sargent (2024)

. . . Heretofore women have been more creatures of the kitchen and firesidethan of the great outdoors, and the present generation of young women whowill become the mothers of the next generation have more muscle and morelung capacity than their own mothers. The growth of athletics for girlsis largely responsible for this. Colleges for women have more or less grudginglymade room in their curricula for gymnastics and athletics, and the non-collegiateworld has followed suit and made athletic sports accessible to women. ...

Many persons honestly believe that athletics are making girls bold,masculine and overassertive; that they are destroying the beautiful linesand curves of her figure, and are robbing her of that charm and elusivenessthat has so long characterized the female sex....

From a physiological point of view woman needs physical exercise asmuch as man. She has the same kind of brain, heart, lungs, stomach andtissues, and these organs in her are just as responsive to exercise asin men. Fundamentally both sexes have the same bones and muscles. Theyare much larger, however, in the average male than in the average female.

The average male weighs about one hundred and thirty-five pounds withoutclothes and is about five feet seven inches in height, while the femaleweighs about one hundred and fifteen pounds and is about five feet twoinches in height. The male has broad, square shoulders, the female narrow,sloping ones. The male has a large, muscular chest, broad waist, narrowhips and long and muscular legs, while the female has little muscle inthe chest, a constricted waist, broad hips, short legs and thighs frequentlyweighted with adipose tissue. . . . In point of strength the female isonly about one-half as strong as the male. . . .

I have no hesitation in saying that there is no athletic sport or gamein which some women cannot enter, not only without fear of injury but alsowith great prospects of success. In nearly every instance, however, itwill be found that the women who are able to excel in the rougher and moremasculine sports have either inherited or acquired masculine characteristics.This must necessarily be so, since it is only by taking on masculine attributesthat success in certain forms of athletics can be worn. For instance, .. . [s]he could not hope to succeed in rowing or in handling heavy weightswithout broadening the waist and shoulders and strengthening the musclesof the back and abdomen. . . .

. . . Nor do the limitations which I have mentioned apply to young girlsfrom ten to fifteen years of age, who, if properly trained, will oftensurpass boys of the same age in any kind of game or athletic performance.But it is at these ages thatgirls have neat, trim and boyish figures. Ifgirls received the same kind of physical training as boys throughout theirgrowing and developing period they could make a much more creditable showingas athletes when they become adult women. The interesting question is.Would such girls become more womanly women, and the boys more manly men?. . .

"There are no sports that tend to make women masculine in an objectionablesense except boxing, baseball, wrestling, basket-ball, ice hockey, waterpolo and Rugby football. These sports are thought better adapted to menthan to women, because they are so rough and strenous . . .

Physically all forms of athletic sports and most physical exercisestend to make women's figures more masculine, inasmuch as they tend to broadenthe shoulders, deepen the chest, narrow the hips, and develop the musclesof the arms, back and legs, which are masculine characteristics. Some exercises,like bowling, tennis, fencing, hurdling and swimming, tend to broaden thehips, which is a feminine characteristic....

Just how all-round athletics tend to modify woman's form may be judgedby comparing the conventional with the athletic type of woman. The conventionalwoman has a narrow waist, broad and massive hips and large thighs. In theathletic type of woman sex characteristics are less accentuated, and thereis a suggestion of reserve power in both trunk and limbs. Even the mentaland moral qualities that accompany the development of such a figure arelargely masculine . . .

. . . Women as a class cannot stand a prolonged mental or physical strainas well as men. . . . Give women frequent intervals of rest and relaxationand they will often accomplish as much in twenty-four hours as men accomplish.. . . I have arranged the schedule of work at both the winter and summerNormal Schools at Cambridge so that periods of mental and physicalactivity follow each other alternately, and both are interspersed withfrequent intervals of rest.

The modifications that I would suggest in men's athletics so as to adaptthem to women are as follows: Reduce the time of playing in all games andlengthen the periods of rest between the halves. Reduce the heights ofhigh and low hurdles and lessen the distance between them. Lessen the weightof the shot and hammer and sall other heavy-weight appliances. Inheavy gymnastics have bars, horses, swings, ladders, etc., adjustable sothat they may be easily adapted to the requirements of women. In basket-ball,a favorite game with women and girls, divide the field of play into threeequal parts by lines, and insist upon the players confining themselvesto the space prescribed for them. This insures that everyone shall be inthe game, and prevents some players from exhausting themselves. . . .

I am often asked; "Are girls overdoing athletics at school and college?"I have no hesitation in saying that in many of the schools where basket-ballis being played according to rules for boyes many girls are injuring themselvesin playing this game.

The numerous reports of these girls breaking down with heart troubleor a nervous collapse are mostly too well founded. . . . These instancesgenerally occur in schools or colleges where efforts are made to arouseinterest in athletics by arranging matches between rival teams, clubs andinstitutions, and appealing to school pride. . . . The individual is notonly forced to do her best, but to do even better than her best, thoughshe breaks down in her efforts to surpass her previous records.

There will be little honor or glory in winning a race, playing a game,or doing a "stunt" which every other girl could do. It is in the attemptto win distinction by doing something that others cannot do that the girlwho is over-zealous or too ambitious is likely to do herself an injury.For this reason girls who are ambitious to enter athletic contests shouldbe carefully examined and selected by a physician or trained woman expert....