Women the Weak…..
Women have always been portrayed as the weak and inferior counterpart to men, whether in history, stories, tv, etc. This is thanks to the social constructs and standards humans have put on, as a society. This seems to be a result of our previous generation’s narrow minded mentality. However we seem to be slowly moving away from this mentality as the older generation goes away and the younger generation is being more educated.
My idea for this topic arose from watching this year’s Australian Open Pro Tennis tournament. Tennis has had a big history with gender related issues and is a good sport that represents that old generation mentality that women are inferior etc.
I have always been a fan of tennis, but only recently have I looked at the the game’s mechanics and rules in detail. After reading the rules I noticed that men play games in best of 5 sets, while women play in best of 3 sets. I wondered why? “They are physically weaker to handle it…” or “It’s been tradition for so long..” were the types of answers that I found on Google. In sports, I can understand the reasoning as to why sports is gender segregated. However, what I don’t understand is that each gender has a different set of rules for the same sport. Athletes aren’t called professional because they’re better than your average Joe. They are players groomed to play at an elite level of play in the harshest conditions and circumstances. It is BS to say that “women can’t handle the longer matches.” We can’t say that because they are not given a chance to play at that standard. As a result women’s training standards are lower because the expectations are lower. Women also have unfair win percentages because the game is only up to 3 sets. In men’s tennis you see players come back after being down 2 sets. Top ranking tennis players think women are ready to play 5 sets.
Now let’s take a look at the world of mixed martial arts, a fairly new and rising sport of the younger generation. While it is still gender segregated the rules for all genders are the same. Everyone is playing fair game by having the same standards. As a result you see women tough as bricks and can kick a guys ass. These women are not weak. There might still be some physical differences regarding anatomy but they are now looked at an equal light to men.
So much that you have people on twitter placing bets that a Ronda Rousey can kick a Floyd Mayweather to the curb .
A woman is a human no less than a man. They have the potential to be able to do the same things and evolve in the same manner. So why are they still looked at as unequal? True equality will never be achieved between men and women. The definition of true equality is different for each person. It is a subjective topic that will continue to be debated through time. As Nietzsche presents in “On Truth Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”, equality is just a man made truth that our society accepts. “Every concept originates through our equating what is unequal.” These man made truths eventually become facts for some people.
As the age of humanity increases, we are becoming more educated and more aware of social problems that are directly influenced by psychology and philosophy. We are slowly trying to reach a definition of equality that caters to everyone. Is this the “right” ? Who knows ? There is no natural form of correctness according to Nietzsche. All we can do is act on our instincts.
From what I’ve seen and learned, women are not weaker to the male counterparts. You can even argue they are stronger for being able to handle more mentally and physically (i.e. childbirth). All genders should be playing the same sport with the same rules.
