Desegregating Sports

In 1945, Jackie Robinson became the first black player allowed to play in Major League Baseball. Prior to that, non-white players were viewed as lesser competitors and relegated to playing in the Negro Leagues. Today, entry into Major League Baseball is fully merit-based and no regard is given to the color of of a player’s skin or their ethnicity. Baseball is fully desegregated. Except… you have to be male.

The line between genders has blurred over the past couple of decades. If genders are no longer binary, why are we still treating it as binary when it comes to sports? Right now, we are assuming that everyone can only be male or female, and that all males are physically stronger than all females. But how do we handle the area between the extremes of binary? How do we handle the Caster Semenyas and the Laurel Hubbards of the world? Would there be any issue if either of them attempted to compete in the men’s side of their respective sports? I suspect it would still be an issue.

I think sports should remove all gender restrictions. There should not be a women’s swimming team, or a men’s weightlifting team. It should be just swimming, or just weightlifting. The same principle applies for team sports. Why bar women from the National Basketball Association? If a woman wants to compete in basketball, why can’t she do so in the world’s highest league, the NBA? Why do women need to play in gender-segregated leagues?

(Side note: There are actually no explicit rules preventing a woman from playing in the NBA. But there were also no explicit rules barring black players from playing in the MLB. These are cultural barriers we create for ourselves, but barriers nonetheless.)

I envision a future where there is no more gender segregation in sports. Sure, some sports will still be dominated by men or women, just like in some occupations, but people should not be barred or stigmatized from a league because of their gender. If you’re a great basketball player, you should be able to play in the NBA with other great basketball players, regardless of whether you are a man or woman.