Quote:
Originally posted by Cerek:
Most experiments of women "crossing over" into men's domains has not worked. The female golfer (that I believe wellard mentioned earlier) managed to get permission to compete in a men's tournament, and was eliminated early in the second round.
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I think it's important to note that the isolated tournament Annika competed in should not be considered proof that women cannot cut it in men's golf, playing from the same tees as men. She missed the cut, but so did a lot of men also competing. She didn't come last. She also had a ton of pressure from media, and her own expectations and desires not to look silly, that it is not indicative of how she would perform day in, day out, on the men's tour. Hardly any of the top male golfers play a season without missing at least a few cuts in tournaments.
One reason I oppose women playing in men's sport like this, is because when they do, it's not about equality. It's about a spectacle. It puts women's sport BACK, I think, because it suggests that women playing sport are not the equal to men in terms of relative ability and how much they train, but a curiosity in the otherwise male-dominated field. And then when they fail, or don't do as well, like Annika did, it's 'proof' that women aren't men's equal, even though there are a myriad of reasons that they didn't do as well, because of course, the contest wasn't equal at all.
It's also why I disagree strongly with women's sporting teams doing those nude calendars to raise money and awareness of their team. It doesn't make people more likely to watch them play and show up to their games, which they really NEED because most women's sport receives a lot less funding and support and sponsership than men's. It makes their sporting efforts look less impressive because they are implicitly saying watch me play because I am sexy, not because I'm talented or fast or strong. It's sad because men's teams don't need to do this, because they have the funding. I really don't like watching some women's sport. Women's cricket, for instance, I find really boring. But it doesn't need to be that way. There really isn't any reason that professional women's cricket shouldn't be as gripping as men's. But women playing don't get the support - either at the elite level or the grass roots level, to make a real go of it. They don't get the salaries and there aren't the development programs allowing a large player base to choose from. So it's a vicious cycle - women's sport isn't supported by fans because it isn't as good so they don't get as much sponsership and funding, but the lack of funding means their sport isn't interesting enough to attract fans.