The Argument for Girl-Boy Wrestling

christianitytoday.com/women ^ | February 22, 2011 | Caryn Rivadeneira

[SgtHooper]

Agreed. I am amazed at how many posters think this is a sexual interaction rather than simply a competition between people of the opposite sex.

[SgtHooper]

Point well taken.

[chesley]

The writer misses the point. It is HIS choice to wrestle, or not, and take the consequences. Which he did.

She is wrong in saying that he should have decided differently. She has no dog in this hunt.

Christians are not in the business of affording opportunity to others where we are obliged to give up our own core beliefs.

[SgtHooper]

Cuz then they’d be lesbians? j/k

[3niner]

By that logic male vs. male wrestling has homosexual connotations.

Sometimes it does. I saw this among some of my acquaintances in junior high school. I never wanted anything to do with wrestling after that.

[TigersEye]

They weren’t really competitively wrestling then. It’s hard to get turned on when your head is being ground into the mat or your shoulder is in the process of being dislocated. At least it wasn’t exciting to me in that way.

[Mr. Bird]

You’re right about that. While I certainly understand the instinctual, competitive nature of impromptu “wrestling” among young men, I was always a bit unnerved at the organized variety. I suppose it is one of the “purer” athletic endeavors, but I’d rather tango with a lady in bed than a boy on a mat.

[Conan the Conservative]

“When Joel refused to wrestle Cassy, he took an opportunity away from her. An opportunity for her to shine using her own God-given strength and ability. An opportunity to win or lose, fair and square.”

What about what Cassy took from Joel by inserting herself into a traditionally male sport and creating an unnecessary moral dilema? Seems rather selfish for her to make everyone else uncomfortable and have to adapt for her benefit. I applaud the young man for not abandoning his principles for the sake of a cheap, meaningless HS trophy.

[Spudx7]

Exactly. My husband is a wrestling coach and has told his guys he will never make them wrestle a girl.

[Pollster1]

1. With or without the chin strap, the wrestling uniform look probably doesn't do it for most high school boys. I don't see any significant risk of sexual attraction during a match, regardless of how rough or soft she is in terms of her technique.

2. I don't see this as an appropriate coed sport. If the school system wants her to wrestle, they can create a girls' wrestling league, even if she's the only athlete in her league.

3. I would not blame a guy who went all out against her, nor would I blame a guy who refused to wrestle her. I also would hope that most high school guys are not so delicate that they would fall to pieces if she beat them (it's probably the guy's first match against a girl, where she's used to wrestling guys).

[justice14]

Agreed. I am amazed at how many posters think this is a sexual interaction rather than simply a competition between people of the opposite sex.

Ok. Your saying that wrestling, a sport which is all about physical touching grabbing, groping, pulling, etc etc, is something that males (who God created to be attracted to females) should be able to just focus on the competition aspect of it?

[Paladin2]

I say let the girl win. It’s a good lesson for later life (if you want one).

[backwoods-engineer]

The argument against: The Bowling Ball Grip. Only works on girls. You figure it out.

[freedom_forge]

I am amazed at how many posters think this is a sexual interaction rather than simply a competition between people of the opposite sex.

I don't know if you wrestled but opposite-sex matches would be fraught with issues, if not for the participants then certainly for the crowd.

Both participants could not avoid but violently grab each other in places that would get them arrested if done in public. Moreover, a big part of the discomfort for the guy would not be sexual but the fact that he was breaking the long-standing dictum forbidding violence against women. How ironic that the people who are pushing same-sex sports regard men as violent prone.

Perhaps if the womens lib movement would back off on their demonetization of men, more boys would be willing to wrestle girls.

My daughter, for a short time, played lacrosse with guys. She had fun and got knocked around a lot. But wrestling is a very different thing.

[Vigilanteman]

Hardly. Man had been pinning man in one on one combat for self-defense purposes since time begin. When man pins woman, the objective is usually physical intimacy, even if doesn't end in sex.

The only exception might be the playful type wrestling such as kittens do, parents tickling their children and the like.

Wrestling simply is not an appropriate activity for teenagers of the opposite sex entering their hormonal peak.

I will not address wrestling between (supposed) homosexual boys, because I cannot comprehend the mindset other than to say that most boys have no real clue as to homosexual tendencies unless actively recruited or encouraged by other perverts, Hollywood and others who have a vested interest in not allowing them to develop normally.

At one time, homosexuality was correctly classified as a mental illness before the pink mafia took over the mental health profession.

[SgtHooper]

I believe that when the boy faces the girl on the mat, in any position, he is more worried about losing than sexual interaction. If he has trouble with that, what does it say about him as a boss who has women as subordinates.

Look, I understand both sides of the argument, lack of girl programs tanking the boy’s programs (completely bogus), women in men’s sports (but no men allowed in women’s sports), religious convictions, etc., and in many cases, it might occur where certain wrestling interaction appears beyond the rules. But that can occur in all sports coed or otherwise.

I guess the general notion that girls should not compete in the boy sport simply because the boy might get aroused, have a fragile ego, or errantly/intentionally make questionable contact, are weak positions. Been fun.

[Jack Hammer]

“I don’t know if you wrestled but opposite-sex matches would be fraught with issues...”

I DID wrestle, and I can tell you on the basis of experience that you’re absolutely right; teenage boys are coming into their sexual peak, with all sorts of other issues, both related to sex and hormones and to ego, as well as maturity, strength, and a whole host of other things. There would most DEFINITELY be issues - and lots of them.

Boys wrestling girls is a very, very, VERY bad idea. In fact, to be candid about it, it is utter madness.

[Paladin2]

"....played lacrosse with guys. She had fun and got knocked around a lot...."

My son always wanted to play hockey, but found lacrosse was good enough to get the hits he desired for some reason.

[3niner]

It’s hard to get turned on when your head is being ground into the mat or your shoulder is in the process of being dislocated.

It wasn't the losers who were getting a sexual thrill. Just like straight men, there are some gay men who get a sexual thrill from physical domination of others.

Sometimes you will see news stories about boys on sports teams being subjected to sexual "hazing" by others on the same team. It is not "hazing", but rather a kind of rape, where the dominant boy gets a thrill from performing a sex act on another boy using a foreign object. Unfortunately, these kinds of boys are sometimes attracted to wrestling.

Not surprisingly, a lot of men like this end up in prison, where they can often indulge in this kind of behavior.