Around this time last year, history was made. Kacy Catanzaro became the first woman to make it up American Ninja Warrior's (ANW) Warped Wall. A month later she became the first woman to make it to the end of an ANW city finals course, becoming the first women to earn herself a shot at Mt. Midoryama (the world's toughest obstacle course) through her ability alone (that is, outside of a wildcard spot).
Unfortunately, I, and every other avid fan of the show, knew exactly where she was going to fall on the Midoryama course - Stage 1's Jumping Spider. At 5 foot nothing and only about 100 lbs, she has neither sufficient weight to get her a good hop off the mini-trampoline, nor the wingspan to wedge herself between the walls with anything short of a perfect jump. Unfortunately, I was right. By that point, though, the video of her city finals run had gone absolutely viral, making her one of the most hyped stories in the show's history.
 |
| The Jumping Spider claims another victim - Ms. Catanzaro |
ANW is a show that has draw revelry through personal bests and obstacles beaten, as well as history-making run attempts. I say "attempts" because ANW has yet to have a competitor touch the buzzer at the end of Midoryama's Stage 3, let alone Stage 4, in the standard, singles competition format during its 7 season run. The only three men to do that hail from Japan, which built Mt. Midoryama in the first place. Thus, this is an proudly American show built on a surprisingly un-American premise: failure. Humbling, respect-building, confidence-killing, failure. This makes it a breath of fresh air in today's stinking pile of reality competition shows. Not only are the rivalries friendly, but the odds of anyone winning are slim, which helps create stakes that feel all the more real - especially when people quit their jobs to train for ANW full time.
As this season of ANW drew near its halfway mark, and with the FIFA Women's World Cup in full swing here in Canada, I got to thinking about females and their relationship to the sporting world. Here's a question for my feminist readers (if I have any): Which is better: to have sex-segregated sports leagues and whatnot, or to have a single set of leagues based purely on athletic merit - without any affirmative action to ensure equal numbers of men and women playing at the same level? The two athletic events described earlier in the paragraph demonstrate the two respective styles. FIFA has a World Cup for Women, and the same for Men, and never the twain shall meet. ANW on the other hand, is a co-ed event based on athletic ability, with the only "affirmative action" asitwere taking place via its 15 yearly wild-card spots. There is, however, no easier course or lower standard for women, though - they are run through just like the men - equality and meritocracy as it should be.
This brings us to the question of "Why are the sexes segregated in sports in the first place?". Not being a Gender Studies student, I can't tell you the exact reasoning behind the practice, but I can make an educated guess, and it pertains to men's and women's differing physical characteristics - and no I don't mean how they're plumbed between the legs - after all, sexual dimorphism is a thing when it comes to humans. As a blanket statement, men are general built physically stronger and more durable than women. Of course, to see this you have to compare apples to apples. There is enormous variation in physical competence within the genders (there are many females out there who could definitely kick my ass, I must admit), and thus in order to a achieve a proper comparison one must use a sample of men and women who are all at their peak. Hence, ANW generally makes for a good testing ground for this, though the sampling is unscientific at best. All this to say, there is nothing HINDERING a woman from being the first American to achieve total victory other than her BIOLOGICAL LIMITATION, thus it ends up being MORE LIKELY that a man will accomplish the feat first.
Due to the aforementioned variation within the sexes though, I honestly don't think professional sports leagues should be closed to women at the highest level. There is nothing stopping women like Hayley Wickenheiser and Shannon Szabados from playing in the ECHL, SPHL or even the European leagues. They can even PRACTICE with with NHL teams for pete's sake, yet their is ever any mention of offers for a formal tryout, let alone word of contract negotiations.
Let me make this abundantly clear. I am not a feminist. What I am in regards to the feminism vs mra hornet's nest is for another time, but here I do need to state for the record that I am for meritocracy and against affirmative action. I am not saying the Edmonton Oilers need to sign Shannon Szabados (though she would probably help solve their goaltending problems - LOL), or that Toronto FC should sign Christine Sinclair, what I'm saying is that these women deserve a chance to see if they can make it in the top leagues of the professional sports world. If Kaillie Humphries can run in the men's bobsled championships, I don't see a reason why the same actions can't be taken in other sports.
Of course, biological differences still count for something - especially when it comes to durability (bodychecking is banned from women's hockey for a reason, after all), - and, once again, sexual dimorphism is a thing - and so I have no problem with some of the more physical contact sports remaining more segregated (hockey exempted for no other reason than I am Canadian LOL), but at the end of the day, athletes should be ranked on ability regardless of sex - that's the whole point of equality and meritocracy isn't it? Unfortunately this creates a double standard in an of itself where there are sports divisions exclusively for women and none exclusively for men. Harrumph. Perhaps instead there should be exclusive leagues for each, both feeding into the singular, co-ed top leagues which then become true showcases of the best athletes in the world. I don't have an answer to this particular issue, so this monologue is simply me self-discussing it to an ambiguous conclusion. Hur-rah (sarcasm). What are your thoughts on this? I genuinely want to know, and there has been a drought of people commenting on this blog anyway...
