Physicality - Men and Women

When I served in the Corps back in the day, one of my friends was roughly 5'-6 to 5'-8 and weighed 140-150 lbs.  Another friend who was over 6'-0 had to be in the 220 lbs range.  Neither (to the best of my knowledge) was the second incarnation of Bruce Lee, but they were tough enough.

Put them in a ring and who would you put money on?  

There is a recurring debate about the differences between men and women.  Differences that are driven by biology, genetics, science.  The latest iteration of the debate was kicked off by a Tucker Carlson rant about the military services creating uniforms (including flight suits) for pregnant service members and plans to alter hairstyles for women.

For the record, I don't care about those changes.  I wouldn't want a pilot to be in a dogfight performing high g maneuvers in an F-35 and 8 months pregnant.  It wouldn't be safe for anyone.  Take the same pilot several months later and the situation wouldn't be safe for just one person; the idiot that took their plane off the runway to engage a US pilot - any US pilot - flying our best fighter in the first place.  And hair is just hair.  A hairstyle is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with mission accomplishment.  Women have wanted to wear ponytails and/or braids in uniform for a long while.  Keep it neat, clean, and out of the way and it's fine.

I served with many women who were outstanding Marines.  Tucker's rant was poorly aimed at best.

So what does physical capability have to do with uniform/hair regulations?  Nothing.

But debates over uniforms and hairstyles (and a couple of other topics) inevitably wander into the physical capabilities of men relative to the same capabilities of women.

There is a difference that some people do not want to acknowledge  They will deflect the issue by pointing out women at the upper end of the bell curve such as Rhonda Rousey or Gina Carano.  Again, for the record, I wouldn't have wanted to climb into the ring with either of those women when I was in my prime.  They are indeed at the top end of the bell curve of physical fitness for women.  They individually outclass the majority of men in both physical fitness and fighting ability/preparation.

Let's start with some basics; average height and weight.  Men are, on average, taller and heavier than women.  That gives an advantage in most physical competitions.  The following was taken from the ever-questionable Wikipedia on 16 March 2021.  Note that in every country, the average for men is greater than the average for women.  

Average Human Body Weight - Men vs. Women - Click to Embiggen

Average Human Height - Men vs. Women - Click to Embiggen

Those basic differences create an advantage for men.  A longer arm reach makes it easier to get at an opponent while keeping yourself out of range.  Longer legs create a longer stride for greater speed.  There are other physiological differences such as the impact of testosterone on muscle development.  If I were a doctor or a physiology major, I could list several biological differences between men and women that impact their relative performance in physical competitions, but I'm not either one of those.

What I can do is point you towards measurements of the peak physical performance of men and women.  Judge for yourself.  In almost every category, the record for peak performance is held by a man.  In weight lifting competitions where there are weight classes, the nearest comparison between men and women always shows the man is, pound for pound, able to lift more weight.

[I was looking at swimming data a couple of years ago and did note that there was one category where the top competitor was a woman.  I couldn't find that category recently.  It is certainly possible for a woman to be the best on the planet in a straight physical competition.  Where that is the case, it is an exception that illustrates the rule.]

Again, all of these are from the ever questionable Wikipedia.  Go have a look.

• Swimming
• Speed Skating - short track
• Cycling
• Weightlifting
• Athletics (i.e. track and field)

A straight comparison cannot be made in every category in the above competitions.  For example, in speed skating, the men have a 5k relay while the women have a 3k relay.  If you adjust the times/distances to account for the difference, the men were faster over the same distance in almost every category even though they had to perform over a longer distance in actual competition.

I added the "almost" because I didn't check every category with a competitive differential and there probably is one where the women were faster/stronger over a shorter distance.  

A case in point would be Serena Williams.  Let's face it, she is the creme de la creme of women's tennis.  She and her sister dominate the sport and have dominated it for decades.  But even she knows that there is a difference between men's and women's tennis.  Andy Murray once challenged her to a match.  Ms. Williams declined.

“If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes. No, it’s true. It’s a completely different sport. The men are a lot faster and they serve harder, they hit harder, it’s just a different game.”

