I think maybe it’s because it happened in my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, that this story caught my eye. But it also gives me a chance to explain how I feel about some gender issues.
Joel Northrup is a High School wrestler who is good enough to be participating in the Iowa State Championships, representing Linn-Mar High. He forfeited his very first match (which doesn’t knock him out of the tournament, but it pretty much destroys any shot at a medal) because he refused to wrestle against a girl. Cassy Herkleman, of Cedar Falls, won the match by default. There is another girl in the tournament, Megan Black, who lost her opening match.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times,” Northrup said in a written statement. “As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”
This, on the other hand, I'm all for
I find myself agreeing with Joel. I think women should be more engaged, and more represented, in politics, business, literature and the arts, economics and pretty much any field other than physical contact sports. Chess, sure. Why not? Golf, Tennis, even Volleyball, O.K., Basketball, probably not. Swimming yes, Water Polo no. Boxing, no, no, no. I really didn’t like Million Dollar Baby and she was just fighting against other women. Boxing, Wrestling and other sports where people press up against each other physically and try to knock the other person down (Oh, yeah, add ice hockey to that list) are basically ritualized fighting.
I think it’s a good thing that these sports exist. Thousands of fans get liquored up and cheer themselves hoarse which is much better than just going to a bar and punching somebody. The Olympics does give nations a chance to compete with each other, to gain honor and glory, without going to war.
But the idea of women being involved in these sports strikes me as kind of gross. Especially wrestling, with all the crotch grabbing and stuff. In a way, it also seems to me that it might encourage domestic violence.
If the feminists out there among my readers disagree, I’d love to hear your comments.
www.gurukalehuru.com 
I, too, being from Des Moines, Iowa find this State confusing at times as I read in the news and on TV. They are very Republican and conservative, but have legalized gay marriage and endorsed Obama first. I guess it has changed since I moved away 39 years ago !!!! I agree males and females should not wrestle or do other physical strength sports against each other simply because men have the testosterone..muscle mass..weight advantage, plus the chauvinistic bent and ego to win at any cost. Wrestling is one sport where such violent physical contact could do serious damage to women….some areas of bruising injuries have been tied to cancers, etc…so I have read. Anyway, I actually feel very strongly that ALL academic and sports activities should segregate men and women starting in Junior High simply because they could focus more on the activity than on attracting, dealing, avoiding the opposite sex which is a strong distraction to learning. Of Course some academic, music, arts competitions, etc., could be co-ed. Just my opinion. I also think school uniforms would ease a lot of social and financial stress on students and families. I am 61 and I have seen the outcome of the last 50 years of ‘progress’ in women’s issues…..not a good outcome for many of their kids and families. Competition and expectations of ‘equality’ placed upon women and mothers often leaves the children at home, alone, lonely, confused, and caught between two ‘high achievers’ who do not see their own children’s needs due to all the stress society demands of parents and kids.
With saying you are from Des Moines I would think you would be a little more educated on the sport. To sit and call it violent crotch grabbing and that it is an opportunity for thousands of drunk fans to get drunk completely misses the point of the sport and makes you sound like a moron. It is sport, it doesn’t matter who is across from you, be that male, female, black, white, jew, muslim, etc. I have wrestled my whole life at every level of the sport and never has it encouraged violence against women (or anyone for that matter) or this perverted illicit sexual behavior that is rampant in your piece. If it is outside of Mr. Northrup’s conscience and religion to “engage women in this manner” since he thinks wrestling is so violent, shouldn’t it be the same to engage men in this way also? Why is it that people can slap the religious excuse on something and not have to account for any of it? This is a very selfish and unfortunate incident that is so many ways of wrong and will have so many consequences. Why don’t you educate yourself before throwing out such truly false and borderline sexist and homophobic speech. You obviously know very little about wrestling, why would you feel the need to comment on it?
Maybe he was afraid she’d beat him
Just a wave from a Wonkette reader (and feminist) — to me, feminism is about defending people’s right to choose on all sorts of fronts. This case is a puzzle to me, bc I totally support women doing wrestling, judo, etc., but I also really respect the young man’s choice. I think we’re too quick (pls don’t mind the broad “we” here as I try to get my ideas together) to assume men don’t give a darn about privacy or modesty when in fact, some of them really do.
So while I think maybe Jean should go study up on the impact on the family of men leaving the home to seek industry jobs, I think JB maybe judges young Mr. Northrup a bit harshly. If the young man wants to limit any sniffing of opposite-sex crotches (and yes I’ve been to real wrestling matches, not just the stunt stuff) to non-competitive personal relationships, good for him.
Who knows…
As a judo brown belt, I tend to go with the view that females should wrestle with females, and males with males. But what if a female absolutely insists on her right to combat a male in competiton?
When my sister was an active participant in judo she freely admitted that she and her female opponents “get into some naughty positions”. These moves could be misconstrued by those who witness a female versus male contest.