How Long Until Boys Can't Play Contact Sports?
For those of you that haven't heard, in Iowa a girl, Cassy, won a state wrestling championship...by forfeit.
The boy she was supposed to go up against refused to fight her because she was a girl.
The words of the boy in question, Joel Northrup:
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [Black] and their accomplishments," Northrup said in a statement given to the media following his official forfeit. "However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times.
"As a matter of conscience and faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa."
Now, as a side note, I am NOT condemning his actions. He could have easily been an asshole about having to compete with her, and made any number of unreasonable demands in response, or even just thrown a tantrum about girls in wrestling in general. Instead, he accepted the circumstance and gracefully forfeited. That is something I can respect.
What I am condemning, here, is his attitude.
For one thing, wrestling doesn't "get violent" - it is violent, and that is why people love to watch it.
The real snub, here, is his obvious views of her - she isn't another wrestler, here, she is a girl. Her status as a wrestler doesn't matter, the fact that she's already won other tournaments just to get to the state levels doesn't matter, the fact that she's beaten enough other guys to get to the finals against Joel doesn't matter - all of her accomplishments and credentials are gone, irrelevant, and meaningless, all because of her gender.
It's bullshit.
He says he has "a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [Black] and their accomplishments", but it is clear he does not. They are not fellow wrestlers, but girls. Their accomplishments and statuses as wrestlers mean nothing because they are girls.
More and more, girls are breaking through class ceilings in sports and joining in sports areas previously only known to men. When we heard about that girl on the football team in Michigan, my school laughed - because our own school's football team already has two girls on it.
Would Joel never be able to play football against these two teams on the off chance he might have to make a play against a girl?
Also - if it's not okay to be violent with a girl, what about other boys - weak ones who would be far less capable of defending themselves than Cassy?
And - there's another girl within that tournament alone. What if he has to go up against her? Will he forfeit again, losing his chance at a title of any kind at all?
While the boy's actions were respectable, his attitude is not, and for his sake I hope he learns better before all his dreams of a wrestling championship or career go up in smoke because he can't play against certain other wrestlers.
The boy she was supposed to go up against refused to fight her because she was a girl.
The words of the boy in question, Joel Northrup:
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [Black] and their accomplishments," Northrup said in a statement given to the media following his official forfeit. "However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times.
"As a matter of conscience and faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa."
Now, as a side note, I am NOT condemning his actions. He could have easily been an asshole about having to compete with her, and made any number of unreasonable demands in response, or even just thrown a tantrum about girls in wrestling in general. Instead, he accepted the circumstance and gracefully forfeited. That is something I can respect.
What I am condemning, here, is his attitude.
For one thing, wrestling doesn't "get violent" - it is violent, and that is why people love to watch it.
The real snub, here, is his obvious views of her - she isn't another wrestler, here, she is a girl. Her status as a wrestler doesn't matter, the fact that she's already won other tournaments just to get to the state levels doesn't matter, the fact that she's beaten enough other guys to get to the finals against Joel doesn't matter - all of her accomplishments and credentials are gone, irrelevant, and meaningless, all because of her gender.
It's bullshit.
He says he has "a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [Black] and their accomplishments", but it is clear he does not. They are not fellow wrestlers, but girls. Their accomplishments and statuses as wrestlers mean nothing because they are girls.
More and more, girls are breaking through class ceilings in sports and joining in sports areas previously only known to men. When we heard about that girl on the football team in Michigan, my school laughed - because our own school's football team already has two girls on it.
Would Joel never be able to play football against these two teams on the off chance he might have to make a play against a girl?
Also - if it's not okay to be violent with a girl, what about other boys - weak ones who would be far less capable of defending themselves than Cassy?
And - there's another girl within that tournament alone. What if he has to go up against her? Will he forfeit again, losing his chance at a title of any kind at all?
While the boy's actions were respectable, his attitude is not, and for his sake I hope he learns better before all his dreams of a wrestling championship or career go up in smoke because he can't play against certain other wrestlers.