American Boy forfeits championship by refusing to wrestle girls in major high school tournament

I personally think that schools should stick to academics and get out of sports and other extracurricular activities.

Don't get me wrong, I know these programs are important and good for kids to participate. I just think that the schools ONLY job should be to educate in the realm of academics.

Sports and other activities should be offered, but they should be run privately. The biggest advantage would be that they would get out from under the school rules, red tape, and eligibility requirements (boys get the "axe" the most).

Currently boys are often ruled as "ineligible" for sports or clubs due to behavior in school and poor grades. We all know how biased this can be in the female dominated school systems. Boys from broken homes are usually the ones that have poor grades and "behavior" problems and would benefit the most from sports and the male comradery that they provide - but the schools don't see it that way and keep these programs out of reach for them.

I cringe everytime I hear about a school district raising the academic or behavior standards for athletes.

Sorry for getting a little off topic, but this is a personal and sensitive subject for me as I know guys that have been hurt by schools' athletic policies.

I feel bad for this wrestler, as I don't believe males and females should be competing against eachother.

Cassy Herkelman ended up losing to another boy within seconds.

No good can come out of men and women competing in the same sport. This boy did the right thing. Men and women are not physically equal, despite Hollywood movies showing petite angels beating up burly bad guys. It doesn't happen that way in real life.

In addition, I know of two cases where a woman was allowed to compete for a spot on a male team and ended up suing the coach or school for discrimination when she didn't make the cut.

http://goodmenproject.com/newsroom/boys-who-wont-fight-girls-gentlemanly-or-sexist/

What the fuck does a woman has to do with writing an article in a site bearing the title "from the frontlines of modern manhood" ??

That's right, furthering the subversion of masculinity.

This guy may have refused for religious reasons but his decision might make sense for any male.

The sad truth is that in athletic competition a man is the loser either way if competing against a woman. If he wins he "beat up on a girl" and HER courageous is proven, if he loses he "lost to a girl" and HIS inferiority is proven. Heads she wins, tails he loses.

Chivalry trumps all. Count on it.

And if he doesn't fight her he's a sexist pig, according to many.

The bottom line is that: he was given an opponent, he chose not to wrestle his opponent, therefore he forfeited the match.

Personally I'm an Atheist so anyone choosing not to do something for religious reasons won't garner any sympathy from me. But even ignoring that, where in the bible does it say: "Thou shall not wrestle girls"? No where that I can remember, and I've read the bible cover to cover.

It would be different if this story was about Feminists shutting down a wrestling program using title ix, because not enough women were interested in wrestling. But this is totally different. MRA's should be championing real equality, as opposed to special privileges for women.

I say if the girl wants to wrestle, then let her wrestle and rise or fall on her own merits. If one of her opponents doesn't want to wrestle her, then they can just forfeit the match.

I also wonder how many people would be sympathetic to this boy if the writer replaced the word "girls" with "African Americans". If the title said: "American Boy forfeits championship by refusing to wrestle African Americans in major high school tournament"; would he be getting any sympathy?

I condone his decision to not wrestle the girl. At their age it would be somewhat difficult to have boys and girls rolling around on the ground when they are being bombarded with hormones, and little experience dealing with them. For those that cry foul due to not having the genders face off, hell be smart and have the boy champ, and the girl champ face off at the end. We should always try and deal with human nature instead of trying to ignore it. The young mans religious beliefs are of no concern of mine as this situation has some real issues involved in it beyond an opportunity to debate religion. I also think that trying to make this a question of race is somewhat off base as well. I would also question any positive outcome if indeed this post was high jacked into religion, or a race issue.

David A. DeLong

"The bottom line is that: he was given an opponent, he chose not to wrestle his opponent, therefore he forfeited the match."

Nobody is disputing that. They are saying he shouldn't be called sexists for his choice. And to dismiss his religion simply because you don't happen to believe in it is far more bigoted then what you think he's done. Religion can very well teach a boy to respect and not fight with women, and to be sexually discrete. Add to that the fact we are constantly inundated with PSA's about how violence against women is the worst epidemic in our society, followed closely by sexual assault, and you can be damn certain any guy is going to think twice about getting into a wrestling match with a girl.

What if she loses and claims he touched her boob? do you tell her "tough titty, you choose to enter the match", do you reprimand him? What if he does touch her inappropriately, or hurts her accidentally, despite his religious teachings telling him that's a sin? How will she react, he doesn't know? How will he deal with the guilt? is it worth winning a championship?

The point is, he didn't refuse to fight her, but still expect to compete. he acknowledged that his choice had consequences, and he owned those consequences and walked away. I don't think that's unreasonable.

the reason people feel sorry for him is because it is a tough position to be put in, to choose between being true to your principles and being the athletic hero. Not to mention that accusations of misogyny that followed. there are a plethora of sports out there that could easily integrate boys and girls, why is it so important to integrate this most physically close of sports