Should boys and girls be allowed to play on the same sports team?

I’ll let you know after I see my niece’s first wrestling match.She is a smart,beautiful girl and I hope she kicks some butt at this too .XD

Absolutely.

My daughter already is. School football/soccer team. She kicks ass as well as the ball. Actually she’s the goalkeeper but you know what I mean. Very proud & perfectly happy to see her mixing it with the boys :¬)

When I was a kid I played recreational soccer. As long as you were in the right age group, anyone played and all the teams were split evenly.

I always wanted to play football. I don’t remember asking to though, because girls ‘aren’t allowed’ to.

For many sports, yes, but for some that might demand more physical strength like ice hockey or football, more consideration might be advised. Now, if there are some females that are just as physically fit and strong as other males on the team and possible opponents they might face, certainly consider letting them be on a multisex team.

Men are physically stronger and I wouldn’t want my daughters playing the rough sports with men. The chance of getting hurt is high but with other sports I wouldn’t see anything wrong with it.

I don’t think that some sports would be good to have multi sex teams with like wrestling. There are just some things that boys can do to girls that can be painful and harmful. But any other sport I’m all for it. Girls are just as capable of everything as boys and I think its ridiculous that anyone should ever think otherwise. :)

It depends on the sport, Im all for equality, but facts are facts, guys tend to be much stronger. Sure, girls can take a beating, chearleading is probably one of the most dangerous sports out there, but a girl or woman would not stand a chance on a rugby field.

As long as there is not an unfair risk of injury, i don’t see why not.

No. Not for physical sports.

@poisonedantidote is chearleading really a sport ?

why not? I’ve wrestled some pretty tough girls before and I’ll admit that I had my ass handed to me by a national level female wrestler (it hurt so good, she was a real cutie).

Same goes for water polo, girls are a lot tougher than many people give them credit for.

Males tend to be more territorial and violent than females. Some sports that tend to be violent, like rugby and American football are good ways to channel these characteristics into something more constuctive than primal murder. In my humble opinion, these should be reserved to males, because they divert socially undesirable male tendencies into something less destructive, and the presence of females might interupt this diversion.
I would submit that females not get involved in these things, because there is a primitive connection between territory, violence and sex and this could be dangerous territory for both males and females.
But sports that emphasize pure athletic prowess, like basketball, or tennis, or sports that are less athletic and more specialized like pitching in baseball or golf, should be open to anybody.
But there is no way to stop anybody from trying to play any sport they want. I am only saying that some decisions in this area might be thought through better than others.
I am sure I will draw the usual disapproval from the collective, but I am used to it, and prepared, as always, to face it.

Absolutely yes, but let’s consider there are two different types of youth sports.

Some organizations promote the “everybody wins” theme and skill level or ability doesn’t weigh into the equation nearly as much as learning and fun activity.

But if it’s a select league, with tryouts and a determination to win the season, then by all means let the girls try out, but if they can’t make the team because of lacking skill level, then tough luck, just like the boys who get cut. If the girl can make the team, then go for it.

The second scenario opens up a real can of worms though. Because in that context, a boy should also be able to try out for the softball team, just as a girl tries out for the baseball team.

@Odysseus Seriously? Have you tried it, watched it? It’s more of a sport than dozens of other ‘sports’.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir , A quick google search informed me that the Federal Court agrees, Cheerleading is Not a Sport :)

@Odysseus That’s not how I decide what a sport is – curling is an olympic sport yet I think it is completely ridiculous.

Up to a certain age, and for certain less physical sports, yes. But in general, boys are physically stronger and bigger than girls so the girls would be at a disadvantage.

Yes, as long as either the boy or the girl meets the requirements and/or has won a spot on the team through equal competition.

E.g., if a girl wants to try out for running back on a tackle football team, she should be able to take a legal and unrestrained hit, and hang on to the ball, just like any boy trying out for that position would.

However, if a girl wants to try out for that position and the coach thinks that she’s capable of handling the challenge, then by all means she should be given the chance.
I.e., I could see giving Chyna a tryout, but not Nicole Richie.

I think this would be less of an issue if females hadn’t been discouraged and barred from participating in these types of physical activities for such a long time, and had instead been given the same opportunities and encouragement to develop whatever skills they needed to participate.

IIRC, some of today’s female Olympic gold medal swimming winners would also win gold in the Men’s competitions of about 20 years ago.

In principle, yes. The only limitation that might make sense is the idea that a male featherweight boxer shouldn’t fight against a male heavyweight boxer (conservation of momentum – mass x velocity). So maybe the issue is about touching or no touching. American football would be an example of the first. Tennis an example of the latter.

@Odysseus, good research, but I think that it is absolutely ridiculous that cheerleading is a sport. I was a cheerleader for 4 years and recieved harder workouts and more injuries than in all of my other sports (well besides motocross). Cheerleaders work just as hard, or harder, than everyone else in a sport. Lifting girls above your head by yourself, and then throwing them 10 feet in the air and catching them, it takes some strength. Try it sometime, its a killer(:

Not in certain contact sports such as wrestling, boxing and even football. It is not fair to force a boy to wrestle a girl. It’s a win/win for the girl and a lose/lose situation for the boy. If girls want to do participate in these types of sports leave them have an all girls football/wrestling team or league. In many other sports I would have little objection but those sports where there is an imminent chance of physical contact.

When we speak of ‘boys and girls’, what ages are we talking about? Is there a reason everyone’s kids are all of a sudden involved in wrestling, rugby and boxing? Because, I feel like that’s a bit much of an extrapolation – boys and girls can play soccer or field hockey or whatever, relax people.

Girls would have a definite disadvantage, but as long as they know what they’re in for, sure. Guys might have trouble accepting girls as their equals, though.