Parents taking issue with forfeits when boys don't join girls on mat

The Seattle Times ^ | May 8, 2005 | Linda Shaw

[Feiny]

Markets don't matter with public schools. This also involves funding. Our schools are already cutting popular programs....why should they be forced to fund an unpopular one? Now...if someone started a female wrestling league outside of school...fine. Future mud wrestlers in training.

[Feiny]

I did a bit of googling & fond that there is a female wrestling championship. If these girls want to wrestle each other...fine. If they don't have enough girls in their area to wrestle...they need to recruit or travel.

http://www.tech-fall.com/2004seniornat3.html

[Feiny]

http://www.tech-fall.com/girlsregion1.html

[Feiny]

http://www.tech-fall.com/girlsregion2.html

[papertyger]

So far as I'm concerned, the traditional taboo against boys hitting girls is defunct. Any male children I might have will be taught everyone is to be treated the same. Female children will be taught presuming on the old taboo is inviting disaster.

[VermiciousKnid]

You misunderstand me. I in no way advocate the funding of an unpopular program. Hell...I'm not even a fan of the public funding of the schools themselves!

I guess my point was, that if they WERE to start a girls' wrestling team, they MIGHT find that it IS popular.

And of course, an independent team outside of the school would be A-OK, too.

Regards,

[grellis]

I'll admit up front--I know very little about wrestling and even less about martial arts. All I really know about martial arts is that they are primarily defensive and Kurosawa was a damn fine director. I think girls--women, for that matter--are much better off learning martial arts from men for precisely the reason you cite: If their goal is self-defense, they have to be able to defend themselves against their most likely opponent/attacker--a man.

Wrestling is different, though. The goal of wrestling is to pin your opponent, which I suppose is kind of self defense in a way, but there is just something...wrong about girls wrestling boys. The only time I ever see wrestling is during the Olympics, and I always think the same thing: soft-core homoerotocism. Opposite-sex high schoolers wrestling each other would, in all likelihood, remind me of that awful Meatloaf song. You know the one. Take away the mat, add a dashboard.

No way I'd let my boys wrestle girls.

[grellis]

Lib womyn practice feminism. We conservative women succeed at femininism.

[dervish]

A tremendous amount of wrestling moves involve a hand in your opponents crotch.

While I have no problem with co-ed sports in general, provided the women meet the existing standards, wrestling is different.