Can we just separate kids by skill level rather than gender? My middle school cis son loves playing sports, but he’s not very good. He gets discouraged when the better kids bully him because of it.
Smurfs happen more in shooters, or competitive games like Rocket League, Smash Bros etc. much less in MMO. It’s easier to be a smurf when the game is skill based, and less or no dependency on what gear you own as it takes much longer to earn top tier gear that helps keep you at top.
Maybe, for “rec league” or whatever, but school teams are usually meant to be competitive, and non-gendered sports would mean girls wouldn’t have equitable access to athletics.
But even for non-competitive teams, girls are unlikely to be able to access shared sports to the same level as boys. At a party high school I worked at, there was a major challenge with girls being willing to access open gym time, feeling uncomfortable advocating for access to basketball nets for practice—even girls who were on the competitive team felt they couldn’t use open gym time.
TL;DR: Sexism runs deep. We need policies that recognize that and build equity, not just offer “equality” that perpetuates, or even magnifies, the problem.
Can we just separate kids by skill level rather than gender? My middle school cis son loves playing sports, but he’s not very good. He gets discouraged when the better kids bully him because of it.
Skill based matchmaking. Most competitive video games use it. Why not IRL?
Now I’m imagining a kid scoring multiple points and the other parents calling him a smurf
A little blue animated creature? Is that MMO lingo for pretending to be worse than you are like a “pool shark” or what not?
Not necessarily MMOs but yes, you create an alternative account with the purpose of being matched with lesser skilled players.
Smurfs happen more in shooters, or competitive games like Rocket League, Smash Bros etc. much less in MMO. It’s easier to be a smurf when the game is skill based, and less or no dependency on what gear you own as it takes much longer to earn top tier gear that helps keep you at top.
I don’t see why bottom tier teams shouldn’t be co-ed. PE we did co ed sports days all the time and its more about getting exercise than winning.
Maybe, for “rec league” or whatever, but school teams are usually meant to be competitive, and non-gendered sports would mean girls wouldn’t have equitable access to athletics.
But even for non-competitive teams, girls are unlikely to be able to access shared sports to the same level as boys. At a
partyhigh school I worked at, there was a major challenge with girls being willing to access open gym time, feeling uncomfortable advocating for access to basketball nets for practice—even girls who were on the competitive team felt they couldn’t use open gym time.TL;DR: Sexism runs deep. We need policies that recognize that and build equity, not just offer “equality” that perpetuates, or even magnifies, the problem.
What’s a party school?
lol, high school.
Maybe we just need new sports.