Why would she say such a thing?  Well she, and her sister had some experience playing against men.  In 1998, they played a set against Karsten Braasch who was, at the time, ranked roughly 200 in men's tennis.  He beat Serena 6-1 and then beat Venus 6-2.  Serena finished the 1998 WTA season ranked 20th in the world.  Venus finished the season ranked 5th.

I am well aware that my personal tennis game sucks.  Don't bother going there.

The larger point is that while the bell curve of the physical performance of women largely overlaps the bell curve for men, it is not the same curve.  The average of the performance curve for men is somewhat above that for women.  The top-end tail of the curve for men generally extends beyond the same tail for women.  Those non-trivial differences are driven by biology, genetics, science.

Physical differences do not make men smarter, more moral, better leaders, or otherwise more qualified than women.  But there is a documented differential in physical performance between men and women just the same.

There are times where that difference might mean the difference between life and death.  

The US Army recently created a gender-neutral combat fitness test.  The result was that 10% of male US Army soldiers failed the test while 65% of female US Army soldiers failed the test.  A passing score is 360 out of 600 points.  The average score for female soldiers was roughly 100 points below the average for male soldiers.  As the results from the test impact promotion eligibility, the US Army is now reconsidering whether or not to have different scales/tests for men and women.

The point?

Men and women are different.  

Biologically.

Genetically.

Measurably.

Scientifically.

Documented.

Most of the world understands this truth.  This post is for those occasions when I run into the rare person that has a tough time accepting this reality.

----

A later update.  I ran across this graph a while back via the /dataisbeautiful group on Reddit.

They did a study of the grip strength of men and women of all ages, sizes, abilities, etc.  The net result was that men had a grip strength that was almost uniformly stronger than women of their cohort.  Grip strength is a reasonable proxy for overall strength. 

Methodology and some additional clarifications to the data at the link.  

Can't Get No Respect

I got the following via email.  Despite my professed religious skepticism, I thought it was pretty funny.  The ending was a nice twist and represented some serious irony as well.

There were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:

1. He called everyone Brother.
2. He liked Gospel.
3. He couldn't get a fair trial.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:

1. He went into His Fathers business.
2. He lived at home until he was 33.
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his mother was sure he was God.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:

1. He talked with his hands.
2. He had wine with every meal.
3. He used olive oil.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian:

1. He never cut his hair.
2. He walked around barefoot all the time.
3. He started a new religion.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:

1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.

But the most compelling evidence of all - 3 proofs that Jesus was a woman:

1. He had to feed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food.
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it.
3. Even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was more work for Him to do.

Amen!!!

The above was as I received it.  I did adjust the line spacing a bit.  It had been forwarded several times.

Just in case you didn't catch the irony, check the capitalization for all of the options; Black, Jewish, Italian, Californian, Irish, woman.

Four of the five capitalized categories are properly capitalized.  One is not.  We do not refer to Caucasians.  We refer to caucasions..or whites...or honkys...or crackers...or whatever.  The same holds true....or should...for "blacks".

The only category not capitalized was "woman".  So even in a joke where women are singled out as being God-like, or god-like as the case may be, then apparently can't get the same respect as the other categories with respect to capitalization.

Leash That Woman, Would Ya?

From that bastion of feminist thought that is Saudi Arabia comes news that the kingdom had created a policy where by the movements of the female chattel of that country...that would be all of them...are automatically reported to their male owners.  Anytime a woman crosses the Saudi border, a text is sent to "her man"; whether or not he requests such service.

The couple who alerted al-Sharif was travelling toegether (sic). As they did, the husband received a text message from immigration authorities informing him that his wife had left the international airport in Riyadh.

While details are sketchy, it sounds like the service is not opt-in. Since the husband in the couple above was surprised by the SMS, he didn't have to "sign up" to get the message.

It doesn't seem like the tracking is carried out using a tracking device on the person of the woman, at least. Instead, it seems that the immigration authorities simply text the "guardian male" on record when a woman leaves the country, manually.

In the article, someone sarcastically asks why they just don't install RFID chips in their women and be done with it.

Never give advice to oppressive regimes.  They don't understand sarcasm and just might do as you suggest.

Conflicting Volleyball

I have been more than a little conflicted lately about the opportunity to watch women's beach volleyball at the Olympics.

