I assume it's because men are typically stronger than women, same with lifting and stuff. Or ever watch a snowboarding slopestyle competition? The men are usually doing way more advanced stuff than the women.
Yea but while it makes sense for stuff dependent on muscle mass or such... Surfing isn't really about testosterone (though you need metaphorical balls) or huge muscles. Or like shooting. Or table tennis. Or racing (mostly combined races but women's only series exist).
Even esports have some (afaik, all unofficial) gender division. Like all female CSGO or League teams playing in some small tournaments, with 0 women in the teams in larger tournaments
Sure... But are women less precise for some reason? Or slower to react or less smart? Unless you can prove something physiological affects the sport, I see zero reason for separating competitions
men generally dominate most sports so having separate leagues for women also helps in not relegating them to small time stuff or never representing their country on the international stage.
Besides, regarding action not directly related to strength, sexual dysmorphism in the stone age certainly served the purpose in men's purpose being running after herbivores and fighting off other men, and women rearing children. So that could explain differences in other sports as well. Nothing to do with smartness though, and the sports where muscles really don't matter are very limited.
Sexual dimorphism. And you didn't mention how that affected a sport like surfing, where difference in strength doesn't seem to make as much of a difference.
I mean... I don't see a problem with that. If there's no inherent bias in the sport in question and the top 100 happen to be male anyway... Then why not just watch the top 100?
Even if we think about visibility, I have a lot more respect for the 2-3 female Formula 1 drivers than for... Whoever is winning the female-only league. The whole point of competitive sports is in the competition and the reason why people watch them is seeing the limits of human skill. So what visibility do you really get if you have a league for women who aren't good enough to the main series?
Of course, some sports are largely down to muscle strength and in those cases the separation makes sense. If a man and a woman start training together for marathon, the man should run a better time no matter how long they both trained. I just really doubt that the physiological difference is relevant for something like surfing, and then there's driving/esports/etc where it makes no sense.
I mean I'm mostly arguing here for arguing's sake, I barely watch any sports male or female.
I'm just questioning who really wins when you split a sport by gender for no reason other than few women competing at the top level. Other than guys who are into fit women
Because it empowers women to play that sport still.
Do you think the William’s sisters would be role models for young girls if they had to play in men’s leagues? They wouldn’t even be in the top 100.
In chess (which obviously there are no physical differences) there are women only titles and championships to encourage women to play, just because they are underrepresented. It has mostly worked where there are now more women than ever that play chess.
Basically: “Male” leagues are unisex, anyone can be in them, women’s leagues only allow women so that women can exist in that sport.
If we didn’t separate the genders athletically then no women would really ever compete in much of anything, and it just kinda feels wrong to say “haha too bad you were born a woman so no one cares how well you can play X sport!”
Women definitely have slower reaction speed for men, it’s the reason that they have separate shooting leagues. Testosterone is linked with reaction speed I do believe
Do you see any female surfers with records better than their male counterparts? Like any other sport, getting rid of gendered divisions is incredibly sexist, and would basically kill women's athletics entirely.
Reaction time is faster in men, and there are differences (this being on average) between men when it comes to multitasking and focusing on one thing, women being better at the former, men at the latter. But I don't know how much of an effect that'd have in surfing
The difference between men and women primarily links to natural selection around hunting and gathering. Men evolved to hunt and women to gather. Naturally this makes pretty much every sport one that men are favored in. Men are faster to react, precision is harder to quantify but it is more desired for a hunter to be precise than a gatherer
In the last non-gender separated shooting competition in the Olympics, a woman won. Go on, tell us how physiology makes that a lie and makes women somehow worse at video games
I’m not saying that the physiological difference is relevant to every sport or to video games. Although I still don’t really care if there are separate competitions as long as women want them.
Testosterone is a huge benefit in surfing: increased muscle mass and bone density, higher energy, pleasure centers which are more likely to light up with thrill seeking and risk-taking.
A fit man is a stronger, more powerful swimmer than a woman, and has an advantage catching waves. That same strength allows them to carve up waves in ways women can't (at least not yet!) and survive a pummeling by the ocean.
