Article on females being Athletics – 1912

By Dudley A. Sargent, M.D. (1912)

Are Athletics Making Girls Masculine? A Practical Answer to a Question Every Girl Asks

That there is a change taking place in our American girls and women is unquestioned. And it is so elusive, so baffling of description that it is proving the most attractive of subjects for discussion in the newspaper and magazine. Every journalistic wind that blows either moans or shrieks, according to its source, of feminine activities, and we are forced to listen whether we will or not. Much of the reading matter put forth in certain somewhat sensational papers so utterly disregards truth and reason that we are in danger of half believing that womankind has already become a distorted Amazon creation, to be talked about and wondered at, but no longer to be loved and admired.

What It Is Believed Athletics Are Doing for Girls. There is really nothing in the present state of women’s development, either mental or physical, which calls for the pen of a Jeremiah. As a nation we are probably deteriorating physically, and in enlarging upon this topic the alarmist might find much material to his liking. But this statement applies no more to women than to men, and perhaps not as much. Heretofore women have been more creatures of the kitchen and fireside than of the great outdoors, and the present generation of young women who will become the mothers of the next generation have more muscle and more lung capacity than their own mothers. The growth of athletics for girls is largely responsible for this. Colleges for women have more or less grudgingly made room in their curricula for gymnastics and athletics, and the noncollegiate world has followed suit and made athletic sports accessible to women.

Any one who practices gymnastics or engages in athletics with regularity must find a change in certain organs and muscles of the body: the waist-line is enlarged, the chest expansion is increased, the muscles of the back are strengthened. These are some of the results in both men and women. They are not regarded as alarming as men but when we mention them in connection with our young women we are interpreted as claiming that our girls are becoming masculine.

Many persons honestly believe that athletics are making girls bold, masculine and overassertive; that they are destroying the beautiful lines and curves of her figure, and are robbing her of that charm and elusiveness that has so long characterized the female sex. Others’ including many physicians, incline to the belief that athletics are injurious to the health. This double charge, of course, gives a serious aspect to the whole question, and it should be met.

What Athletics Really Are. Now, what are athletics and how are women affected by them? An athlete is one who contends against another for a victory; athletics are the events in which one contends. A gymnasium is a place for the performance of athletic exercises; a gymnast is a person who trains athletes, and gymnastics are the exercises practiced in the gymnasium for the purpose of putting one’s self in proper condition for competing in the athletic contests. In our times the terms athletics, gymnastics and physical training are often used synonymously, while actually they are not alike and may bring about very different results.

If a schoolgirl practices jumping a bar with other girls, as one of the physical exercises prescribed for general development, she is engaging in gymnastics. It however, the bar is jumped with the purpose of finding out which girl can clear the bar at the greatest height the performance becomes an athletic one. In the first instance the exercise would be undertaken as a means of physical improvement for its own sake. In the second instance, if the spirit of emulation ran high the girls would be engaging in a course of special physical training, not primarily to benefit themselves physically, but for the set purpose of improving their jumping powers so as to vanquish their nearest competitor.

This distinction, that gymnastics are pursued as a means to an end, and athletics as an end in themselves, would apply equally well to such forms of exercise as walking, running, vaulting, swimming and skating, which may be measured in time or space and thus be made competitive. The element of competition and “sport” must, therefore, enter into what we now term athletics.

Athletics for Men and Athletics for Women. All the highly specialized athletic sports and games have been developed to meet the requirements of men, but many of our girls and women have entered into them, and hence the query: “Are our women becoming masculine?” From the biologist’s point of view, men and women, like the males and females of most animals, show by their organization that they have been evolved from a type in which both sexes were combined in the same individual. The separation of the sexes did not destroy this dual nature, as is demonstrated by the development of secondary male characteristics in women in extreme age and of feminine characteristics in aged men. This contention may also be supported by the structure of the body’s tissue cells, the nuclei of which are made up of paternal and maternal parts.

