Why don’t all sports just have competitors and not be split into men’s 100 meter dash, and women’s 100 meter dash, etc.?

Why do they have“Ladies” rooms and “Mens” rooms ? ? ?

Yes I know this is in GENERAL.

@Tropical_Willie Why do they have“Ladies” rooms and “Mens” rooms ?
Because nature (if you want to avoid saying God did it) actually has undisputable differences in the sexes. Society just affirms it by not wishing to share restrooms, and that thing about exposing men too close to semi-naked women and inappropriate sexual content or advances may occur, something like that, I would suppose.

Men are built for strength and stamina. Women are not.

True some women are faster than some men. But there are no women that can beat the fastest men. The world record in the 100 meter for women is 10.49 and Usain Bolt’d WR of 9.57 is nearly one second faster than the fastest women. When running the 100 meeter race one second is eternity (about 10 yards).

@kritiper Men are built for strength and stamina. Women are not.
That doesn’t seemed to be what is believed around these parts, but nevertheless, sailing doesn’t involve brute strength, or Biathlon, you do have to be able to shoot or it doesn’t matter how fast you ski.

Some so called sports like rifle sooting and curling it would seem to be OK to let women compete against men. But I guarantee that women would be screaming bloody murder if they tried to change the rules so that women would have to compete against men in running, swimming, weight lifting, triathlons, wrestling, etc, etc, etc….

^ But I guarantee that women would be screaming bloody murder if they tried to change the rules so that women would have to compete against men in running, swimming, weight lifting, triathlons, wrestling, etc, etc, etc….
Why? Unless they are capitulating to the obvious fact they try so hard not to admit. They should welcome a totally un-divided arena to show the ideology of equality as they claim.

I can’t really think of time a woman claimed to be stronger than the strongest man. Care to enlighten me? But man, if there was a contest for dealing with physical pain my money is on my sister. 15 pounds of twins came out of her.

@Hypocrisy_Central Why don’t women want to compete against men in athletics? The simple answer is that they want to win. Women are genetically different than men and deserve to have the opportunity to compete among other women. When I was young and strong and running full marathons some women would beat me but they were fast enough to win prize money. I had faster finish times than many women who won lots of money in marathons over the years. I never won a dime always finishing far back from the first, second and third place male finishers.

Because @Hypocrisy_Central when a woman does better than you, you will be screaming how unfair it is. Why don’t you do a few rounds with Ronda Rousey? She’s not even the best woman.

Some women are faster than some men, how ever, (Emperical Girl is here… ) in the 2014 London Olympics the following were the top three times:
Men: 9.63, 9.75, 9.79
Women: 10.75, 10,78, 10.81

The trend is that this gap has never been closer. ‘At the first women’s 100m Olympics final in Amsterdam in 1928, gold was won with a time of 12.2 seconds – 1.4 seconds longer than the men’s race. By 1952 the gap had shrunk to 1.1 seconds, with men on 10.4 seconds and women on 11.5 seconds. In four of the five Olympics between 1988 and 2000, the difference was under a second, Dr Tatem found.’ source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3334277/Women-athletes-will-one-day-out-sprint-men.html
There are two major differences between men and women with importance to sprinting. Muscle mass and haemoglobin. Because sprinting relies on power and men have the testosterone to build more muscle mass than women, and running relies on delivery of oxygen to the muscles, men were born with advantages. It is empirical.
What we have a harder time measuring is the misogynistic attitude when men try to equate these differences into making women somehow less-than. To add an emperical measure for testing, I suggest we measure the penis size of misogynists, so perhaps we can see if there is a causation/correlation in some way.

@gondwanalon The simple answer is that they want to win. Women are genetically different than men and deserve to have the opportunity to compete among other women.
Women genetically different than men, why did not I think of that? ~~ Well, yeah, and that genetic differences can manifest itself in other areas than athletics, but some cannot fathom that, or else they claim some folly that is not true. If a woman wants to win, then they play sports where they have a chance of winning or where finesse can rule over brute strength, then they can win.

@zenvelo Because @Hypocrisy_Central when a woman does better than you, you will be screaming how unfair it is.
Yeah, right, there are many things women and men do better than I. I have not went screaming ”unfair” at any of it. I treat it all the same, if my ego can’t stand the pounding be it billiards, darts, horse shoes, Tidily Winks, or whatever, I don’t play it, no matter what gender my opponent will be. Now say something else you believe you know when you do not know Jack? I think your crystal ball is defective; I would get my money back before it is too late.

@cazzie What we have a harder time measuring is the misogynistic attitude when men try to equate these differences into making women somehow less-than.
That would be simply stating the empirical fact, and by such telling girls they will have a better competition experience playing with other girls. The delusional feminist whining can be measured by how much one is in denial of those differences, or equating pointing out any advantage men have as misogynistic.

