NPR reported on a story this morning about a Catholic* school in Arizona that chose to forfeit a state championship baseball game, rather than play while a child-bearing machine…oops, I mean little lady…err…teenage girl was on the field. It was because the school had too much respect for the female player, of course.
From International Business Times:
“Teaching our boys to treat ladies with deference, we choose not to place them in an athletic competition where proper boundaries can only be respected with difficulty,” the statement read. “Our school aims to instill in our boys a profound respect for women and girls.”
The Associated Press reports that Paige Sultzbach, a 15-year old from Mesa Preparatory Academy, had voluntarily sat out two games against Our Lady of Sorrows earlier in the season in order to accommodate their dumbfuckery. She wasn’t, however, willing to sit out for the state championship. w00t!
This is an example of why Title IX is still important, proof that it is still relevant. In the United States today women are facing challenges for equal representation and support in sports. The very reason why Paige Sultzbach is on the men’s baseball team is because her high school doesn’t have a women’s softball team. It sounds like Paige’s coach, team, school and family have been very supportive of having her on the men’s team and for refusing to sit the bench in the final.
I feel bad for the guys at Our Lady of Sorrows. I’m sure they busted ass to get to the state championship, and because their school is run by a bunch of gender role bigoted throwbacks all they’re bringing home is shame and ridicule from the national media. And I feel bad for Paige’s team; because Our Lady forfeited, Mesa Preparatory will be taking home the trophy, but they didn’t have a chance to win the trophy on the merit of their efforts.
Way to make sure that if everyone doesn’t play by your rules, then no one wins, Our Lady of Sorrows.
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*Society of Saint Pius X is a fundamentalist conservative branch that broke from the Catholic Church in the 1980s. Officially they have no canonical status in the Catholic Church.