The same goes for Top Gear. We NEED a Top Gear Canada. Have you SEEN the density of supercars in the Vancouver area? Or the gorgeous drives available in this beautiful province? Not to mention the jokes to be made at the expense of drivers around here are numerous indeed... I'll volunteer as host! :P Seriously tho, if anyone reading this has contacts in the tv industry, call them up - I really do want to make this happen.
Until next time.
As this season of ANW drew near its halfway mark, and with the FIFA Women's World Cup in full swing here in Canada, I got to thinking about females and their relationship to the sporting world. Here's a question for my feminist readers (if I have any): Which is better: to have sex-segregated sports leagues and whatnot, or to have a single set of leagues based purely on athletic merit - without any affirmative action to ensure equal numbers of men and women playing at the same level? The two athletic events described earlier in the paragraph demonstrate the two respective styles. FIFA has a World Cup for Women, and the same for Men, and never the twain shall meet. ANW on the other hand, is a co-ed event based on athletic ability, with the only "affirmative action" asitwere taking place via its 15 yearly wild-card spots. There is, however, no easier course or lower standard for women, though - they are run through just like the men - equality and meritocracy as it should be.
This brings us to the question of "Why are the sexes segregated in sports in the first place?". Not being a Gender Studies student, I can't tell you the exact reasoning behind the practice, but I can make an educated guess, and it pertains to men's and women's differing physical characteristics - and no I don't mean how they're plumbed between the legs - after all, sexual dimorphism is a thing when it comes to humans. As a blanket statement, men are general built physically stronger and more durable than women. Of course, to see this you have to compare apples to apples. There is enormous variation in physical competence within the genders (there are many females out there who could definitely kick my ass, I must admit), and thus in order to a achieve a proper comparison one must use a sample of men and women who are all at their peak. Hence, ANW generally makes for a good testing ground for this, though the sampling is unscientific at best. All this to say, there is nothing HINDERING a woman from being the first American to achieve total victory other than her BIOLOGICAL LIMITATION, thus it ends up being MORE LIKELY that a man will accomplish the feat first.
 | |
| Shannon Szabados playing the the SPHL's Columbus Cottonmouths |
Let me make this abundantly clear. I am not a feminist. What I am in regards to the feminism vs mra hornet's nest is for another time, but here I do need to state for the record that I am for meritocracy and against affirmative action. I am not saying the Edmonton Oilers need to sign Shannon Szabados (though she would probably help solve their goaltending problems - LOL), or that Toronto FC should sign Christine Sinclair, what I'm saying is that these women deserve a chance to see if they can make it in the top leagues of the professional sports world. If Kaillie Humphries can run in the men's bobsled championships, I don't see a reason why the same actions can't be taken in other sports.
 |
| Kaillie Humphries and her 4-man bobsled team |
Of course, biological differences still count for something - especially when it comes to durability (bodychecking is banned from women's hockey for a reason, after all), - and, once again, sexual dimorphism is a thing - and so I have no problem with some of the more physical contact sports remaining more segregated (hockey exempted for no other reason than I am Canadian LOL), but at the end of the day, athletes should be ranked on ability regardless of sex - that's the whole point of equality and meritocracy isn't it? Unfortunately this creates a double standard in an of itself where there are sports divisions exclusively for women and none exclusively for men. Harrumph. Perhaps instead there should be exclusive leagues for each, both feeding into the singular, co-ed top leagues which then become true showcases of the best athletes in the world. I don't have an answer to this particular issue, so this monologue is simply me self-discussing it to an ambiguous conclusion. Hur-rah (sarcasm). What are your thoughts on this? I genuinely want to know, and there has been a drought of people commenting on this blog anyway...
While I'm on the subject of American Ninja Warrior...
There are certain shows that Canada needs to make its own versions of. This is one of them. The UK got there own version this year - so WHY CAN'T WE? I know a couple of my friends would actually make it quite far as well. GAAAAHHHHHThe same goes for Top Gear. We NEED a Top Gear Canada. Have you SEEN the density of supercars in the Vancouver area? Or the gorgeous drives available in this beautiful province? Not to mention the jokes to be made at the expense of drivers around here are numerous indeed... I'll volunteer as host! :P Seriously tho, if anyone reading this has contacts in the tv industry, call them up - I really do want to make this happen.
Until next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment