The Blog

I am a virgin. To blogging that is. Officially I am not because I schlog which means that I schlep words for a living. This is my very first blog so technically this makes me a virgin. I’ll get to the—why I prefer schlogging part later, after I experience my first blog which is why I am not a feminist but . . . and am co ming out of the closet.
In 1952 Eleanor Engle, signed a contract to play in a major league team. Shortly after the contract was voided because, “such travesties will not be tolerated.” How unfortunate that in 2008, we tolerate such remarks.

One would think that women would have broken through the gender barrier in all sports when Title IX was introduced in 1972. The law simply states: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Certainly women have made inroads into sports, though this is predominately for girls under the age of 12 and mainly because of Title IX. There is something about a girl who begins to grow breasts, or the forbidden knowledge that she may be having a period - she suddenly becomes unclean. Consider the edict handed down the other week to20a fourteen year old girl in Georgia. She was booted off her team even20though she had led them to victory the year before. She was told she could not play football because she was female.

But even higher education has issues in accepting female sports contenders. Funding is the most difficult hurdle. The more private the educating institution is, the easier it becomes to hide the fair play rules that Title IX was meant to preserve and protect. My take, right or wrong makes it an elite ruling and does not help the barriers that still exist that were in my Aunt’s lifetime (who played professional baseball); in mine, in my older daughters, and the youngest, who are 16 and 17.

The sad part is that few people realize that Title IX is mandatory in every school district in the US and that it is in place not just to allow equal opportunity of gender in sports. The law also includes discrimination in fields such as science, math education, and other aspects of academic life — such as access to health care and dormitory facilities. The law can apply to non-sport activities such as school bands, cheerleaders, and clubs, but no t gender specific groups.

As Shakespeare would say – “Aye – there’s the rub.” Infractions are hidden when activities are specified, girls only or boys only within institutions who receive Federal funds. Call this a loop hole. Every law has a loop hole and if there isn’t one, there’ll be one soon.

Now in an effort to provide a loop hole where women can no longer make the medical decision in determining what is right for her body or herself, a new law allows anyone in the medical profession – anyone to walk away if the decision is against his/her principal.

Anyone – from the receptionist to the doctor who treats you.

In reality, women can do anything and play any sport - often better than a male counterpart. Take for instance the ‘Lingerie Super Bowl’ event played on a pay-for-view channel during Super Bowl halftime. Go on – take a look, Google, study, and then post your comments. Tell me why or why not you think these women shouldn’t become the new figures for the war between the sexes – all genders=2 0(though I would not mind if the new official male sports uniform made it mandatory for string bikinis 3 but this is another story).

Posted by Bev in Women's Issues |

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 7:54 pm and is filed under Women's Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.