Liberate Me
What is womens Lib anyway? Some things I see done under women's Lib, I just gotta wonder about the rightness of it. I'm in agreeance with gender equality. But I'm not for gender sameness. I want to be treated with equal respect as a man. But I don't want to be treated AS a man. Or the same as a man.
My husband was telling me about his sister and nephew. His nephew played volleyball on a traveling team. But in our town, the school does not offer boys volleyball. My sister-in-law told her son to go out for the girls team (which he refused) since so many girls were going out for boys football etc. Also, for the first time in school history, there is a male cheerleader.
It got me thinking about things. I agree that if girls can go out for guys sports, guys should be able to go out for girls sports. However, it creates the physical harm concern in reverse. If a girl goes out for football, they say she'll get hurt. But if a guy goes out for a girl's sport, I'd be concerned that another girl may get hurt. Bottom line? I think that if there is a question of physical injury due to the gender difference, there should be no crossing of sports lines. I don't think girls should be allowed to play football. I don't think boys should be allowed to play girls volleyball. I know there are intramural sports that mix the sexes and I'm all for those. There are guidelines and everyone EVERYONE participating understands the mixture of the sexes and any implications that incurs.
But it goes beyond sports. Those are a choice to participate in. But I'm finding this attitude that women should be treated as men. I simply disagree. I don't want to be treated as though I had a man's strength, a man's mentality, a man's calling. Before my injuries, I used to beat my male friends in arm wrestling. I worked horses and I worked hard work. It made me strong. I wanted recognition for my accomplishments but I never wanted to be treated like a guy.
I think women's lib, or at least some of the things I see presented as women's lib, as a slippery slope. I understand women, oppressed, wanted out of the home and into the work force. But now we are in a time where there is little option but to work - and still struggle despite two incomes. Now we are sending our children off the centers to be cared for during the majority of the day, or we're sending them to an empty home to fend for themselves - for better or for worse. I don't blame people for wanting to open new doors. It's just that opening new doors closes old ones and not everyone wants to go down the same path.
Addendum: I realize this may sound a bit archaic. Also, it may be that what is supposed to be women's lib is not actually what I have a problem with, just the direction some people have taken with it. Frankly, I realize I'm fortunate and beholden to many who stood up for women's liberation. I also want to make it clear that though it may have sounded as though I believe it is wrong for women to join the work force and send their children to daycare, that is absolutely not my belief. Rather that I don't think we have much more of a choice about having a job than we did prior to women's lib.
My husband was telling me about his sister and nephew. His nephew played volleyball on a traveling team. But in our town, the school does not offer boys volleyball. My sister-in-law told her son to go out for the girls team (which he refused) since so many girls were going out for boys football etc. Also, for the first time in school history, there is a male cheerleader.
It got me thinking about things. I agree that if girls can go out for guys sports, guys should be able to go out for girls sports. However, it creates the physical harm concern in reverse. If a girl goes out for football, they say she'll get hurt. But if a guy goes out for a girl's sport, I'd be concerned that another girl may get hurt. Bottom line? I think that if there is a question of physical injury due to the gender difference, there should be no crossing of sports lines. I don't think girls should be allowed to play football. I don't think boys should be allowed to play girls volleyball. I know there are intramural sports that mix the sexes and I'm all for those. There are guidelines and everyone EVERYONE participating understands the mixture of the sexes and any implications that incurs.
But it goes beyond sports. Those are a choice to participate in. But I'm finding this attitude that women should be treated as men. I simply disagree. I don't want to be treated as though I had a man's strength, a man's mentality, a man's calling. Before my injuries, I used to beat my male friends in arm wrestling. I worked horses and I worked hard work. It made me strong. I wanted recognition for my accomplishments but I never wanted to be treated like a guy.
I think women's lib, or at least some of the things I see presented as women's lib, as a slippery slope. I understand women, oppressed, wanted out of the home and into the work force. But now we are in a time where there is little option but to work - and still struggle despite two incomes. Now we are sending our children off the centers to be cared for during the majority of the day, or we're sending them to an empty home to fend for themselves - for better or for worse. I don't blame people for wanting to open new doors. It's just that opening new doors closes old ones and not everyone wants to go down the same path.
Addendum: I realize this may sound a bit archaic. Also, it may be that what is supposed to be women's lib is not actually what I have a problem with, just the direction some people have taken with it. Frankly, I realize I'm fortunate and beholden to many who stood up for women's liberation. I also want to make it clear that though it may have sounded as though I believe it is wrong for women to join the work force and send their children to daycare, that is absolutely not my belief. Rather that I don't think we have much more of a choice about having a job than we did prior to women's lib.
posted by SonSon at 9:12 PM
3 Comments:
I’m sorry that your husband’s nephew got caught up in the gender battle of the community and school. It seems so petty. I hope he enjoys being a cheerleader; I roomed with a male cheerleader at the University of Kentucky back in 1964. He was quite an athlete—a gymnast. I always envied his skills.
So far as women’s liberation is concerned, it begins with the right of women to vote, own property in their own name, attend college, file for divorce—all of those things women in the U.S. were forbidden by our laws to do just a 100 or so years ago. Beyond those legal rights, I am uncertain where the battle is.
Where athletics are concerned, I really have no opinion. Billy Jean King proved that a woman could defeat a male in tennis and Babe Zaharias that a woman could defeat a male in just about every other sport. So, to me it’s a non-issue.
I disagree with the idea of a woman being kept out of a labeled-man's sport due to the possibility of injury- that is the very arguement sometimes used, isn't it? to keep women out of football, hockey, etc.
I think it depends upon the individual. If the woman/girl in question is able to handle the challenges and consequences, I say let her rip!
I myself work out with weights, machines, cardio, endurance, strength- ride horses, have some Tae Kwon Do training- and consequently am stronger than several of my male friends.
P.S. I'm five feet tall and an athletic 115lbs- and could kick my 6foot, 175 lb boyfriend's butt!
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