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ink_n_impThis shouldn't make me as irate as it does, but this idiocy has gotten under my collar, and probably because it's exactly the sort of gender bullshit I swear to God I've been butting heads with my whole fucking life.
A brawl ensues at a youth football game because the parents' of the opposing team refused to let their sons play against a team that had a girl player, citing moral reasons for not wanting their sons to 'hit' a girl.
Dear Parents of the Eaton team;
How about you teach your sons to play hard but fair instead? How about teaching them that on the playing field, anything goes within the boundaries of good sense and sportsmanship. If you're afraid of your sons learning that 'hitting' girls is ok if they play against them in contact sports, how about teaching them instead that hitting ANYONE in anger is ALWAYS bad. Don't teach them that girls belong on pedestals! Make them gentlemen to EVERYONE. Teach them to play to win, not to be aggressive!
Teach them that girls can not only play against them, but can play SIDE BY SIDE with them, and that girls can hold their GOD DAMN OWN. A physical sport does NOT have to equate violence against another human, let alone women; so fucking TEACH YOUR SONS THAT. TEACH THEM WHAT'S A APPROPRIATE USE OF THEIR STRENGTHS AND EMOTIONS, instead of just giving them a ultimatum that only separates men and women some more, and completely whitewashes the real problem. If a girl wants to play football, then she's not afraid of some hurts and pains, and she's MOST DEFINITELY not afraid of giving your boy some hurts and pains of his own out on the field.
I think I'm so bothered by this BECAUSE I fought and won against this very sort of bullshit in middle school. In middle school our recess was out on the blacktop, and the boys would play basketball, soccer, flag football, etc--and in 6th grade, I couldn't WAIT to play those games at recess! But then I was told by the teacher in charge of recess that girls weren't ALLOWED play with the boys, because the boys were too "rough". He recommended that I just play those games with the other girls. The other girls who just…sat! And talked! All recess! I wanted to play some damn football or soccer or basketball, not sit around and…SIT AROUND SOME MORE!
So me and two friends of mine that wanted in on the boys' games got a petition signed by everyone in my class (even the boys who didn't want to play with girls. Those boys I punched into submitting their signature--ok, not my most shining Democratic moment, I admit it. Bad wee!Nella.) And we won. We got to play those games with the kids that actually WANTED to play at recess time. And we got some well needed physical exercise too, so THERE!
AND HELL YEA, I got knocked down, kneed in unfortunate places, dog-piled on top of (ON BLACKTOP, OH GOD OW) and once, even punched in the nose (though that was just an accident), and guess what?
I ENJOYED EVERY MOMENT OF IT.
AND as a girl, you know what it taught me? It taught me what I was comfortable with, and what made me uncomfortable, and thereby what was worth defending myself or others against. It taught me what was innocent roughhousing and what was harassment. IT EMPOWERED ME to decide for myself what I'm ok with, and what I'm not ok with.
And, ok, not like I was a little girl in need of much more empowering, but the point still stands. And applies to little boys as well. 'Cause hell yea there are little boys out there who have NO desire to go and "man it up" on the playing field. So how about we all get the moral/sociological/cultural sticks out of our asses, and let our kids figure out for themselves what knocks they are willing to take, in the safest environment we can provide them.
In other words—ARRRRRGH DON'T MAKE ME GET MY GOD DAMN SWORD AND SHIELD TO KNOCK SOME SENSE IN YOU. I'VE BEEN PRACTICING. WITH WITH A BIG ASS MAN SHIELD TOO. SERIOUSLY, THE THING IS HUGE. I HIT YOU JUST WITH THE SHIELD AND YOU'LL BE FORGETTING ALL ABOUT THAT RIDICULOUS "BUT I DON'T HIT GUUUUUUUUURLS!" RULE YOU CHERISH.
Cordially yours,
Nella
P.S. Oh, and parents of Eaton? It's SOOOOOO obvious you aren't from Long Island, where all girl's lacrosse reigns supreme, and scares the shit out of boys. Girls with sticks, man. There's a reason for myths about Amazon-like cultures throughout the world. We play to KILL.
