I’m a man and a lifelong sports fan, and honestly, I don’t know how many people on either side of this debate are ready to have the actual discussion about whether men and women should compete (but I will hazard a guess that women are better equipped for the debate).
At least at the professional level, by a large, men will outperform women consistently (Katie Ledecky notwithstanding, that woman is nuts).
This is not because men are inherently superior to women (though we have some slight advantages on the whole).
It’s because we breed and train men to be athletes, whereas we largely make women athletes by accident.
Historically, boys get more opportunities to play sports. They get better nutrition, they are more actively encouraged at young ages to practice and pursue skills that come in handy in sports (if you want the counter example, think of the disproportion in terms of primary school educators who are women).
The days of a random kid from the streets becoming a pro athlete are dwindling. Competitive male athletes at the highest level literally start training at age 5. By age 10-12, they are semi-professional, with specialized leagues, independent coaches, and access to a whole network of professionals like nutritionists and sports scientists.
Men outperform women in sports because society and the machinery of sports are designed for men, by men.
If we could go back in time and let girls train with the boys, would we suddenly have 50/50 representation? Gun to my head, I don’t think so. But I DO think we’d have an appreciable percentage. If you want evidence, look at the color barrier in the US.
There was a time the notion of black people competing with whites was considered insane.
Try to imagine most professional sports now without people of African descent. Outside of Ice Hockey, I can’t think of any that wouldn’t be significantly different without black players.
Most men I don’t think are ready to admit how much sporting machinery favors us, and it’s because it goes to the very heart of what we believe sports are:: an even contest with a level playing field.
If the game isn’t fair, it has no meaning. And so a lot of people will put their head in the sand about the issue.
The game is, and always has been, rigged.
The question is, what do we do about it.