Gender divisions are not the only ones in sports. Height/weight/age. All groups of classification. Competition requires similar groups. How proud of yourself can you be to beat someone of smaller stature? Makes me think of Kramer and his karate class of nine year olds. I don’t understand the animosity. Do you want to do away with all categories or just those of gender?

@Hypocrisy_Central Oh like men are incapable of finesse. Woman deserve to comete in as many sports as they want to. But if they are forced to compete against men then they will be severely limited and that is just wrong. Not much fun for women either.

@Jak Do you want to do away with all categories or just those of gender?
There are many sports where there is no division on height, age, weight, etc. those that do I would preserve those but not divide or limit it by gender or age. Personally, I think there should be divisions and in more places, but since the rhetoric is everyone is equal, and then I say live up to that standard or shut the redacted up. I think some sports should have smaller divisions, having a senior division etc. only says you are too old to do this, and the only way you can have a chance is to play with other players who are passed their prime and cannot do it anymore also.

There is no animosity there at all.

@gondwanalon Oh like men are incapable of finesse.
I am not saying they can’t, but just as the boxing matches I have seen where the older, slower boxer used finesse and cunning to outwit, and outlast (sometimes even knock out) his younger stronger opponent. They did not hand out a handicap saying you made the weight, but we are concerned that your age is a disadvantage. If he got in the squared circle and he knows he is the wrong side of 30 and has to fight younger fighters he better develop a strategy to do so or he will be mopping the canvas with his sweat.

Woman deserve to comete in as many sports as they want to.
And I for one, are not trying to stop them.

But if they are forced to compete against men then they will be severely limited and that is just wrong.
It is often some gal who cries or tries to force herself on the boys’ wrestling team, tackle football squad, etc. NO ONE is forcing them, they are the ones doing the pushing.

The delusional feminist whining…... cazzie starts looking for her measuring tape.

For the same reason there are also age divisions? To be more inclusive, by making it more realistic for people to win.

And who knows – if, some day, the fastest woman is faster than the fastest man, the competitions will be joined. But that’s far from being relevant at this point in time.

having a senior division etc. only says you are too old to do this, Um, no, it says you can do this and do this well enough that you are going to have an audience and people are going to take the time to organise an elaborate event and people are going to take time to attend or watch on TV and sponsors are going to spend loads of money. You are completely missing the point of organised sports.

@HC Do you think women who compete in athletics are unfeminine and less desirable? Does their excelling or passion for a sport or competition bother you on levels you aren’t being open about here?

Some elite athletes have their own ideas about sports like what can they personally get out of it like absolute glory, money making and winning at just about all costs including cheating with illegal drugs, blood doping, etc. I think that most athlets think it should be about physical fitness, good heath, friendly competition and fun.

Do you think like me that fun should be a major factor in athletics? Do you think that making women compete against men will make it more fun for them? Or less fun for them?

A couple years ago I was running in a half marathon. Towards the end of the race I passed two male runners half my age. As I passed them I heard one runner say to the other, “See that old guy, that shows you how out of shape we are”. I turned around and said, “I heard THAT!!! When I was your age I was winning races like this overall!” Then I took off as fast as I could run and got 1st in my age glass. It’s fun to still win even if it is just against those who old guys are like me.

@cazzie @HC Do you think women who compete in athletics are unfeminine and less desirable?
No, not at all, I find athletic women sexier than those who sit around all day and zillion times better than those who sit around stuffing their face all day, even if she was not athletic but had the body of a toned athlete that is good enough.

Does their excelling or passion for a sport or competition bother you on levels you aren’t being open about here?
I think they should desire to win or be the best they can, if they know their best will never get to the podium but they are happy to keep trying, I say knock yourself off. As long as they are real with it, I have no problem. If they want to pick and choose where they feel they need help because of obvious advantages or disadvantages I say they should recognize which pond they are in and stay in their own pond, and if they don’t and end up shark bait, don’t whine about it.

I know I always get annoyed when I knock myself off and that pond shark shows up.

@Hypocrisy_Central. “The rhetoric is that everyone is equal.” I make no such claim. At least not in the context you seem to be using it. Everyone is equally important. Has the same desire to be happy and to avoid pain. To say that people are equal in no way implies that they are all the same. We are all wonderfully diverse with varying skill levels, talents, vices and flaws. And really, isn’t competing against your own gender and age group the very definition of recognizing which pond they’re in and staying in their own pond? I thought I detected animosity and hostility in your original question and several of your answers. I could be wrong.

