BREAKING: The sexes are different.
On Wednesday, the Australian Women’s national soccer team lost a training game in preparation for the Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. Here’s the thing: they played against a bunch of 15-year-old boys, the Newcastle Jets, and lost 7-0.
These Aussie women apparently never got the memo that gender is merely a construct. They are exactly the same as men (or 15-year-old boys), after all.
Hilariously, people were actually shocked by the outcome. Assistant Coach Gary van Egmond said that he was “surprised” by the outcome.
“To be honest we didn’t expect that,” he said, adding, “The Jets boys were very good, all credit to them, they moved the ball around very well and were excellent all night.”
It’s common for elite female teams to play against boys’ teams, since finding other female competition up to snuff can be difficult. The Aussie team is rumored to have been “smashed” by boys’ teams in the past, too, namely the Under 16 Sydney FC team last year, per The Daily Mail UK.
Some commentators have defended the Aussie women’s loss, explaining away the 7-0 defeat because not all their starters made it onto the field during the game. But some did.
To be clear, this was the women’s NATIONAL team—as in, the best female soccer players in the entire country. They are even favored to medal in the upcoming Olympics. And their opponents: teenage boys.
But this is not a slight at women, of course. Men (or boys) may be able to kick our butts in a soccer match, but we can carry life in our uteruses (AKA we win). The point being, men and women are different, and that’s okay! It’s actually quite beautiful.
Some commentators have defended the Aussie women’s loss, explaining away the 7-0 defeat because not all their starters made it onto the field during the game. But some did.
I’ll leave with an actual argument for integrated sports posted in the leader of absurd third wave feminist publications, Feministing:
Personally I find the idea that keeping us separate is denying those women who are capable of competing against men with the same rules and the same distances. For me it’s patronizing that women are treated differently as if the only way a man can be competed against is by making things easier for women.
There’s a book called “Playing with the boys: why separate is not equal in sports” which reports that maintaining these differences is just reinforcing the stereotypes that have been endured for far too long. Is it wrong for me to think that women should be allowed to challenge men? Maybe in things like boxing or lifting weights men would have an advantage, but what about other sports which are not just about brute strength?
Like soccer…?