More girls are showing the boys who's boss
Saturday 15 September 2012
Are girls really the weaker sex???
We are all brought up to believe that girls are the weaker sex, but isn't this just a myth created by centuries of social conditioning??? It's a widely recognised fact that girls mature physically way ahead of boys so for virtually all of the school-going years, girls should be stronger. The fact that school sports are so strictly segregated helps perpetuate the idea that sports are something that boys should take seriously but girls shouldn't. Are things changing though? Girls certainly seem to taking up sports in greater numbers and in sports like wrestling girls are now allowed to compete against boys and it's actually quite common for the girls to win.
Could this be the key to changing our beliefs about feamle physical capabilites? Not so long ago it was considered not worth even educating girls - but now look, they are out-performing boys academically by greater margins ever year. Could the same thing happen in the physical realm? Will a change in mind-set and lifestyle result in females maintaining their physical strength advantage through to adulthood in the future? Females are relative newcomers to competative sports and they seem to be narrowing the gap in performance with males at an alarming rate. The future looks like being a scary place for males....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In this digital age, it has been fascinating and fantastic to see all these clips (especially on Youtube) of girls defeating boys in wrestling, judo, armwrestling, etc. It should empower girls, and instil a greater sense of caution and respect in boys who otherwise see females as a weak target.
ReplyDeleteCoupled with this is mainstream films which showcase a heroine (or female sidekick) who kicks, scissors and knocks out scores of male opponents. I think my socialised male ego is actually infuriated with this increasing array of “female beats male” media, but on another level I rejoice in the female victory. (It is wonderful to think that so many women have now seen – and enjoyed –images of females defeating males in the physical realm, not just the academic.)
If we males are the inferior sex, so be it. Just because a guy believes this doesn’t mean he lacks self-respect. He just thinks that while males are good, females are infinitely better!
Social conditioning... A nice point to start a big discussion from.
ReplyDelete1)Who is responsible for this social conditioning?
2)Why is there this social conditioning?
3)Which are its side-effects?
4)How does it work?
5)How will we stop it?
These are the hot questions on the issue. Give your answers and I 'll soon give mine too.
Like our Queen has said, women were meant to have more physical skill and this way to do better at sports. Now more and more women get to know this. It was about time, I think...
ReplyDeleteYou are two years ahead of me in the University, you can help indeed...
DeleteI am doing my best. These two years ahead of you though make no big difference. You 've practically covered everything. I have nothing really big to say. You know your stuff so well that the rest of your University years will be a stroll. This doesn't mean that you can relax though. You need to keep full concentration so that you make sure to remember your stuff until experience prints it permanently in your brain.
DeleteSure, experience is always important. The examples about this are endless and can be found everywhere, in anyone's life.
DeleteThe fact that girls mature quicker than boys is probably the only reason they are allowed to face boys in school sports. It can easily be seen that they are stronger than their male counterparts, but their maturity is used as an excuse. Whenever girls come out victorious against boys, it's just dismissed as an unfair match because the girl matures faster instead of admitting that she overpowered him.
ReplyDeleteOnce both sexes are mature as adults, there is no excuse left for us guys. The only way we can keep the myth of women being weaker alive is by avoiding any physical contests with them, so that's exactly what we do. But as more women challenge the status quo, the truth comes out more and more. The future really does look scary for us guys, knowing we can't hold off the amazon revolution much longer.
Excellent points, Twentyfirst. There are always at least two levels to patriarchal suppression of women's potential; male fear and the pretense that such restrictions are to "protect women" who are called "the fair sex" to keep them from challenging patriarchal norms.
ReplyDeleteTreating women as property and subjecting them to male rules is such an essential part of patriarchy that once it is gone and women are free to reach their full potential it is males who will need to be protected from the real stronger sex.
It's not looking very good for guys as it is. Girls are beating us in the classroom and then dominating us on the mats. Protection from our amazon competitors can't come soon enough, but who's going to provide it? All we can hope is that the females will get tired of thrashing us in combat sports so that they will show a little mercy out of needing a better challenge.
DeleteI actually think it's unlikely that males will ever receive the protection you're talking about. After all, males are simply more expendable than females and if some can serve the purpose of providing expendable opponents for training purposes then at least they'll continue to serve some use. Of course there are women who will find this objectionable, but it will take a while to hash out the issue, meanwhile the male defeats will continue.
