I post here because it is Olympics, but it also has very interesting gender equality content. Quite worth reading.
I am glad she succeeded in doing her trick. I wish nothing but the best for her. I agree maybe the points should be higher for triples (I say that without knowing anything about the point system). But
I think every time I said that I wanted to ‘jump like the boys’ I was reaffirming that boys are the standard. I don’t think that helps gender equality.
I think this is wrong. Call me sexist all you want. But males on the average physically stronger and bigger than females. She said of her trick “Only two girls have ever done it, and I’m the only one who’s ever landed it, so it’s a bold move.” What she left out is how many males have done it and landed. I willing to bet a lot more. I’m sorry but boys are the standard when it comes to sports. There is a reason why they compete separately in the Olympics. If they competed against each other it would be extremely rare for a female to win gold in any sport. When a female figure skater lands a triple axel it is a big deal, it is just ordinary when a male figure skater does it. I remember looking at the times for the 100 yard dash in the Olympics a few years back. I compared the times for the female runners to the male runners. I remember that female Gold medalist wouldn’t have gotten near the podium if she ran that same time against the males. There more differences between males and females than what is between their legs. Sorry, it not pc, but it is truth.
Oh if you want to talk about Gender equality, what about the males whom are just as good as the female Olympians but can’t get anywhere near the Olympics because they have to compete in the male category. I am willing to bet there are male athletes that have done the same trick Ashley Caldwell did but didn’t make the Olympics because they were males.
what did you think about this part of the article though?
Caldwell’s teammate, Mac Bohonnon, says the scoring scale is one factor dissuading women from doing triples. At the elite level, men have to do triples to be competitive. But, Bohonnon says, triples aren’t scored with a high enough degree of difficulty to make them worth the risk for women.
“It’s a more dangerous jump, it’s a more challenging jump, it’s a scarier jump,” he says, “and I think there’s no reward for women doing triples. In my eyes, they’re almost punished. They’re getting beat by easy doubles.”
The logic goes, if you can reach the podium more securely with a less challenging jump, why not just stick to a double?
There is something to that, no? If you tell the female athletes to only attempt to achieve a certain level, but tell the male athletes to attempt to achieve a higher level, that plays a part in the eventual level they achieve.
I think the end goal should be that both genders are pushed just as far, and challenged to the ability of the person, not to their genders abilities.