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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3514053" data-attributes="member: 19675">You're reading a bit more into what I wrote than I intended.You can try to raise children as gender neutral, and in the normative world, that's great.  But we live in the real world, and there are real differences between the genders that have real consequences.  Sexual dimorphism is a reality, both physically and mentally.In multiple studies, boys have repeatedly shown a greater predisposition to enjoy those entertainment activities that involve & encourage aggressive behaviors than girls.  (It has to do with us being primates, and what our brains are hardwired to do.)That is in general, not guns in particular- guns are just a peculiarly American obsession.  It could just as well mean hitting each other with sticks or throwing chestnuts at each other.And definitely not toy cars, building with Legos, and the like.  Those are gender neutral toys.Just to be perfectly clear, my examples were taken from direct observation of children at play.Lets put it this way- I think that any woman who is physically capable of playing a professional sport at the professional level as well as a man should have a shot to play with the men.  However, there are natural differences that are going to affect any woman making that attempt.Women are generally shorter, less massive per increment of height, with different proportions of slow-twitch & fast-twitch muscles than men, with slightly different bone densities than men, and different (in this case, higher) endurance levels.  In a full contact/collision sport, like American Football, Rugby, Hockey and so forth, some of those differences will translate into more injuries, less power etc.Could they still compete?  Sure- I have no difficulty believing that a woman playing American football could be just as accurate a kicker or passer as a man, or may be able to be a reciever.  However, she will probably be too small to be a linebacker or lineman.  She will probably be too short & slow to be a top reciever- many of the men have near-Olympic qualifier class speed- women that fast would have longer, more lucrative careers as track & field stars.Even in a sport like baseball, that lack of power and speed hinders them at most positions.  So they can't hit the ball out of the park- so what?  Most men can't either.  However, once again, that slight lag in speed will keep them from legging out grounders into singles.OTOH, they are usually more accurate shooters than men- ask the Israelis about their women snipers.If a woman came along, 6'5" tall, 200lbs, with 4.2 speed and hands as soft as a baby's butt, who wanted to play Pro football?  I'd cheer her on.  Ditto a woman with a 99MPH fastball and a curveball that breaks like Pedro Martinez'.But even today, in the era of big dollar sports, no woman Pro athelete has successfully competed against a Pro male on a level playing field in any of the major sports*.  Not even in golf.They're getting close, but they're not there yet.*Ignoring, of course, those sports where there are significant mechanical factors other than the athlete's own abilities- target shooting, horse racing, auto racing, etc.  Women in those sports are just as competitive as the men.  Ditto sports that are judged at least partially on aesthetics, like many of the X-games competitions.</blockquote>

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