Men and womens paintball ?

[Kevin]

Alright guys,
do you think there will ever be mens and womens paintball tournaments ? as in separate the sexes, like in tennis, football and even snooker.

I know there isnt enough women in the sport at the moment but do you think it will happen in the future ?

 

[Mak D - Nexus Eclipse]

Originally posted by Kevin
do you think it will happen in the future ?

Nope

 

[Jurg$]

Nop
theres no real advantage being either sex in paintball, unlike other sports.
-jtl

 

[raehl]

Word.

No reason for separation, and I think it would be a step backwards.

- Chris

 

[dr.strangelove]

Because paintball isn't a contact sport, and because one person being bigger or stronger than another doesn't give them any advantage on the field, it wouldn't be necessary to make separate classes I don't think. I heard someone talking about how there should be affirmitive action in paintball (a quota stating that there should be a certain number of women on each team), and I think that's the most retarded thing I've ever heard of in my entire life (of course, I think that about affirmitive action regarding race, sex, religion or creed as well, so maybe I'm biased)

 

[raehl]

You realize that your sig is contradictory to your thesis, right?

- Chris

 

[dr.strangelove]

Well, my sig isn't words to live by, it's just my policy on paintball markers (adopted shortly after the purchase of my first autococker)

 

[Liz]

I can't see any reason why there should be any segregation of men & women in paintball. As various others have said here, it's not a sport that relies on physical strength & there's no contact involved so why shouldn't it stay the way it is. In just about all equestrian sports men & women compete in the same classes on equal terms, and I think you'll find that for all "skill" type sports where there IS segregation, it's more tradition and the fact that women haven't been taken seriously until now and therefore haven't had the opportunities to progress the way men have e.g. snooker, sailing, darts, shooting, archery etc etc etc

 

[Darkwerks]

I've always found it curious that some female players, while advocating non-discrimination by sex, are quite happy to play on "women only " teams or "women only " tournys.

 

[Rabies]

Don't do it!

Paintball is almost unique (well, in a small minority) of sports where there is no gender segregation. Why? Because there doesn't need to be, men and women can be equally good at it, there's no physical contact, and there's no issue of perceived difference in stamina (like tennis - 3 sets for women, 5 for men?) Introducing discrimination into paintball on any "artificial" grounds would be a backwards step and would just drag us, from the enviable position of a "new sport", back to the state of longer-established sports where many rules are more a result of tradition and Victorian moral values than of actual necessity.

I am proud to be involved in a sport where none of the usual boundaries are relevant, and to impose segregation would be shameful. However, if people choose to play in teams with particular constraints (as Darkwerks points out), that's their choice, as long as nobody's forcing them into it.

---RANT---
My personal feeling is that any form of artificial discrimination is unjust, including the various guises that positive discrimination has been dressed up as in the name of politically correct bull****. I grit my teeth every time I see a recruitment advert highlighting "special recruiting days for ethnic minorities", with a footnote explaining how the company is an "equal opportunities employer." Well, if equality means giving minorities separate recruiting days, why not give them a separate section of the bus to sit? Or maybe the town planners should cordon off a separate area of a city for them to live, to ensure everyone is treated equally?

Grrrrrrr.
---END RANT---