A lot of “male” events are actually open for anyone, it’s just that women generally prefer women only events, since women will usually be at a disadvantage on average.
Yeah, I don’t know if that’s true at the Olympics, but for example Formula 1 has been open to women from the start, and there have been 5 female drivers. Only one has ever earned a point, and that was back in the 1950s. NFL football is also theoretically open to women, but no woman has ever made the cut.
In some cases, like NFL football, it’s the rules that mean that a female body is generally going to be at a disadvantage. In other cases, like F1, it’s probably more that young girls aren’t given the same chances as boys. It seems to me like most Olympic events are in that first category, so no matter what you did to give girls and young women chances, they’d never be able to compete physically against men.
From 1968 to 1992, Olympic skeet shooting was a mixed sex discipline. A woman won the skeet shooting event at the 1992 Olympics.
In 1996 there was no longer a mixed sex skeet shooting event, nor was there a separate women’s event. The latter was introduced at the 2000 Olympics, but the mixed sex event is history. It is said that the decision to end the mixed event was made before the 1992 Olympics, but there is no clear rationale or corroboration.
Sounds pretty suspicious. Shooting is definitely one of those events where the male biological advantage should be low enough that there’s no reason not to have a mixed event.
People keep quoting the “Air Bud rule” here without realizing the reality that most sports would do absolutely anything they can to discourage women competing on a man’s level.
I’ve participated in sports that have “open” divisions, which are effectively men’s divisions. In local competitions, you’ll see many of the stronger women competing in them.
A lot of “male” events are actually open for anyone, it’s just that women generally prefer women only events, since women will usually be at a disadvantage on average.
Yeah, I don’t know if that’s true at the Olympics, but for example Formula 1 has been open to women from the start, and there have been 5 female drivers. Only one has ever earned a point, and that was back in the 1950s. NFL football is also theoretically open to women, but no woman has ever made the cut.
In some cases, like NFL football, it’s the rules that mean that a female body is generally going to be at a disadvantage. In other cases, like F1, it’s probably more that young girls aren’t given the same chances as boys. It seems to me like most Olympic events are in that first category, so no matter what you did to give girls and young women chances, they’d never be able to compete physically against men.
From 1968 to 1992, Olympic skeet shooting was a mixed sex discipline. A woman won the skeet shooting event at the 1992 Olympics.
In 1996 there was no longer a mixed sex skeet shooting event, nor was there a separate women’s event. The latter was introduced at the 2000 Olympics, but the mixed sex event is history. It is said that the decision to end the mixed event was made before the 1992 Olympics, but there is no clear rationale or corroboration.
Sounds pretty suspicious. Shooting is definitely one of those events where the male biological advantage should be low enough that there’s no reason not to have a mixed event.
People keep quoting the “Air Bud rule” here without realizing the reality that most sports would do absolutely anything they can to discourage women competing on a man’s level.
I’ve participated in sports that have “open” divisions, which are effectively men’s divisions. In local competitions, you’ll see many of the stronger women competing in them.