Yes it is interesting that wrestling is somehow treated differently than say the martial arts, where no distinction is ever give to the sexes.
My son has been in Tang Soo Do now for nearly 3.5 years, his master is a 5th degree black belt with 25 years experience... there are numberous female EDan and SoDan's in his do jung, as well as students of both genders.
Now during sparring generally they are paired up by gender during testing and practice, there is no pity or issue when this is not done. Believe me there are women there that can kick 99% of men's arses without trying. There is a female 13 year old black belt that I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.
Its all in how it is treated, if it is treated as a joke by fellow competitors and coaches it will be nothing but a joke. If its a serious competition, and she's less than serious about it, she'll wash out. If she is serious about it, she'll make those guys who want to just take a dive rue that decision if she is any good.
This is a title IX problem, in that schools can't sponsor the sports program that is right when they have to identify girls and boys sports. And fund them equally.
What should happen is there should be a girls vs girls team, a boys vs boys team and a coed team. At some age, boys v boys will become too competitive for the girls. If a girl wants to see how far she can get in the boys competition, she can enter coed and hope some of the competitive guys do so also. Wrestling could be more open to coed competition because they have weight classifications. But swimming and track and field can allow coed competition but what you find is that the competitors want to race/jump/throw against their own class if that is available. We have had girls compete against the boys to get stronger and better in high school. They end up winning scholarships to college in...girls sports. They want to compete in the boys sport because the competition they would like is not available to them in the girls level.
As far as this being potentially degrading to the boys, it is. I have seen coaches forfeit games when one side substituted girls onto the field. If coed competition is understood and accepted I would be for it. If it is some kind of "diversity" program then it should be scrapped.
****Believe me there are women there that can kick 99% of men's arses without trying.****
No-o-o-o-o-o-o, there aren't. There aren't any women like that in real life.
Not 99%. And not "without trying"?
There aren't even any MEN who can beat up 99% of the male population "without trying".
I've watched major league ballplayers pump practice homeruns into the stands off of batting practice pitches, but every one of them was "trying".
Take my word for it; they didn't just stand there with a bat in their hands and watch the ball fly off of it.
****There is a female 13 year old black belt that I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.****
Why? is she that ugly? Well maybe she wouldn't want to meet you in a dark alley for the same reason.
But no, there is no female 13 year old who is a threat to any man that is not a parapalegic.
Gosh Jay Hamilton, women are so BIG and STRONG, and you're so WEAK and HELPLESS. Do you ever ask a woman to walk you to your car?