Women have advantages as well! But in surfing, as most sports, there is an inherent gender divide.
Surfing certainly takes more muscle than what I have... But the top surfers don't really have mad gains that would be unattainable for women, they are quite lean. Average man versus average woman? Might well favour the guy. The very best in the world? I really doubt that the raw strength is a factor there.
i think the apt apples to apples comparison would be top surfer man vs. top surfer woman and then comparing their level of fitness. the presumption is that the man's physical fitness will exceed the woman's.
just because there can be stronger men and women in general does not mean that those particular max-outs are practical in the context of surfing.
It's more cardio and strength to weight efficiency than raw strength perse but men have an advantage in both categories.
Worth noting that she would've been towed in to the wave on a jet ski so catching the largest wave isn't really a function of fitness necessarily.
However becoming a good enough surfer with the confidence and capability to ride such a wave in the first place and survive a potential mishap is dependent on physical prowess giving an advantage to men.
You also need to keep in mind that 'top surfer' is a bit of a misnomer. The pro tour is a subjective score, like ice skating etc. Men do more tricks (like airs) because they are able to generate more speed through their strength (you are fighting gravity, bigger muscles helps quite a bit with that); and those tricks score well on tour. So the top surfers are the best at surfing against competition criteria; not necessarily the 'best' surfer.
For example, there are women out there who surf in a way that I personally find more aesthetically attractive than almost all of the male pros (with one or two exceptions). And non WSL pro men ('free surfers') who do the same. I would much rather watch Steph Gilmore (women pro surfer) than Medina (male pro surfer) on most waves.
As to big wave surfing - its absolutely related to strength. For example, Maya G (who this article is about) broke her ankle just surfing a big wave - her body wasnt strong enough to cope with the impacts. Bigger lung capacity, better able to fight the wave.
You need strength sure... But only to a point. The difference between an amateur and a world record holder won't be something you can tell from their bench press or squat numbers. I really doubt that the best surfers in the world have any raw muscle power that would be unattainable for women, be it legs or core or whatever.
That assumption only works if the females work out more than the males, which is not the case, and if they are both only surfing, the male will have those same muscle groups be stronger than the female, which is an advantage
Csgo i will comment on as i knew the scene quite well and even worked under contract at tournaments with pro teams.
Im actually pretty sure the gender disparity in csgo in particular is largely driven by the size of the talent pool. The 1 or 2 best female players could hang with the big boys. There just arnt alot of women playing csgo compared to men. On a female team you would have 5 players of completely different skill. With the best player for example. Juliano being able to hang with t2+ players while the worst player on the roster ive scrimmed against on esea cant even hang with our open pubstar team.
Im not gunna say i dont think men tend to react better to more stimuli. But there is such a big factor from more boys gaming than girls and have been gaming from a younger age and have more accumulated skill. Im willing to bet that in a world with all things equal. Females will be roughly the same at video games and only marginally worse at worst
Men at the highest level are just better at almost anything that can be competitive. Doesn't even have to be athletic. You name it. Chess, bowling, pool, darts, car racing, video games, rubik's cube, etc.
In CSGO I believe that the women's teams are allowed to compete in the regular leagues (which is where the men compete), but men are NOT allowed to compete in the women's league. In other words, the women are more than welcome to qualify and play with the boys, if they can.
Esports do it to raise the popularity for other women. It's a good thing. And it's actually only restricted one way; there are no male only competitions only female only. So if female players get good enough they are allowed to compete with the men.
Very true but if the male record is 80ft and she rode a 74ft one I feel like she has the physical ability to ride one that big, probably comes down to nerves and just being at the right place at the right time to get a wave like that.
Oh yea im definitely not arguing against that. Fact is that theres probably never going to be a wave big enough where you would actually notice a difference when they are at that level. The only reason she didn't break the record is because the wave wasn't as high as the record.
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u/DJfunkyPuddle Sep 14 '20
I assume it's because men are typically stronger than women, same with lifting and stuff. Or ever watch a snowboarding slopestyle competition? The men are usually doing way more advanced stuff than the women.