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> The issue is that “woman’s sports” is itself intentionally discriminatory. Just about anything competitive is discriminatory. People are disadvantaged by gen

> The issue is that “woman’s sports” is itself intentionally discriminatory. Just about anything competitive is discriminatory. People are disadvantaged by genetics, disability/health issues, age, wealth inequality, and more. But as a society we love competitive activities, so the best we can do is come up with rules to try and impose a reasonable amount of fairness.

mikestorrent 7mo ago
Right, the purpose is to actually arrange for legitimate competition. Ideally, we would split by whatever facets actually make sense; consider something like fighting disciplines where the split is by weight, or auto racing where it's by the class of vehicle, power-to-weight ratio, etc. The problem is that there is only so much attention to go around, so we cannot have too many splits; depending on the sport it might just not be financially doable. We also don't want the split to be effectively "the best" and "the second best", because nobody is going to fund millions in advertising for the second best. So, a split like men/women is not surprising as a historical compromise to ensure there's still some attention on those competing in a lighter weight class. Generically changing it to lightweights/heavyweights might be a reasonable compromise as well, or an age line, or something like that; it will depend on the sport and the market to draw that out. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the thing that makes sense is to continue with the existing split, though....
- leoedin 7mo ago
  I’m the same age as my wife. More or less the same height and weight too. Neither of us have a history of weight training. I’m much stronger than her. I’ve got 2x the lung capacity she does. If you’re going to divide competition by one trait, sex is the clear winner.
  - lolc 7mo ago
    Just comparing genes, a male human is more closely related with all male chimps than with any female human.
deleted 7mo ago
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mikestorrent 7mo ago

Right, the purpose is to actually arrange for legitimate competition. Ideally, we would split by whatever facets actually make sense; consider something like fighting disciplines where the split is by weight, or auto racing where it's by the class of vehicle, power-to-weight ratio, etc. The problem is that there is only so much attention to go around, so we cannot have too many splits; depending on the sport it might just not be financially doable. We also don't want the split to be effectively "the best" and "the second best", because nobody is going to fund millions in advertising for the second best. So, a split like men/women is not surprising as a historical compromise to ensure there's still some attention on those competing in a lighter weight class. Generically changing it to lightweights/heavyweights might be a reasonable compromise as well, or an age line, or something like that; it will depend on the sport and the market to draw that out. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the thing that makes sense is to continue with the existing split, though....

leoedin 7mo ago
I’m the same age as my wife. More or less the same height and weight too. Neither of us have a history of weight training. I’m much stronger than her. I’ve got 2x the lung capacity she does. If you’re going to divide competition by one trait, sex is the clear winner.
- lolc 7mo ago
  Just comparing genes, a male human is more closely related with all male chimps than with any female human.

deleted 7mo ago

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