It is in consequence of this dual structure that secondary sexual characters are latent in both males and females, which may make their appearance in abnormal individuals or under certain conditions of habit and surroundings. In the early history of mankind men and women led more nearly the same life, and were therefore more nearly alike physically and mentally than in the subsequent centuries of civilization. This divergence of the sexes is a marked characteristic among highly civilized races. Co- education and participation in occupations and recreations of certain kinds may have a tendency to make the ideals and habits of women approximate those of men in these highly civilized races. But such approximation would not belong to the progressive stages of the evolution of mankind.

Do Women Need As Much Exercise As Men? Such changes would be convergences in structure and character, and while they might lead to what we should now consider an advancement this condition would not in any way alter the fact that the tendency would be for women to become virile and men to become effeminate, and both sexes would approximate each other, which would mean the retrogressive period of the evolution of the sexes. These biological theories, although usually considered in connection with the evils of co-education, are equally applicable to the consideration of the evils which have followed the entrance of women into commercial life, and must follow them into competitive athletics which are regulated according to men’s rules and standards.

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

The average male weighs about one hundred and thirty-five pounds without clothes and is about five feet seven inches in height, while the female weighs about one hundred and fifteen pounds and is about five feet two inches in height. The male has broad, square shoulders, the female narrow, sloping ones. The male has a large, muscular chest, broad waist, narrow hips and long and muscular legs, while the female has little muscle in the chest, a constricted waist, broad hips, short legs and thighs frequently weighted with adipose tissue. The ankles, waist, feet and hands in the male are much larger than those in the female. In point of strength the female is only about one-half as strong as the male; and the average lung capacity of the male is two hundred and forty cubic inches, of the female one hundred and sixty cubic inches. To these average conditions there are, of course, many exceptions.

Acrobats Not Always What They Seem. In speaking of the mental or physical qualities of a man or woman we should bear in mind that each is the product of two factors, male and female. According to the law of chance a son may inherit from one-tenth to nine-tenths of his characteristics through his mother’s side, and a daughter may inherit from one-tenth to nine-tenths of hers through her father’s side, the inheritance from remote ancestry not being taken into consideration. Twenty-five per cent, of men and women, however, will inherit about equally from their fathers and mothers.

It is an interesting fact that most of the famous athletes whom I have examined attributed their great power largely to the fine physiques of their mothers. The mother of Louis Cyr, the strongest man in the world, could readily shoulder a barrel of flour and carry it up several flights of stairs. I have seen one of the scrubwomen who clean the Hemenway Gymnasium at Harvard University put a hundred-pound dumbbell above her head with each hand. Great feats of strength, skill and endurance are frequently performed by women at the circus and the vaudeville theater, and it is well known in the profession that some of the best gymnasts performing in public are women disguised as men. In justice to my sex I should mention the obvious corollary to this fact that many of the best acrobats are men attired as women.

No Athletic Sport Prohibitive to Women. I have no hesitation in saying that there is no athletic sport or game in which some women cannot enter, not only without fear of injury but also with great prospects of success. In nearly every instance, however, it will be found that the women who are able to excel in the rougher and more masculine sports have either inherited or acquired masculine characteristics. This must necessarily be so, since it is only by taking on masculine attributes that success in certain forms of athletics can be won. For instance, a woman could not hope to be successful in the practice of heavy gymnastics where she has to handle her own weight without reducing the girth of her hips and thighs and increasing the development of her arms, chest and upper back. She could not hope to succeed in rowing or in handling heavy weights without broadening the waist and shoulders and strengthening the muscles of the back and abdomen. Her relatively short legs and heavy hips and thighs would handicap her severely in all running, jumping and vaulting contests, and render it practically impossible for her to make records in these events comparable to those made by men.

