Female only maths/chess competitions WTF?

[Annie11111]

I recently saw a thread on another forum on how there are female only chess competitions and even female only maths olympiads. There are also women only chess titles (international master, grandmaster etc) which require a much lower score or ranking than the default ones that any gender can earn. To me as a feminist this is a fucking insult and just goes in line with the rest of the usual ''like a girl'' bs.

It also said that boys/men make up about 99% of top chess players and maths olympiad winners in the ''proper'', mixed competitions. I didn't know if the poster was trolling but after checking it looks like he was right. It's bad enough that we have to hear about how much better men are at sports and how the best female football teams in the world lose by huge margins to half-decent teenage boys, but this isn't even sports, it's ''brainy'' stuff. I think any ''girl titles'' or competitions of this sort should be banned. How else will we ever stop thinking about girls as second best when they need to have ''special'' competitions in order to win anything? ''Sorry, hun, you can't compete with the boys in the ''proper'' leagues but here's one just for you, let's see if you're good enough for a girl!'' Unfuckingreal.

End rant, sorry!

I like the sound of your voice too, Capt. So... mwah!

I have said it on here before, but I am looking forward to the day when a female F1 driver ascends a set of stairs to the winner's podium, walking past an attractive young man in tight clothing standing applauding her on every step of the staircase....

I saw this exact scenario, in reverse, during one of Fernando Alonso's wins a few years ago.

I haven't read all of the thread, but I think that the only way to get more balance in sport is to have women-only competitions, but televised and broadcast alongside men's competitions.

The level of interest in the Wimbledon women's tennis is almost equal to the interest in the men's tennis - because the matches are played alongside each other - which is so much better than many other sports.

BranchingOut, I wish that were true - I've been at Wimbledon and courts tend to empty out during women's matches. But I agree, at least there is equal television time and court time (within the fact the Grand Slams allow 5 setters for men but only 3 setters for women, grr)

Why do you feel the need to compare men and women in sport?

Sisters, I'm afraid I have some terrible news.

The vast majority of awards in this international quilting competition were won by WOMEN last year.

www.quilts.org/winners.html

The prizes range from $50 to $10,000 and the sponsors include the world-famous firms Superior Threads and Pfaff Sewing Machines. In 2013, a total of $95,500 in non-purchase cash prizes was awarded to winners, with travel/hotel prizes going to the top seven winners.

This isn't even caring responsibilities, it's "dexterity" stuff. WTF?

I don't think we can have it both ways though.

We don't like this, yet we were praising the females only competition to work with NASA. (or something along those lines)

what kind of race buffy? land, sea, air?

i don't think there's a "we" morphine - the thread is broadly supportive of female-only competition, but not everyone does and others are more on the fence. i don't think there's a consensus really

Sorry petula using 'we' was quite lazy of me!

sorry morphine, was being picky! i think it's difficult to generalise about single or mixed sex events because there are nuances to all these things, and opening up competition to women might need more effort in some areas than others

If we are insisting on comparing men and women's sport then there is also the factor of how women have been excluded from sport for centuries and it is only relatively recently that they have been allowed to compete in anything like the same arena as men. That has various legacy effects including the misogyny that allowed it to happen in the first place.

In certain sports there are no moves towards parity in events, funding etc and in others any moves are still being actively blocked.

There are also no moves to make sport more mixed. There are plenty of opportunities in many sports to have high class mixed events e.g. rowing, canoeing, sailing even team sports.

And you have to remember that top class women in their sport will beat 95% of the male population (at least), not because they are 'stronger' than them but because of technique and specific training. These women are amazing.

But we have quilting. For that I am grateful

What Buffy said. I notice a lot of women on this thread refer to not wanting to compete, be noticed, put themselves forward, and was wondering what that stemmed from - parents, school teachers, other children? I think that's the source of a lot of disparity. I get the impression it's much less socially acceptable for a girl to be an obsessive nerd with anything - hiding in their bedroom or basement playing pool, or guitar, or chess or computing, is allowed for boys with a bit of exasperation, but more effort is put into jollying girls into socialization.

And making those opportunities available to all. A chess set is a quid, but how many six tear old girls versus boys have been taught to play?

"I get the impression it's much less socially acceptable for a girl to be an obsessive nerd with anything - hiding in their bedroom or basement playing pool, or guitar, or chess or computing, is allowed for boys with a bit of exasperation, "

Agree.

Bangs and a Bun is a good blogger on women and sport with a fair bit of S & B thrown in.

OMG! I missed the quilting comp.

I really wanted one of those fancy pfaff machines as well!

may only be half joking about the machine

I'd love to see a quilting comp. Those women are amazing too!

there was a fantastic exhibition at the V&A a few years ago. people also submitted pictures of their quilts with the stories behind them

Wow! Just beautiful. So much hard work there Petula. And I love how they shared their ideas/stories.

They are beautiful. I merely dabble, although, you never know!

Why would you envy something that I was trained to do? That I trained 6 days a week to be good enough to do? I played rugby at international level, I also trained in Chinese boxing, where I competed against people my own size and bigger, male and female, sometimes I won, sometimes I lost, sometimes I was hurt, sometimes I hurt people.

But I agree, Cpt Chaos, there should be one competition for all since some women (like yourself) are better than some men, whether it's boxing or chess! This is what I've been saying all along! I would love to see you take on a pro male boxing fighter your weight and see what happens. But again, I agree with you, nobody should be able to take part in any kind of competition simply because of their gender, everything should be mixed. Sports and contests should be about fair competition, may the best person win, either man or woman. I don't care about the best female boxer or male chess world champion. I want to see the best of the best compete and win! That's why I think there should be no gender divide in anything. Can you imagine Mike Tyson take on the toughest female boxer? Who would win? I don't know but what I do know is that my popcorn would be ready! Btw his bob and weave was unreal, would you agree? Almost mamba like iyam.

So now you want us to admire the convicted rapist Mike Tyson, Annie?

Goddess, my bingo card is filling up fast.