A man in a woman's world
By Brian Witter
Last week, Frenchman Jean Van de Velde announced he would be attempting to qualify for the Women's British Open next year after the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in Scotland set a new policy allowing women to qualify for the British Open, a tournament which has historically always been played by men.
With this absurdity, Van de Velde has reignited the decades-old controversy of equating men and women in the world of sport. Golf aside, most sports tend to require a level of physical agility and stamina that can only be found in humans with a considerable amount of testosterone. It's a fact of life. Watching 300-pound female linemen knock into each other on Sunday afternoon would be interesting, but certainly wouldn't fly.
More often than not, males do tend to be more suited for feats of athleticism than females, yet that is not always the case. In 1973, Billie Jean King defeated self-proclaimed chauvinist pig Bobby Riggs in front of 30,000 spectators at the Houston Astrodome. She proved to both him and the world in three straight sets that men are not always superior beings. This past year in the Indy Racing League, rookie Danica Patrick became the first female ever to lead a lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Women can and have competed on a level playing field with men and have even beaten them a few times to boot. Why these types of stories get so much publicity is partly based on hype caused by the mentality that men face when competing against a woman in their sport. If a guy loses to a girl, his masculinity is threatened and he'll never live it down (or hear the end of it from his buddies).
As a member of the male sex, I'll admit that I've succumbed to this schoolyard boys-versus-girls mindset before. Sometimes losing to a girl will wreck your ego. You know what though? More power to them. It takes a big man to admit when he's been beaten. For all the attention that men's sports receive, I think it's perfectly fine for all the Michelle Wies of the world to go out and try to keep pace with some of the most talented competitors around.
You might remember Van de Velde as the one who had a three-shot lead heading into the final hole of the British Open a few years back. Well, he triple-bogeyed the hole and lost in the playoff. For all the embarrassment he garnered back then, you'd think he would try to become remembered for something other than one of the greatest chokes in all of sports history. This surely isn't the way to do it.
Contact Brian Witter at (408) 551-1918 or BWitter@scu.edu.