A brawl ensues at a youth football game because the parents' of the opposing team refused to let their sons play against a team that had a girl player, citing moral reasons for not wanting their sons to 'hit' a girl.
Dear Parents of the Eaton team;
How about you teach your sons to play hard but fair instead? How about teaching them that on the playing field, anything goes within the boundaries of good sense and sportsmanship. If you're afraid of your sons learning that 'hitting' girls is ok if they play against them in contact sports, how about teaching them instead that hitting ANYONE in anger is ALWAYS bad. Don't teach them that girls belong on pedestals! Make them gentlemen to EVERYONE. Teach them to play to win, not to be aggressive!
Teach them that girls can not only play against them, but can play SIDE BY SIDE with them, and that girls can hold their GOD DAMN OWN. A physical sport does NOT have to equate violence against another human, let alone women; so fucking TEACH YOUR SONS THAT. TEACH THEM WHAT'S A APPROPRIATE USE OF THEIR STRENGTHS AND EMOTIONS, instead of just giving them a ultimatum that only separates men and women some more, and completely whitewashes the real problem. If a girl wants to play football, then she's not afraid of some hurts and pains, and she's MOST DEFINITELY not afraid of giving your boy some hurts and pains of his own out on the field.
I think I'm so bothered by this BECAUSE I fought and won against this very sort of bullshit in middle school. In middle school our recess was out on the blacktop, and the boys would play basketball, soccer, flag football, etc--and in 6th grade, I couldn't WAIT to play those games at recess! But then I was told by the teacher in charge of recess that girls weren't ALLOWED play with the boys, because the boys were too "rough". He recommended that I just play those games with the other girls. The other girls who just…sat! And talked! All recess! I wanted to play some damn football or soccer or basketball, not sit around and…SIT AROUND SOME MORE!
So me and two friends of mine that wanted in on the boys' games got a petition signed by everyone in my class (even the boys who didn't want to play with girls. Those boys I punched into submitting their signature--ok, not my most shining Democratic moment, I admit it. Bad wee!Nella.) And we won. We got to play those games with the kids that actually WANTED to play at recess time. And we got some well needed physical exercise too, so THERE!
AND HELL YEA, I got knocked down, kneed in unfortunate places, dog-piled on top of (ON BLACKTOP, OH GOD OW) and once, even punched in the nose (though that was just an accident), and guess what?
I ENJOYED EVERY MOMENT OF IT.
AND as a girl, you know what it taught me? It taught me what I was comfortable with, and what made me uncomfortable, and thereby what was worth defending myself or others against. It taught me what was innocent roughhousing and what was harassment. IT EMPOWERED ME to decide for myself what I'm ok with, and what I'm not ok with.
And, ok, not like I was a little girl in need of much more empowering, but the point still stands. And applies to little boys as well. 'Cause hell yea there are little boys out there who have NO desire to go and "man it up" on the playing field. So how about we all get the moral/sociological/cultural sticks out of our asses, and let our kids figure out for themselves what knocks they are willing to take, in the safest environment we can provide them.
In other words—ARRRRRGH DON'T MAKE ME GET MY GOD DAMN SWORD AND SHIELD TO KNOCK SOME SENSE IN YOU. I'VE BEEN PRACTICING. WITH WITH A BIG ASS MAN SHIELD TOO. SERIOUSLY, THE THING IS HUGE. I HIT YOU JUST WITH THE SHIELD AND YOU'LL BE FORGETTING ALL ABOUT THAT RIDICULOUS "BUT I DON'T HIT GUUUUUUUUURLS!" RULE YOU CHERISH.
Cordially yours,
Nella
P.S. Oh, and parents of Eaton? It's SOOOOOO obvious you aren't from Long Island, where all girl's lacrosse reigns supreme, and scares the shit out of boys. Girls with sticks, man. There's a reason for myths about Amazon-like cultures throughout the world. We play to KILL.
