The unintended consequences of Title IX
Categories: Teens & tweens, Health & safety, In the news
According to a recent NYT article, Title IX had an amazing impact on the number of girls and women who play sports. Title IX was passed in 1972, a bill that eliminated the exclusion of women in any federally funded educational activity. Though it's effect was wide-reaching, it's probably best known for opening up the playing field, literally, to women.In pre-Title IX 1972, about 300,000 girls played high school sports. Today, that number has blossomed to three million. Likewise, the number of female college athletes has grown to 205,000 from 30,000 in 1972.
Girls have more opportunity than ever to participate in sports. Sports keep kids active, help them maintain their weight, give them a social outlet -- so some would call that a blessing. But while understanding that sports play an important role for many teen and young adult women, some sports experts are also calling the change that Title IX has brought somewhat of a curse.
The rates of injury among high school sports are hard to count. But among those that do try to keep track of them, there's an alarming trend. Girls are getting hurt. A lot. Take the A.C.L. This little piece of flesh attaches to both the femur and the tibia, and functions to keep the knee stable. When it ruptures, it liquefies, requiring a graft from a nearby tendon for repair. The surgery is a tough one, the rehabilitation period six to nine months. Reports suggest that girls are suffering this injury at five times the rate of their male peers.
Experts point to changing teen bodies as the culprit. While boys tend to build muscle without much training, girls tend to gain fat. Estrogen makes ligaments flexible, too flexible, without the proper exercises. But now that girls are allowed to play with the same ferocity as boys, their bodies are breaking down at a very young age.
So what is the answer? I, for one, am hoping that the answer is not discouraging sports for girls. Research shows that girls who participate in sports have stronger bones and better test scores, among countless other benefits. How could we possibly consider taking that away from them, telling them that their female bodies make them "too weak?"
But yet, after reading the NYT article, I have to wonder. Are we pushing girls too hard and too fast? What really is the goal of high school sports? Isn't the goal supposed to be fun, friendly competition? Physical activity? Trying new things? How, then, do these highly-competitive leagues fit in to this picture?
Though it's hard yet to tell with my younger daughter, it's clear that my older child is going to be an athlete. She's quick, agile, and masters physical tasks in record time. We put her into soccer this spring strictly for the social experience, and I saw the light go on after the first practice. She was hooked.
As I watch her out on the field, fearlessly throwing herself into the pack just to get to that little pink ball, I imagine her ten years down the road. What role do I expect sports to play for her? If she is an athlete, how far will I let sports infiltrate her personal time? Will I let her travel? Would I let her play after an injury? Suddenly, her tiny little soccer team doesn't seem so innocent.
Do you have a female athlete? What do you think about all of this?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ninainindia 5-13-2008 @ 1:13PM
"But now that girls are allowed to play with the same ferocity as boys, their bodies are breaking down at a very young age."
Breaking down? Come on, this is the perfect example of an article made for the people that like to fear everything, written by the people that like to create people that fear everything.
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Mel 5-13-2008 @ 1:14PM
What you mention about the differences between girls' and boys' bodies presents perhaps the best irony ever. The term "disparate impact" was thrown around during the passage of Title IX. Ironically, Title IX itself seems to have contributed to disparate impact...
I hope for a return to the time when people accept and respect the fact that girls and boys are just different. And that different is ok. Isn't that, after all, what everyone wants us to believe anyway? That different is ok? I'll never understand why being different is ok when it means piercings and fuschia hair, but *not* ok when it comes to the inherent disparity between males and females.
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Mel 5-13-2008 @ 1:19PM
Like you, Nina, I despise hysteria. However, in this case, girls' bodies really are "breaking down." We aren't talking about routine bone fractures here. We're talking about injuries whose effects literally last a lifetime.
Along those lines, there is an interesting study regarding the correlation between athletics and osteoporosis. No such statistically significant correlation has been found with regard to boys. Preemptively: Please recall that I said 'correlation,' *not* causation.
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Sheryl 5-13-2008 @ 1:30PM
My 10.5 year old daughter has been a competitive swimmer for about the past 15 months. Her coach is quite conservative and frankly, seems to "baby" the girls a bit (oh, and does that bother me!). That said, she practices 5 days per week, and swims up to 3 miles at each practice. That is not unheard of in age group swimming, and at this point she has it pretty easy--no 5am practices, no daily doubles, no weight training and limited "dry land"--that will come in high school if she choose to keep swimming.
My daughter has already suffered one shoulder injury; it was not due to overuse or overtraining--she simply had a tangle with the lane divider during a race, and her arm stopped and her body kept going. She required physical therapy and an immobilizer brace; but she still swam at practice--with her good one arm--for six weeks. The doctor gave her the option to do after she cried and begged to be allowed to keep swimming during her rehabilitation. She is passionate about her sport, and I (watchfully, carefully) support that. It is my job to be supportive; to make sure she is coached by people I trust and that have her best interests at heart; and to make sure her sport remains safe and (mentally and physically) healthy for her to be involved in.
She knows her body, what is is capable of, and how she needs to treat it to make it perform as she'd like it to. She sees the direct results of staying up too late and not eating enough or enough of the right things.
Swimming has given my daughter so many gifts and taught her so much--the value of hard work, confidence, leadership skills. She has developed the maturity to understand that, while first place is fun, winning comes in many different forms--improved times, gaining new skills, learning from mistakes. She is small for her age, but has the confidence to compete succesfully against girls who are larger, stronger and older.
My daughter is an average student, her father chooses not to be part of her life, and she's lost 3 grandparents (and one great grandparent) in the 2 past years. Puberty is looming. The past few years have been difficult, and those approaching will be no piece of cake, either. She is happiest in the water, and I can only hope that her love of swimming and having that outlet--that place where she feels safe and competent--will help carry her through these years ahead.
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Jessica 5-13-2008 @ 2:31PM
Yes, girls are different. But that doesn't mean they don't have a right to play soccer, basketball, softball, any damn sport they want. I played sports my entire life, starting lineup in all, and I have absolutely no long term injuries to show for it.
And, NO, high school sports are not friendly. PAL league and little child sports are friendly. By the time of high school, sports are competitive.
Only 6 months left until league soccer for my daughter!
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Karen 5-13-2008 @ 6:50PM
My brother has been warning me of this injury ever since my daughter was born (11 years ago). He spent some time doing sports training for tweens and said this is a real problem for girls.
What I don't like is that you have to pick your specialty by the time you are in first or second grade. There is no play to learn and play for fun, even in the early grades. They say there is, but by the time they get out of t-ball they have to try out and hold drafts. For my son to play football he had to attend summer training camps and work out 3 hours a day for a month before the draft. He was in FIRST GRADE! You find the occasional fun league, but the other kids use it as filler and the not so talented kids get pushed aside.
I just don't think sports should be taken so seriously until at least high school.
Both of my children ended up in swimming as well. It seemed like a sport they could continue for life and is relatively injury free. We don't push the highly competitive swimming yet, and only allowed her to start traveling to meets this year (5th grade). I also limit practice to 3 times a week (1 hour and 15 minutes). That is plenty. She'd go more, but I want a well rounded emphasis in her life.
I guess I'm a little off topic, but while I really think that girls should be able to play any sport they please, I don't think we should be pushing their bodies in ways it isn't ready. How is this a GOOD thing? I'm not trying to protect them from all injuries, but in the same way that we wait to introduce certain foods to babies so their bodies can develop, it seems we'd take the same approach here.
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