ReplyDeleteI guess it does make more sense for males to serve as unwilling training dummies. Females can practice with them until they find the boys are too easy to offer them any more of a challenge. It won't take long for girls to surpass the boys, but it's a way of introducing more girls into athletics. Girls can then move on to face much more worthy opponents in their amazon sisters. The defeat of the male is still going strong, and I don't think the females will be letting up any time soon.
ReplyDeleteIt will be up to females. The male point of view is ultimately meaningless as male power is false in the first place. Individual males will arrive at the truth one way or another, but a lot of us are slow learners and always will be. If we are not serving our superior, stronger sisters we are in the way.
DeleteYou're right, our opinion doesn't matter since we won't be the ones making the calls, females will. Although I do think we should be trying to serve our superiors, even if we aren't capable of giving them much competition. Are there any females here that would know what to do with lesser male opponents?
ReplyDeleteThe battle isn't over and will never be over. Men are just too stubborn and egotistical. We will always have to fight you and the more we fight you the better we get. Amazon girls will always need to train against boys that are older than them otherwise it is just not competitive. Lesser male opponents will be forced to fight with younger & younger girls until they find the right level. Tasha
DeleteI agree Tasha, the male ego is extremely difficult for us to get over. In fact, most of us can't. Even after it's clear females have passed up males, the men will keep denying the truth. Younger girls beating boys could lessen their ego, but I'm not certain if it would be the best method. Do you know it works from personal experience? Because age is important as well as gender, and the girls may not be able to handle boys slightly older than them. I know I don't stand a chance against a girl my age in wrestling, but at the same time, I might hurt one who's younger than me. Do you think having girls face boys a year or two older than them would give the boys an advantage? If they were to constantly win against the girls, it would only inflate the male ego even more.
DeleteI agree Tasha. I can imagine a time in the future when males will see it as a source of pride that they have developed their skills sufficiently to be able to compete against a female. A 20 year old male can feel a sense of accomplishment if he can just go more than a few minutes against a 13 yr old Amazon girl.
Delete"Finding the right level" doesn't necessarily mean the boy will start winning. Depends much on how "the right level" is defined.
DeleteThe right level is not where the boy necessarily wins, just where the boy presents a physical challenge and the girl can learn and improve by fighting him. Sometimes the age difference will be quite significant. Tasha
Delete@ TwentyfirstStarter: Are you kidding me? My many years in wrestling and now BJJ have provided multiple examples of younger female defeating older males. We are born with innate fighting abilities and we mature physically much faster than boys. In my experience girls win mixed bouts 90% of the time regardless of age. I've known many girls (including myself) who are stronger and more skilled than boys several years older than them. Tasha
DeleteIt's truly amazing to see the advancement of females toward their true physical potential. The male body and physique was once believed to be the absolute example of muscular strength and skill, but in recent years we have seen a steady demotion and erosion of the myths that supported that belief. Women now know that the large bulging muscles of the male do not truly represent strength but are more of an unfortunate liability, a laughable encumbrance.
DeleteThe more advanced, faster, more efficient and effective female body is now displacing the male, stepping up on the winners platform where she has always belonged.
Tasha correctly points out that we grow up much faster than boys do. We can definitely build a lot on that by means of decent training and more generally a healthy lifestyle. The right level, as defined by Tasha, will indeed result in girls fighting against significantly older boys. I have also seen it in practice, I know for real that Tasha's point is 100% true. Constantina
DeleteAs I understand it, the fact that females mature much faster than us males is due to the genetic structure of males actually being a variation of the original female structure. As a result, male development is side-tracked and stunted by the less efficient genetic mechanism. The overload of testosterone which males experience is all ultimately tied to our flawed genetics.
DeleteI should apologize for my last comment, claiming that boys become dominant just because they're older. I've been lucky enough to not have to face many girls younger than me in athletics. This made me overconfident and underestimate what girls are capable of. Thinking about it now it doesn't make much sense. If girls my age can dominate me with ease, what would a few less years do? Tasha and Constantina, I didn't mean to claim that you weren't capable of overpowering older boys. As true amazons, I'm sure it wouldn't be a challenge for you.
