“It’s just a game,” I repeated to myself as I walked off the court after a one point loss in my co-ed intramural basketball game. It’s the mantra my mother gave me and I repeated to myself throughout my high school, collegiate — and now intramural — basketball careers.
We lost our game, but not because we didn’t get a shot off in time. No, my male teammate made a three-pointer right before the buzzer which, if it counted, would have put us two points ahead for a win. We lost because a female from our team failed to touch the ball on the final possession.
“It’s just a game.” I said to myself. “An intramural game,” I added in an attempt to convince myself it wasn’t a big deal. In my 12 years of playing hoops, I’ve received my fair share of outlandish foul calls, but this felt different. This wasn’t something I did or didn’t do. This was my gender inhibiting my ability to play basketball in a way that allowed my team to win a basketball game. I was angry. I still am.
In a pre-season captains’ meeting, the group unanimously voted that there should be no additional rules outside the preexisting rules of the game.
People take intramurals seriously.
We wanted to play basketball. Each team had to have two people of each gender on the floor at the same time; fair enough. It’s co-ed basketball. That’s what we’re all here for. Personally, I have a bunch of male friends who I love playing basketball with. My friends. My peers. My equals. That’s it.
Yet, after the first round of games we received an email announcing the addition of a new rule: “Once the ball gets into the front court, a person from each sex needs to touch the ball at least once before a shot gets taken. This doesn’t include a fast break opportunity.”
The University of Maine’s non-discrimination notice states: “The University of Maine does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, including transgender status and gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities.”
So as the referees kindly pointed out, the new co-ed basketball rule was not sexist or gendered because it explicitly states that both “genders have to touch the ball.” Not “a female has to touch the ball.”
“It’s fair,” they argued with us.
I get it: they enforce the rules. They don’t make them. The existence of the rule itself is the issue.
When will my ability as a basketball player speak louder than my given organs?
Sports are possibly one of the most gendered activities. In formal settings, there are usually “men’s teams” and “women’s teams.” Co-ed teams are left for “fun” time, there are no official co-ed teams and a quick Google search will reveal a whole load of people who have opinions as to why there never should be.
Professional sports aside, what these opinionated people show a discrepancy between the societal validity of women’s and men’s sports.
“The majority of these issues have their root in the assumption that the male body is naturally stronger and ‘built’ for athletic competition,” Jennie Woodard, professor in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department and Honors Preceptor, said. “Though biological research does indicate that the male body might have certain advantages, the larger problem comes in how to legitimize the female athlete.”
Woodard is teaching a Woman and Gender Studies class next fall called “Gender and Sports,” that will discuss this issue and many others. One story they will pay close attention to is that of Dutee Chand.
Chand, India’s 18 and under 100-meter champion and a front-runner for the the Olympics. When she demonstrated a too-high level of natural testosterone she was banned from competing until she lowered it either through surgery or testosterone-suppressant drugs. The International Association of Federal Athletics ruled her testosterone level was that in the range of “male,” giving her an unfair advantage. Chand refuses to comply, telling the New York Times, “I feel that it’s wrong to have to change your body for sport participation.”
“The idea that the male body is naturally more athletic creates a condition where women often have to legitimize their position as athlete,” Woodard said. “If they are ‘too masculine,’ they have an unfair advantage, if they are ‘too feminine,’ they are not athletic enough.”
Many argue for the necessity of rules that give everyone a “fair chance” like the new co-ed basketball one or the necessity of government rulings like Title IX. As someone who has experienced the benefits of government mandates like Title IX, I feel a deep sense of gratitude for those who came before me and paved the way, playing in hallways instead of gyms and getting ridiculed for their athletic desires so I could get a fair chance at playing. I’m thankful for the opportunities it has provided me.
But rules like the co-ed basketball rule are not as much an attempt at equality but more an underlying mentality that females’ physical capabilities are less valuable than males and thus they must be tended to in order to play fairly. Letting me play fairly would be letting me get that “and one” on the guy defending me without blowing a whistle because I didn’t pass to a male on my team first.
Another anecdote for emphasis: Pick-up basketball at the recreation center. Nine male players, one female (that’s me). Everyone picks who they will guard. My team is on offense first and no one gaurds me. “Who’s going to guard her?” asks someone on the other team. Nothing. I play two possessions and score before someone picks me up — begrudgingly.
I wasn’t acknowledged as existing. It’s not rules but the opinion of people I was playing with that I don’t have value as a teammate, player — I wasn’t legitimized.
To begin addressing the issue, Woodard suggest that we realize athleticism and strength are not inherent or fixed.
“We tend to focus on individual factors like diet, workout regimens, and natural body strength in order to determine one’s athleticism, but we have to look beyond the individual to see the long term social effects. Like education or government, sports functions as an institution with a long history.”
Woodard provided the example of qualifying times to enter the Boston Marathon. Men age 18 to 34 have to meet a three hour five minutes time in a previous race to qualify. For women the time is three hours and 35 minutes — a 30-minute difference — that to Woodard might suggest men are naturally faster than women. Yet the race record holders in the male and female races are only separated by 16 minutes. The first Boston Marathon occurred in 1897 and women were not allowed until 1972.
“I’d say female marathoners have come a long way in a rather short period of time. If women had been given the space to compete from the start, imagine the records those early women might have set,” Woodard said.
I feel lucky and thankful UMaine Intramural sports has allowed me the opportunity to play with my male and female friends in the same setting. However, being able to play, and I mean really play, is to do so without special treatment because of my sex.