These athletic limitations do not apply only to women as women, but also to men who have women’s physical characteristics. Nor do the limitations which I have mentioned apply to young girls from ten to fifteen years of age, who, if properly trained, will often surpass boys of the same age in any kind of game or athletic performance. But it is at these ages that girls have neat, trim and boyish figures. If girls received the same kind of physical training as boys throughout their growing and developing period they could make a much more creditable showing as athletes when they become adult women. The interesting question is: Would such girls become more womanly women, and the boys more manly men?

The Best Sports for Girls. The athletics in which girls most frequently indulge are lawn tennis, running, jumping, hurdling, swimming, skating, field hockey, cricket, basket-ball, rowing, canoeing, fencing, archery, bowling, vaulting and certain forms of heavy gymnastics. Some girls also play ice hockey, lacrosse, baseball, polo and association football, while others box and wrestle and play Rugby football just as their brothers do. There is really no such thing as sex in sport, any more than there is sex in education. All sports are indulged in by most men, and most sports are enjoyed by some women.

There are no sports that tend to make women masculine in an objectionable sense except boxing, baseball, wrestling, basket-ball, ice hockey, water polo and Rugby football. These sports are thought better adapted to men than to women, because they are so rough and strenuous. They afford opportunity for violent personal encounter, which is distasteful to many men as well as to most women. That is the real objection to all antagonistic sports, and that is the reason why it Is so difficult for a lady or a gentleman to indulge in them. But we must bear in mind that all athletic sports are of the nature of a contest, and in this very fact lies much of their physical, mental and moral value.

These Make Women More Masculine. Physically all forms of athletic sports and most physical exercises tend to make women’s figures more masculine, inasmuch as they tend to broaden the shoulders, deepen the chest, narrow the hips, and develop the muscles of the arms, back and legs, which are masculine characteristics. Some exercises, like bowling, tennis, fencing, hurdling and swimming ,tend to broaden the hips, which is a feminine characteristic. But archery, skating and canoeing, which are thought to be especially adapted to women, tend to develop respectively broad shoulders, long feet and deep muscular chests, which are essentially masculine; while rowing, which is thought to be the most masculine of all exercises, tends to broaden the hips, narrow the waist, develop the large front and back thighs and give many of the fines of the feminine figure.

Just how all-round athletics tend to modify woman’s form may be judged by comparing the conventional with the athletic type of woman. The conventional woman has a narrow waist, broad and massive hips and large thighs. In the athletic type of woman sex characteristics are less accentuated, and there is a suggestion of reserve power in both trunk and limbs. Even the mental and moral qualities that accompany the development of such a figure are largely masculine, but this is because women have not yet had as many opportunities to exercise them.

Sports Should Be Adapted to Women. Some of the specific mental and physical qualities which are developed by athletics are increased powers of attention, will, concentration, accuracy, alertness, quickness of perception, perseverance, reason, judgment, forbearance, patience, obedience, self-control, loyalty to leaders, self-denial, submergence of self, grace, poise, suppleness, courage, strength and endurance. These qualities are as valuable to women as to men. While there is some danger that women who try to excel in men’s sports may take on more marked masculine characteristics … this danger is greatly lessened if the sports are modified so as to meet their peculiar qualifications as to strength, height, weight, etc. inasmuch as the average woman is inferior to the average man in nearly all physical qualifications, all the apparatus used and the weights lifted, as well as the height and distance to be attained in running, jumping, etc., should be modified to meet her limitations. Considering also the peculiar constitution of her nervous system and the great emotional disturbances to which she is subjected, changes should be made in many of the rules and regulations governing the sports and games for men, to adapt them to the requirements of women.

Modify Men’s Athletics for Women. Any one who has had much experience in teaching or training women must have observed these facts in regard to them: Women as a class cannot stand a prolonged mental or physical strain as well as men. Exact it of them and they will try to do the work, but they will do it at a fearful cost to themselves and eventually to their children. Give women frequent intervals of rest and relaxation and they will often accomplish as much in twentyfour hours as men accomplish. So firmly have I become convinced of this fact that I have arranged the schedule of work at both the winter and summer Normal Schools at Cambridge so that periods of mental and physical activity follow each other alternately, and both are interspersed with frequent intervals of rest.

