last places where gender segregation is still commonly accepted in this country. The reasoning, of course, is that men and women have very different physiology and so they are uneven when playing together.

Personally, I think it would be kind of neat to do it, and it's not like it would mean that the single gender games would have to be discontinued or anything. I think if I were a female athlete, all the talk about the general superiority of male athletes would just make me more determined to play amongst them.