I've long held the opinion that Title IX is not a very good way to go about
"gender integrating" athletics.  I've learned from this list that Title IX is
more than just athletics, so it may be a good idea for the NCAA (or whomever)
to implement something athletic-specific that can account for the reality
that participation in athletics is not the same as majoring in engineering.
 
Speaking solely of athletics, I don't see where Title IX helps create the
interest necessary to convince young girls to participate in sports.  My
recollections of growing up in Milwaukee (I'm 35 for context purposes) are
that opportunities from pre-teen on up were unequal.  Boys had organized
baseball, football, and basketball leagues from about 4th grade up; girls had
organized volleyball, then basketball starting maybe junior high, or
cheerleading.  Now soccer seems to be sweeping in with equal participation,
and I remember from college that Madison had more opportunities for male
youth hockey than female youth hockey.
 
My point is that athletic competitiveness in boys is fostered much earlier
than for girls, and more thoroughly.  The male "jock" could go from
basketball/hockey to baseball to football/hockey and be active pretty much
year-round.  That was not so for girls.  I think that leads directly to a
diminished *desire* at the college level.  I believe that if every incoming
freshman were offered the opportunity to participate in some varsity sport, a
smaller percentage of women would accept the opportunity.  If that is the
case, "fairness" today would be more in line with allowing equal
participation based on desire.
 
An "athletic Title IX" should look first to establish the cross-gender
interest in the elementary schools, then work it up from there.  One
potentially big flaw I see with my own logic is that young boys will have
male sports figures to emulate, but young girls won't.  I know I can easily
name several male "marquee" sports figures, but I can't do that for women,
except for track, gymnastics, and basketball (and even then only one or two
for each sport).  As inaccurate as "priming the pump" at the NCAA level is,
doing it at the pro level is even further off track, yet that would seem to
be almost a precondition of generating interest at the youth level.
 
Thoughts?
 
Steve G
Wisconsin '84
Miami (is in Ohio, dammit) '95
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.