DeleteI have outfought many guys. I would say regardless of age, but there is no point in it because most of them were between 20 and 30 years old and none was above 35 at the time of the fight. As I started Muay Thai at the age of 18, none of my male opponents has been less than 19 years old. But I 've fought some younger girls (such as 12 and 13 years old) and in some cases had a hard time with them. Girls often seem little to the eye but pack lots of punch. And kick. Constantina
DeleteConstantina, No doubt fighting a younger girl would be more of a challenge than a mere boy. Still the boys must really believe they are naturally the stronger sex until you teach them the truth!
DeleteI will try again to put into perspective how much more talent we have to expect from girls than from boys. I mentioned having a hard time with girls significantly younger than me, but forgot to mention I was not the only adult to have that kind of hard time. When I got started, our trainer was a man, you know, with a beard and big muscles. One day, one of these little girls knocked him out in a test fight. Next day he came back and chose the same girl for a test fight. Being the kind and considerate girl she is, she went easy on him and beat him 4-0 on points (which is still an enormous humiliation). He hadn't taken his lesson yet, so he decided to try another girl. The other girl proved to be just more of the same as the first girl, beating him 3-0 on points and almost knocking him out. Next day we had another trainer. Constantina
DeleteIf your new trainer was just another male, I suspect he will not last long either. Would it be too much to hope that your new trainer was a woman?
DeleteTo answer the question asked by yboy and 21st, here is what happened next. After the trainer I mentioned in the previous comment, we got another male trainer. He was better than the previous guy in that he admitted girls as the more capable side, but then the fightclub owner had to pass the business to his daughter, who is also a great fighter, so now she is our trainer. The upward difference in quality is obvious. Constantina
DeleteIt was wise to ditch the second male trainer even though he was aware of the greater abilities of girls ... as if admitting his inadequacy would somehow make him a better choice than a first rate female trainer, LOL. ...
DeleteI recently found a study on the difference between male and female managerial skills in the workplace and how it affects motivation in workers. It was determined that combining male workers with male managers produced the worst result, giving the male workers female managers raised the worker's motivation by 4 points. Then the study found that female workers with male managers were start out already 6 points above the male/male group ... but FEMALE workers with FEMALE managers rose a full 10 points above the male/male teams. It's not too difficult to figure out that the weak link is the males. There is always an upward shift when women are in power! Here's a link to the article: http://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/183026/female-bosses-engaging-male-bosses.aspx ... we males can and should admit that we always have been the less capable sex and simply get out of the way so women can achieve their potential!
The second male trainer left the club just because the new owner would also be the trainer. His reaction is worth mentioning:
Delete-My father can't go on with the club ownership, I have to take over.
-Good, this is your chance to be a Muay Thai trainer.
-Do you not mind losing your job?
-Don't mind me, the attendants will benefit a lot from your quality. As for me, I 'll find my road.
-OK, but I 'll be owing you help, if you need it.
-I 'll be fine, thank you.
-I wish so, but for any case I am here.
Pretty sure she is, as a true friend must. Constantina
It appears that he could see the writing on the wall and fully accept that she was the superior trainer, and she was noble enough to be sympathetic. All in all a benefit for the women at the fightclub who now have a female trainer.
DeleteAs far as my experience goes, men who understand and admit women's superior potential prove to know their job in general better than men who deny the fact. Our current trainer has been friends with this guy for a considerable amount of years, so rather than sympathy I think her response shows friendship. And having a female trainer is a benefit for everyone, not just for the women. Sure we get more of an advantage in quite a few aspects, but men also progress faster when trained by a female trainer than by a male one. Life has shown me that we see things in more depth, more detail, from a broader point of view - and we process our data much sooner than men process theirs, in spite of men being the side with far less data. I won't claim to be any sort of proud about this, I just find it interesting to notice - and this because there still are people who prefer girls to be uneducated. Constantina
DeleteThanks for sharing your story Constantina. Naturally we have to expect more from girls than boys because they are so much more talented. If we judged boys and girls equally, we would never let the girls' superiority flourish.
ReplyDeleteIt's no surprise how badly the girls dominated your trainer. They must have been really strong to give an amazon like you trouble, so there was no hope for a man being able to compete with them. How did the new trainer work out? Was it another man who knew better than to try to challenge a member of the stronger sex, or was it an amazon who knew a male could never be good enough to train females?