March 16, 2001

11:40 AM

Gymnast vaults into gender-equity flap. "For more than two decades in Massachusetts, boys have been allowed to compete on girls' teams (and vice versa) if their school doesn't have a team for their gender. But everywhere else in the region, they're still banned."
posted by idiolect (1 comment total)

This reminds me of a case we had here where two guys got on the girls' field hockey team. They had to wear skirts, but they stuck it out, so to speak. They could hit the heck out of the ball, but were far from the best players on the team, since it really is a skill sport that takes years to master. Field hockey is a popular men's sport in other countries, but in the U.S. it is for girls only for some reason.
posted by gimli at 12:27 PM on March 16, 2001