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Katherine Kersten: Mixed-sex wrestling is a step back from equality and sense
January 17, 2001 Star Tribune.
Last year, a promising Minnesota high school wrestler had to wrestle a girl at his sectional meet in order to proceed to the state tournament. His school, a private Christian institution, generally requires its wrestlers to forfeit to girls, thereby incurring a loss for both the wrestler and the team. The young man clearly didn't want to wrestle the girl. But given the stakes, after consulting with his father and his coach, he decided to proceed.
As the embarrassed boy walked out on the mat, spectators began to laugh. He quickly flipped the girl to her back, but couldn't bring himself to pin her, which required pushing directly on her chest. For about 40 seconds, the boy remained frozen. Finally his coach, in frustration, shouted, "Just do it!" The boy made his move, pinning the girl to the mat. But walking off, he looked defeated, not victorious. With hanging head, he strode -- angry and humiliated -- straight to locker room.
Across the nation, scenes like this are becoming increasingly common. Last year, about 2,500 girls participated in high school wrestling, mostly as members of boys teams. (Male wrestlers numbered about 240,000.) Title IX, the federal gender equity in education law, does not require public high schools to place girls on their wrestling teams, but many states allow it. South Dakota and Wyoming, on the other hand, prohibit mixed-sex wrestling, while Texas and Hawaii schools have separate girls wrestling teams.
Here in Minnesota, state law requires public schools to let girls try out for, and compete on, boys teams. (Boys, however, are barred from girls teams.) A number of Minnesota high schools, including St. Paul Humboldt and Minneapolis De La Salle, have female wrestlers, and some schools are reportedly promoting the practice.
Concerns about mixed-sex wrestling arise from wrestling's unique nature as a contact sport. Wrestling's objective is to demonstrate control over one's opponent. A wrestler strives to take his opponent down to the mat, and scores points for dominating from behind or on top. Wrestlers frequently engage in pretzel-like contortions, such as forcing their head between an opponent's legs while struggling to turn him on his back. About 90 percent of wrestling holds involve grabbing the upper body or pelvic area.
In Minnesota, a few Christian high schools -- including Trinity at River Ridge and Concordia Academy in Roseville -- require their wrestlers to forfeit to female opponents as a matter of conscience. But a boy who forfeits may lose the chance to wrestle for a medal, and may even see his dream of becoming conference champion, or making the state tournament, evaporate. To make matters worse, boys who forfeit are generally taking a loss in a match they could expect to win. For while a few exceptional girls can compete effectively against boys in their weight class, most lose quickly to male opponents.
Our society tends to frame the debate over mixed-sexed wrestling in the familiar terms of physical safety and legal rights. Critics frequently note, for example, that the practice poses health risks for adolescent females. Teenage boys have significantly greater muscle mass than girls, and can injure them when wrenching their joints, or lying heavily on top of them.
On the other hand, mixed-sexed wrestling creates legal risks for males. Boys who wrestle girls, or practice with female teammates, must touch them in ways that would constitute illegal sexual harassment in any other setting. In our litigious society, coaches take a risk whenever they have close physical contact with young female athletes. (Some wrestling coaches have refused to demonstrate holds on girls.) Wrestling officials also incur risks at mixed-sex matches, since they must break holds by thrusting in their hands near girls' chests or crotches.
But while health and legal concerns are important, they do not go to the heart of the problem. For the primary objection to boys wrestling girls is this: A civilized society should teach men that they must not use their superior strength to overpower and control women. If the sexes are to live in harmony, they must ground their relations in a kind of compact, centered in mutual dignity and regard. A fundamental tenet of this compact is that decent men respect women, and view using force against them as dishonorable and unmanly. My father put it simply: "Boys don't hit girls."
Most boys have absorbed this lesson. The U.S. Air Force discovered this 10 years ago, when its Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) program carried out internal psychological surveys to prepare for the advent of female combat pilots. These surveys revealed that men react with significantly greater emotion when female colleagues are subjected to simulated stress and violence, than they do when male colleagues are similarly threatened. (To combat this tendency, SERE attempted to desensitize men by using a variety of techniques, like a realistic rape scenario, in order to overcome protective attitudes toward women that an enemy might exploit.)
Wrestling contests between men and women strike symbolically at the heart of the compact that should govern relations between the sexes. Mixed-sex contests desensitize boys to the need to behave with respect toward girls at all times. In addition, they promote a double standard that is sure to prompt cynicism and resentment on the part of male wrestlers. Boys know instinctively that it's unfair to permit one wrestler (the girl) to choose whether she wishes to grapple intimately with a member of the opposite sex, while forcing the other (the boy) to do so against his will.
Perhaps it's too much to expect our rights-obsessed society to understand all this. But at the least, contemporary Americans should be able to grasp that mixed-sex wrestling is inequitable from an athletic point of view. The average male is markedly stronger than the average female, and has a faster reaction time and greater cardiovascular capacity. As a result, contests that pit men against women do not provide either sex with a level playing field. Is a match-up between the LA Lakers and the all-female Minnesota Lynx anyone's idea of "gender equity"?
