Soccer girls: "As capable and as tough as any boy..."

Janelle’s father was concerned, too, but a bit more philosophical. Title IX, the federal law enacted in 1972 mandating equal opportunity in sports, has helped to shape a couple of generations of girls who believe they are as capable and as tough as any boy. With a mix of resignation and pride, Rich Pierson said to me: “We’ve raised these girls to be headstrong and independent. That’s Janelle.” -"The Uneven Playing Field," New York Times Magazine, May 11, 2008.

(Tim, w/thanks to Lucas & Jeff) If you don't love motherhood, how will you raise your daughter? Will she be a doctor? Lawyer? Do neuroscience research? Take over your family business? Go to seminary? Be a vet?

If you don't protect your daughter, how many of her little babies will she murder before she decides childbirth won't intrude on her career?

If you want your daughter to be aggressive and physical, how many ACL repairs will she have before she finds out she's got a woman's joints--not a man's? And that still, at this late date, sex makes all the difference...

Read the book,Warrior Girls: Protecting Our Daughters Against the Injury Epidemic in Women's Sports.

We're a nation of fools, calling man "woman" and woman "man."

Girls and boys diverge in their physical abilities as they enter puberty and move through adolescence. Higher levels of testosterone allow boys to add muscle and, even without much effort on their part, get stronger. In turn, they become less flexible. Girls, as their estrogen levels increase, tend to add fat rather than muscle. They must train rigorously to get significantly stronger. The influence of estrogen makes girls’ ligaments lax, and they outperform boys in tests of overall body flexibility — a performance advantage in many sports, but also an injury risk when not accompanied by sufficient muscle to keep joints in stable, safe positions. Girls tend to run differently than boys — in a less-flexed, more-upright posture — which may put them at greater risk when changing directions and landing from jumps. Because of their wider hips, they are more likely to be knock-kneed — yet another suspected risk factor.

Comments

[Megan]

Are you saying that if your daughter grows up and becomes a vet,then her mother didn't love motherhood enough? Please correct me if I have misinterpreted your comment. If I read it correctly, then I assume you are trying to get a reaction.

[Tim Bayly]

Megan, my omnicompetent wife and I raised our daughters to strive to be godly wives and mothers. We also told them that if they chose to be a lawyer, we'd support them in that choice, but that they couldn't be a lawyer and a mother, too. It was one or the other. Motherhood is a jealous profession that will brook no competitors.

Now of course, divorce, disability, or death could force a godly mother into the full-time work force while she still had children needing care, but there are all kinds of exceptions to the rule in the lives of the people of God that need to be met with faith and wisdom. Nevertheless, we cannot allow ourselves to give in to the morbid modern habit of sacrificing the normal to the abnormal.

As for my writing for a reaction, yes and always. I'm a shepherd and I write as a function of my calling, to guard God's flock from the Evil One who roams and prowls like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It's always my intent to write in such a way as to encourage the godly to continue to live by faith, and the backslidden to repent, and the ungodly to hear my snarls and think twice about continuing to attack the flock I care for.