The modifications that I would suggest in men’s athletics so as to adapt them to women are as follows: Reduce the time of playing in all games and lengthen the periods of rest between the halves. Reduce the heights of high and low hurdles and lessen the distance between them. Lessen the weight of the shot and hammer and all other heavy-weight appliances. In heavy gymnastics have bars, horses, swings, ladders, etc., adjustable so that 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 three equal parts by lines, and insist upon the players confining themselves to the space prescribed for them. This insures that every one shall be in the game, and prevents some players from exhausting themselves. If the field of play is large enough seven or nine players on a side are preferable to the five required by the men’s rules. As the game is played today by men, with only five on a side and without lines, it brings a harder strain on the heart, lungs and nervous system than the game of football does.

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-ball is being played according to rules for boys many girls are injuring themselves in playing this game. The numerous reports of these girls breaking down with heart trouble or a nervous collapse are mostly too well founded. Other instances are recorded where schoolgirls have broken down in training for tennis tournaments, or for running, jumping and swimming contests. These instances generally occur in schools or colleges where efforts are made to arouse interest in athletics by arranging matches between rival teams, clubs and institutions, and appealing to school pride, loyalty, etc., to furnish the driving power. Under the sway of these powerful impulses the individual is not only forced to do her best, but to do even better than her best, though she 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 attempt to win distinction by doing something that others cannot do that the girl who is over-zealous or too ambitious is likely to do herself an injury. For this reason girls who are ambitious to enter athletic contests should be carefully examined and selected by a physician or trained woman expert, and the usual method of trying out unprepared candidates by actual contests in order to determine “the survival of the fittest” should not be allowed.

To Handle a Girl in Athletics. By slow and careful preparation, a girl who is organically sound may be trained to participate safely in almost any form of athletics. But inasmuch as the heart, lungs and other important organs do not attain their full power and development until a girl is about eighteen to twenty years of age no girl should be pushed to her limit in physical or mental effort before that time, if ever.

It is during the youthful period of from ten to fifteen years of age that girls are most susceptible of improvement if judiciously looked after; it is during the same period that they are most likely to be injured if they are not wisely cared for. For this reason every girls’ school where athletics are encouraged should have a special teacher to look after the physical condition of the girls, who should not be left to become victims of their own zeal and the unbridled enthusiasm of a partisan school community.

Parents should insist upon the supervision of the physical as well as the mental training of their girls, especially if the girls are encouraged, through school politics, to engage in athletic contests. Most of the colleges for women have directors of physical training and instructors in athletics and gymnastics whose duty it is to look after the physical condition of the girls and to supervise their athletic sports and games as well as their gymnastic exercises.

It is largely on account of the intelligent supervision of the physical work in the women’s colleges that athletics are less likely to be overdone than in many of the schools for girls where there is little or no supervision, though it is much more necessary than in the colleges.

Cause of Good Health of College Girls. College girls as a class are more matured in judgment and discretion and know better what is best for them than other girls. Most of them have had gymnastics or athletics of some kind in the preparatory schools, which, in addition to vigorous mental and social training, have made habits of right living and obedience to the ordinary laws of hygiene quite necessary to enable the girls to withstand the test of fitting for college.

The good health of college girls as a class is not due so much to their studious life and regular habits of living, as has often been stated, as to their fine physique and good constitutional vigor. In a way they represent the natural correlation between a sound mind and a sound body, and they are the survival of a type from which the weaklings have been weeded out in the elementary and secondary schools. Sometimes these naturally strong and vigorous girls think they can go on working indefinitely with their brains without recreation or physical exercise. They make the fatal mistake of drawing too heavily on their inherited constitutional vigor, without doing anything to add to their capital stock. Sooner or later these girls break down and are out of the race for further honors and preferment. These are the girls whose vital resources the college should try to conserve, for they are going to do the work for which the college stands as soon as they have been graduated.