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!

It's ok Annie. You win. I have to do stuff now and don't have time to chew the fat with someone who just doesn't want to listen.

Why? Why do they always have numbers after their names?

And talk such utter utter bollocks.

I do feel sorry for Annie1111 who appears to be a sensible poster with property interests.

men are better at things which are invented by men to air them and their skills.

What like running and jumping? What would a physical sport designed by a woman look like, or was a 3 day rugby match a serious suggestion?

"What would a physical sport designed by a woman look like, or was a 3 day rugby match a serious suggestion?"

The point is, we don't know what sports a matriarchal society would design. Maybe a 3 day rugby match, who knows? We all have a social picture of what 'sport' means and we cannot escape that.

But I see you've registered or name changed just to post that, mrsusain.

Yes because of strange people on this site whose first reaction to someone posting something they don't like is to root around in their posting history for personal details.

I would wager that a matriarchal society would still involve people running and jumping, and people still being interested in who was best at it.

I would wager that a matriarchal society would still involve people running and jumping, and people still being interested in who was best at it.

Why would you wager that?

Mrsusain, if you've browsed this board for a bit, you may understand why the guard is up at present. If I have unfairly cast aspersions, I apologise.

Pigeons can outfly a peregrine falcon at a straight flight. (I have seen Deadly 60 and therefore know all about pigeons and peregrine falcons. Did anyone see the one where the pigeon outwitted the falcon. It was so exciting.)

I remember reading about a sports person (can't remember who or what sports) who said, when asked if she was going to take on the previous record holder who was a much older man, if she did and she won, then she would have beaten an old man, and if she did and she lost, then it would "prove" that women are not as good as men. You can't win.

I think most sports work better when segregated. Especially where physical size and strength are big factors e'g Rugby, Basketball, American Football, Football etc. It would kill most female sports stone dead if they combined them with the men.

Sport is about being the best in your particular field and that should be celebrated. I doubt Nadal worries if he could beat Serena Williams, as it doesn't really matter either way. He is the best at what he does and so is/was she.

On a side note - I have read on a few forums about women outperforming men in Ultra-Marathons. Yet the stats I found don't bare that out, so a 3 day rugby match would make much difference.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarathon

Oh dear. A 3 day rugby match was simply an illustration. We have no idea what "sport" would look like if female sport had always been considered the more important and interesting.

Nobody is stopping women from competing in snooker in the ''men's'' competitions, they are open to all genders. It's only the women's that are segregated. Some women have tried and failed, unfortunately. The same way nobody is stopping women from joining the main chess, maths, scrabble and bridge competitions.

Can we please talk about things that don't involve strength, size, speed and so on? My OP was about ''brainy'' stuff.

Quilting? Shall we talk about quilting?

How many girls get a pool table for Christmas? Or shown how to play? How much nagging do they get to come help round the house when they just want to shoot pool all night? How much do their parents fret when the teenage girl wants to hang out round dingy pool halls all night, with dodgy blokes? How much harassment does said girl get in said pool hall, when she's competing against teenage boys and older men, with usually no other women in the building?

Without building up the numbers of adequate players who can hold their own in the local pub on the pool table, you'll never get women rising above that into wider competition let alone snooker championships.

For reference, the answers are few, few, lots, lots, lots, and a metric shedload.

How many women play scrabble or bridge? How many women grow up watching cooking shows or have cooking as a passion? How many women are into designing clothes, shoes or bags? Or hairdressing? Gazillions. Who ends up being 99% at the top in all of those things? Men.

"Who ends up being 99% at the top in all of those things? Men."

99%? In cooking and fashion design? Bollocks.

Girls do enter the main maths comps.
In dds school all of the top set are entered into the challenge. Those that do well enough are given places in the intermediate olympiad. How well they do then is down to themselves and their ability.

In 6th form the numbers start to become skewed because fewer girls than boys take maths a level and so fewer are likely to be entering the senior challenge which is the gateway to BMO 1 and 2 and then if you are truely exceptional at the comps into the national team.

Why do fewer girls go on to study maths? - no idea. I can't find the break down for further maths and I have no idea if the proportions are skewed even more than maths but break down by subject:

[[
www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/109956-as-and-a-level-choice-factsheet-2.pdf here]]

here
Stupid link fail

No ABland really.... Stella McCartney, Mary Berry, Delia Smith, Vivianne Westwood et al are all figments of our fevered feminist imaginations.

No, really.

oybbk - i described my own experience of the intermediate olympiad above. i'm sure the fact that i didn't enjoy the experience was in part down to my personality and preferences, but i don't think that's the whole story. just an example of one, but reasons why i chose not to do that sort of competition any more

i did go on to do maths to a2

Dd was the only one who got through to the olympiad so her experience was rather different to yours Petula.
I have realised there is one aspect to the challenge that may skew things. The last few questions are penalised for wrong answers. It does slant things towards those willing to take a chance and therefore the risk takers (unless you are very sure you are correct). That may lead to more males getting through to the next round.

indeed - and this was over 15 years ago too!