The Olympics are upon us in all their woken ridiculousness, and I’ve had a hard time watching nearly anything other than some old Tony Hawk X Games highlights—they’re much better than what’s on right now. Regardless, there has been some controversy surrounding the apparent quitteration and/or dropping out of the women’s gymnastics competition by United States superstar athlete Simone Biles.
She was expected to win a gold medal in everything she did and so everyone seems to have an opinion about whether she let her team down by quitting during the middle of the competition. I have an opinion about quitting during the middle of a team competition but I’m going to talk about something else related to this topic I haven’t seen other people cover.
And what is that? It’s the difference between men and women’s sports—a painful difference for those who refuse to see it or acknowledge it. If you’re new around here, I see the world as full of inequality—on purpose. It’s not a mistake. It’s not a bad thing. It’s a necessary differentiation in the complex machine of Creation. This means young people are different than old people. It means Asians are different than Hispanics, whites are different than blacks, and perhaps most importantly, men are different than women. Yes, shocking I know for some of you, but I believe groups are different ON PURPOSE, part of the design of things by God from the beginning of creation. These differences are not a result of the Fall. Instead, the REJECTION of these differences is a result of the fall. We reject these differences because we are full of sin. Our rejection of difference starts with our rejection that God is above us and goes downhill from there. I have a whole book called Unequaled on this subject if you’re interested.
Back to sports. The concept of sports is based around male competition. We are designed to protect our families with violence, if necessary. We are designed to win the affections of the most beautiful female we can find, often by displaying bravery and courage as an indication as to how easily we can protect them and their offspring. Thankfully, we have had the luxury of living in relatively peaceful times and because of that, males have no outlet through which to channel these sorts of activities. No way to signal to anyone how strong, how fast, or how brave we are.
Sports fill that void. They give us a safe way to develop athletic skills and display our prowess to each other. And sometimes—sometimes—they are fun. Not always, but sometimes. Sports are competition, and often those who win are those who are willing to suffer the most—physically and mentally. In the Tour De France, riders travel over 2,000 miles in just 23 days on bicycles through mountains. It has been said to be less a test of endurance or athleticism and more a test of pain management. Tour de France teams often pick their best rider and work together to protect that rider from crashes and help them to win. Younger riders hope they might one day be just that person, but know they must first put in the effort early on to help another win.
Other sports like tennis or soccer or basketball have these principles. Players must push themselves physically and mentally on and off the court to become stronger, tougher, smarter, quicker—everything—in hopes of beating the others. The goal is to win. Sports are investment in pain, the reward, winning. You may not be trying to impress your future spouse, or practice for fighting in war, but competition like this is in our blood, through and through. In societies without sports, fight clubs and other forms of dangerous violence will spontaneously emerge. This is an intractable feature of men. We should celebrate it, especially through sport. Especially those who are willing to invest in pain in the hopes of winning. These are noble causes, ones that translate into other aspects of maintaining a civilization.
Women are, for the most part, very different. Men react to threats of violence with the “fight or flight” response. Women react with what’s called “tend and befriend.” It is a rush of hormones that does something very different than fight or flight. This is why you sometimes see women befriending their attackers. They instinctively know they will not win a physical battle, so they may try something else that might work. I talk a lot about this in my book called Crooked, but we’re talking about sports here and this feature of the female species is beautiful and perfect and horrible for sports.
Women can be competitive with each other, of course, and often are, but thankfully their instincts are not to resolve their differences through violence. This makes the simulation of these resolutions—what we call sport—a poor choice for women. Now don’t be an idiot. I’m not saying that women aren’t athletic. They certainly are. I’m not saying that women can’t be fiercely competitive with a killer instinct. They certainly can. But these are exceptions, rather than the rule.
This difference in the way men and women approach sport really shouldn’t matter except that because the rest of the culture we live within has become so feminized, the male version of sport is becoming that way, too. Absolute victory, no matter the pain or suffering one has to put one’s self through, has lost the charm it once had. It’s not about winning. It’s about how you play the game. How many of you heard that a million times growing up in school? It’s not about winning. It’s about how you play the game. This is dumb. It’s now about how you play the game. It’s about winning. The whole point of sport is to simulate conflict and prepare you to win said conflict. Women play sport mostly to socialize, to feel good about themselves, get in shape, and a million other valid reasons, but men play sport to simulate conflict and prepare themselves for resolving said conflict—by winning. It’s that simple.
The feminization of sports has led to participation trophies, not counting goals in soccer games, and most recently, celebrating people who quit because they can’t handle the pressure of intense competition. This is what they have done with Simone Biles and I am absolutely fine with this—in female sport. This is what female sport is designed to accomplish: Comforting each other. Socialization. Inspiration. Sparkly leotards. But don’t bring it into men’s competition. We don’t need hugs when we’re sad. We don’t need trophies for losers. And we certainly shouldn’t coddle anyone who quits on their team. We will never win anything if that’s rewarded. And that is my incredible opinion.
Disclaimer:
The author disavows all violence—political, racial, and otherwise. Do not use any My Incredible Opinion® material or videos to inspire you or anyone else to commit violence. Instead, persuade and convince with nice words.