Girls who want to wrestle should have opportunities to do so. If interest is sufficient, high schools can sponsor all-girls teams. (The University of Minnesota-Morris has one of the nation's only women's collegiate varsity wrestling teams.) On the other hand, if interest is limited, female wrestlers can pool their resources and form single-sex community wrestling clubs, like the rugby or fencing clubs that other athletes organize. But putting girls on boys wrestling teams is not a step toward the liberation of women. It's a step back from equality for athletes of both sexes, and a giant step back from common sense.
-- Katherine Kersten is a director of the Center of the American Experiment in Minneapolis.
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Girls will beat boys
January 12, 2001
BY SETH SCHWARTZ
When Harper assistant wrestling coach Thurman Conners saw who was trying out for the team, he did a double take.
"Thurman came to me and said: `Coach, we got girls on the team. Girls, Coach. Can you believe this?' " Harper coach Eddie Jones said. "He's old-school, but so am I. So I said if they want to come out, we'll work with them."
There are seven girls in the Harper wrestling room, with two on the varsity. Natassia Warren, a sophomore who competes at 103 pounds, has picked up a few moves and is winning at the same time. Warren (10-4) finished fourth at the Marshall Invitational the last week in December.
Lera Moore is 0-4 at 171.
"A couple of guys said, `Oh, I'd like to wrestle with you,' " said Warren, who was 3-1 at Marshall to become the first girl to win a trophy in the city's biggest holiday wrestling event.
"Everyone asks when my next tournament is. People are always supportive, and that makes me feel good. My teammates treat me as an equal, and so does everyone else."
But while Warren has been racking up victories, she is demoralizing her opponents. Half the time the opposition is left in tears.
"When the referee raises my hand, they put their head down and start to cry, or their eyes will swell up," Warren said. "I guess they're embarrassed."
With novice wrestlers, whoever has the most knowledge usually ends up winning.
"In the first two or three [weight] classes, strength doesn't factor in as much," Jones said. "Natassia has an aggressive attitude, and she has a strong desire to win. She's a smart wrestler. Whatever we show her in practice, she picks up fast and is able to use in a meet.
"Natassia ties up well. She has a good low single, and she's effective getting guys to their back. People underestimate her, and before they know it, it's too late. Then when they lose, it seems like they're in shock. They can't believe it."
Warren enjoys the workouts and has been able to use a number of moves effectively.
"It's fun when you get the hang of [a move]," Warren said. "I am pretty good with the ankle pick and the hip toss. When I get a guy on the mat, I keep working the half-nelson and I can usually turn them."
While Warren enjoys wrestling, her real passion is track.
"I hope to run in college," she said.
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Warrior wrestlers gather great experience
Jan 17,2001
The Crescent Valley crowd thundered in anticipation of a pin by Nate
Kravitz, but Lebanon's Tate Page broke free moments later during the intense
130-pound match-up.
While the week ended with two dual meet losses, it was still a big positive
for the Lebanon wrestling team.
The Warriors topped Crescent Valley, 57-12, in a Valley League dual on
Thursday, then left early Friday morning for Portland to take part in the
Oregon Classic. The Classic is widely considered the dual meet championship
tournament in the state, even though it doesn't hold that title.
"I was pleased with our team, this was a great weekend for us," Lebanon
coach Jim Vandehey said. "What that tournament does for us, it gives the
wrestlers the feeling of what it is to go to state."
Lebanon dropped both of its dual matches at the Oregon Classic, falling to
Roseburg 40-20 and to Pendleton 38-25.
"Those two teams would be as good as Sprague is in our league," Vandehey
said, "so they're really good. We were pleased to get the really good
quality schools to go against."
This was the first time Lebanon had been invited to take part in the Classic
in about a decade, making it an especially pleasing development to compete
well against two of the better teams in the state, Vandehey said.
"It was a real prestiguous thing for us," he said.
The Warriors' 112-pounder, Shoni Plagmann, may have become the first girl to
win a Classic match by pin when she suprised Seth Thomas of Roseburg in the
third-round. Plagmann was trailing Thomas when the Indian made a tactical
error and Plagmann exploited it to the fullest extent.
Lebanon (3-3-1, 3-1-1 Valley League) was leading 9-0 at that point, but the
Indians won six of the next seven bouts to take the lead for good.
Tobin Lindstrom (160) was the Warriors' lone wrestler to win both of his
matches.
After losing to Roseburg, Lebanon picked up just two wins in the first seven
matches against Pendleton. Those wins, by 119-pounder Jason Burr and
130-pounder Tate Page, were both on decisions.
"Pendleton was even tougher than Roseburg. After beating us they came back
and beat Roseburg by over 20 points," Vandehey said. "I was pleased with our
team. This was a great weekend for us."
Blaine Suing (145) and Chris Ensley (171) both won their matches by pin
against the Buckaroos, with Ensley's pin giving Lebanon a 25-20 lead with
three matches to go. However, Pendleton won the final three bouts by pin to
finish the match off.
The Warriors will wrestle at McNary on Thursday in a Valley League match.
Against Crescent Valley, Chris Trask pinned his opponent at 103 pounds and
Lebanon never trailed. The Warriors picked up six victories by forfeit in
the dual and Lindstrom also won his match by pin.