I used to be a middle-of-the-road amateur volleyball player.  The skill and strategy that goes into the sport is fantastic.  So now I really enjoy watching the sport.  The Olympics are a fantastic opportunity to watch some of the world's premier volleyball players on both sand and wood courts.

The problem comes in when you consider the uniform requirements for the young women playing beach volleyball. They don't leave a lot to the imagination.

The women wear a "tankini"-style top, which is part tank top, part bikini top, with briefs, or a one-piece uniform. The two-piece women's top must be designed with deep, cutaway armholes on the stomach, back and upper chest. The briefs should be cut toward the leg on an upward angle. The maximum side width allowed is 7 cm. The one-piece must consist of an open back and upper chest. Players from the same team must wear uniforms that are identical.

...

Upper body wear for both men and women in Olympic beach volleyball must fit closely to the body. The men's shorts should not be a baggy fit and have to be a minimum of 15 cm higher than the kneecap.

I don't mind the view.  It is the lack of choice that bothers me.  It is almost as if they are telling the great athletes that they can only compete if they are willing to show off a little skin.

That perspective seems to be supported when you consider how news reports might look different if the accompanying photos were similar to those shot for women's beach volleyball.

Amazing Canadian Boobies Kept Under Wraps

I am astonished.  Canadian Muslim women have boobies!  Who knew!

Or rather, who doesn't want you to know.

Just give it a read as I couldn't do anything but harm at this point by trying to add anything.

Are Women More Than Just A Vagina?

I think so.  Others apparently don't.

Why We Fight

Today in Afghanistan, young women can learn to box.

Have their photo taken.  Sadly, reflections of Afghan women appear to be the dominant photographic mode.  This is an improvement of sorts, I suppose.

Be rescued from life threatening living conditions...caused by husbands and their families, sadly enough.

Learn to play music!

And here is the price we pay for their liberation.

There is a price for freedom.  When we free others from bondage, we ensure freedom for ourselves.

Let us be grateful for their service and for the freedom they bring the world.


The Taliban created the conditions where a woman could not be photographed without her husband or father's consent.  Where no woman would have learned boxing....or reading or writing or mathematics.  Where women were considered property on par with livestock and often treated with less consideration than livestock with the approval of the former government.  Where music was banned.

Let us not abandon those who teeter on the edge of being the victims of oppression before their oppressors have accepted liberty as the legitimate objective of humanity.
All the photos may be viewed here.

A Hysterical Return?

After my modestly extended absence from blogging, I can think of no more pleasurable method of celebrating my return than to offer my esteemed and valued readership a smile.

Some more than others...apparently.

Not Guilty Is Not Necessarily Innocent

Courtesy of Day by Day Cartoon comes this appropriate observation.

As others have pointed out, the difficulty of having a witness of poor character is the difficulty in presenting a credible case.  It does not mean that she wasn't raped in the first place.

The law can indeed be a bitch.  So can karma.  At the very least, it seems to me that karma paid a timely call on Mr. Strauss-Kahn.

Muslim Women Standing For Freedom

Asra Q. Nomani tells the story of a recent stand-in protest at a Washington D.C. area mosque where Muslim women demonstrated for equal treatment within their faith.

What unfolded that day inside the mosque underscores a growing agitation inside the American-Muslim community by women frustrated by separate-and-unequal status. A survey by the Council on American Islamic Relations showed that two of three mosques in 2000 required women to pray in a separate area, up from one of two in 1994. In 2003, I challenged rules at my mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia, that women enter through a back door and pray in a secluded balcony. I argued that, in the 7th century, the prophet Muhammad didn’t put women behind partitions, and the barriers were just emblematic of sexist man-made rules. The men at my mosque put me on trial to be banished.

To me, the women’s space in a mosque is an indicator of whether the interpretation of Islam being practiced is puritanical and dogmatic, or open and inclusive. This one choice is a harbinger for other controversial interpretations of Islam, including domestic violence, honor killings, suicide bombings, violence and interfaith relations. Just this week, a hard-line Saudi cleric issued a fatwa on his Arabic-language Web site calling for the killing of Muslims who don’t enforce strict gender segregation.

Shaking the tree that needs shaking most.