@Jak Everyone is equally important.
As real as that is, some cannot seem to comprehend that. To them unless everyone is treated exactly the same, those who are not (treated as those perceived to have the better end of the stick) are somehow being seen or treated as less than.

To say that people are equal in no way implies that they are all the same.
To point that out how women are different than men is to be seen as misogynistic. Women are just as important as men, but that doesn’t mean they have to do everything men do to prove it (though some seem to think they have to). That is one big misconception about the faith of Christ. And because there is a certain order ordained by God (which many don’t believe ANYHOW), that women are less than just because they are not treated as men with breast.

I thought I detected animosity and hostility in your original question and several of your answers. I could be wrong.
No, there really isn’t. I am just putting it out there that wanting everything equal may have traits one doesn’t like, and if they are not willing to take the unfavorable parts with the favorable parts then they are someone disingenuous to their own battle cry.

Sooo… Unless everyone has the same abilities, don’t expect any equality, is what you are saying?

@cazzie Sooo… Unless everyone has the same abilities, don’t expect any equality, is what you are saying?
No, what I saying is society seems to have this train of thought that to have something the same as someone else but have it called something different means the person receiving whatever that is not called by the standard is less than. In the case of gender, everything has to be equal access even in nature (if you dare not attribute it to intelligent design) developed it that way.

I’m not sure if you have typos or are just not making sense.

“To point that out how women are different than men is to be seen as misogynistic.” No it isn’t. Facts are facts. Now, if you relay those facts with editorializing and comments about women, that may ne misogynistic, and you can and should be held to account for that.
I believe that your real intent here was to voice your irritation and frustration with certain elements of the public I general. I remember very well that girl who wanted to go to The Citadel. Then she didn’t want to cut her hair and ended up failing out because she didn’t use her time before going in to get in a bit better shape. That was lame. I also vaguely remember hearing about some mention of lowering the bar so that women could be SEALs. Any reasonable person would recognize the inappropriateness of such a request. It would be tantamount to jeopardizing the missions just so some dumb girls can dress up and puff out their chests. But you must realize and accept that every society has stupid people in it who can’t think past their own selfish goals.
The very idea that women have to act like men to prove that they are equal to men is already becoming passé. And the ones who have gotten under your skin are in the minority. They certainly don’t warrant all the upset you’ve given voice to. In allowing them to make you so angry, you’ve swallowed a gallon of gall and by venting some of it have poisoned your day. And you haven’t hurt them even a little bit.
Seriously, I understand your desire to shake some sense into them, but you do most of the female population an injustice to imagine that we’re all onboard with this train of thought. Most of us don’t spend our time trying to figure out how to stack the deck against men so that we can then “sweep in and take the victory unfairly” which is what you seem to think.
However, I do believe that women are entitled to equal pay for doing the same job. In our society, most jobs are in the office and do not require feats of physical prowess. I believe in this respect we are more evenly matched.
In the meantime, please remember that your anger at a perceived situation is causing damage to yourself and none to the ones who are making you angry. How is that productive?

@Jak Any reasonable person would recognize the inappropriateness of such a request. It would be tantamount to jeopardizing the missions just so some dumb girls can dress up and puff out their chests. But you must realize and accept that every society has stupid people in it who can’t think past their own selfish goals.
It goes further and in more areas than athletics where people will short circuit common logic, facts, and the likes for personal gain or ideology.

And the ones who have gotten under your skin are in the minority. They certainly don’t warrant all the upset you’ve given voice to. In allowing them to make you so angry, you’ve swallowed a gallon of gall and by venting some of it have poisoned your day.
They have not made me angry or poisoned my day any more or less than the other nonsense done in society. It seems to have upset other more than I that I would even have the audacity to point it out.

Seriously, I understand your desire to shake some sense into them, but you do most of the female population an injustice to imagine that we’re all onboard with this train of thought.
I don’t think all women succumb to that nuttiness, I know some women are just fine with being housewives (yeah, I know not all women can have husbands that earn enough that they can enjoy that) and supporting their husbands, that has been passé quite a while ago. ~~ Seems any woman wanting to ride the traditional woman’s highway is deemed to be weak, foolish or lacking self-esteem or ambition, if not downright lazy.

In the meantime, please remember that your anger at a perceived situation is causing damage to yourself and none to the ones who are making you angry. How is that productive?
Even though that is the usual Fluther fare to get bent over things that go against personal ideology, which I am not, I am not angry behind it. I can be in opposition of something but not angry with it or those who do it.

I don’t know what to do with myself now that I don’t have a man to succumb to or support. What ever is my purpose?

It would not be fair to have women compete with men. On the average, men will win in most sporting events. They are bigger and have testosterone. I am a rather large and strong lady, but I am small compared to the largest men. It makes as much sense to have children competing with adults.