# Why are competitions separated by gender? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Yo-Yo\ **Created:** [June 18, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089 "2019-06-18T03:43:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pep65](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/pep65/32/54510_2.png) [@pep65](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/pep65)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/21 "2019-06-18T20:43:26Z")
> [@zslane](#): > > The universe laughs at our futile attempts to force half our species to sublimate Turn directly into a gas ? ---
**Author:** ![zslane](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zslane/32/19816_2.png) [@zslane](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/zslane)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/22 "2019-06-18T20:48:10Z")
More like the very first definition that comes up when you type the word into google: > 1. (in psychoanalytic theory) divert or modify (an instinctual impulse) into a culturally higher or socially more acceptable activity. > “libido must be sublimated into productive work activities” ---
**Author:** ![pep65](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/pep65/32/54510_2.png) [@pep65](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/pep65)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/23 "2019-06-18T20:54:03Z")
Wow its almost like another language, psychoan… When did this new world happen ? Whats happened to chemistry has it been hijacked ? ---
**Author:** ![zslane](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zslane/32/19816_2.png) [@zslane](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/zslane)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/24 "2019-06-18T21:10:02Z")
I think words can have many meanings. Look up the word “play”. ---
**Author:** ![smileypants707](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/smileypants707/32/19045_2.png) [@smileypants707](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/smileypants707)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/25 "2019-06-18T21:19:26Z")
Ah yes, semantics. 🧐 That’s just _one_ of the _many_ fancy words I know ---
**Author:** ![eternalmetal](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/eternalmetal/32/44877_2.png) [@eternalmetal](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/eternalmetal)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/26 "2019-06-19T14:24:34Z")
I wasn’t suggesting that girls SHOULD hide their gender when joining communities like yoyo, but that I probably would myself. I remember being part of an anime forum ~10 years ago and a few girls did this. The ones that hid it for long enough were treated like “one of the guys” instead of getting e-hit on constantly. Then again this was a more civil and mature community than most to begin with, and you didn’t have the amount of weirdos you would expect on an anime forum. > [@bobafret](#): > > Great description of the problem. Even being overly saccharine helpful is weird. My internal barometer is “would I act like this toward a scruffy little smelly dude?” and if the answer is no, I know I’m letting gender influence my interaction. The example posted suggests real life interactions, and not ones on the net though. You arent going to “have a chance” so to speak on the net, so why even bother with flirting? But irl perhaps you are interested in this girl that has common interests with yours. It’s unfortunate that girls have this experience, but @zslane kind of has a point. Guys are always considering girls as potential partners in all aspects of their life. As a single guy atm this is just how it is. I try to be respectful at all times, but when im interested im going to flirt/make a move. Some social situations are more conducive to attracting partners than others, and id say a hobby meet is a great place to meet someone who has the same interests as yourself. Though I do think there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it, and I try my best not to go about it creep-style. ---
**Author:** ![nicoyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@nicoyo](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/nicoyo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/27 "2022-04-20T20:29:49Z")
I find various issues with your comment. > [@andy569](#): > > For whatever reason females just aren’t nearly as interested in many hobbies or activities as males. Hobbies and online communities are filled with women writing, drawing, cosplaying, discussing, etc. Women play volleyball, tennis, soccer, what you say here just isn’t true. I must assume you’re specifically talking about the topics you just mentioned then, though then I still don’t understand why you would make such generalizing statements. Perhaps it’s worth considering whether such assumptions like the ones made in this comment play a role in these activities being dominated by men. The same thing goes the other way: we should consider why eg. there are less men in ballet. Is it truly due to interest, as you say, or are there underlying social pressures and expectations set upon children from a young age onwards? Is it a mix of both? We have to be very careful making generalizing statements. ---
**Author:** ![yyfben2.deactivated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@yyfben2.deactivated](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/yyfben2.deactivated)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/28 "2022-04-20T20:32:45Z")
three years… that’s a well thought out response. ---
**Author:** ![zslane](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zslane/32/19816_2.png) [@zslane](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/zslane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/29 "2022-04-20T20:52:09Z")
> [@nicoyo](#): > > Is it truly due to interest, as you say, or are there underlying social pressures and expectations set upon children from a young age onwards? Is it a mix of both? A mix of numerous social and cultural factors to be sure. The participation gap between men and women in many areas of life is not a reflection of what _should be_, only a reflection of what _is_. The question is, how does any hobby make itself appealing to girls without losing boys in the process? You gotta get to them when they’re young, when social pressures and expectations haven’t thoroughly filtered and calcified their interests. Given that yoyo companies haven’t really done much to attract new blood in general, the question of how to do a better job of attracting girls in particular seems somewhat besides the point. ---
**Author:** ![Roman\_Soup](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/roman_soup/32/173217_2.png) [@Roman\_Soup](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Roman_Soup)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/33 "2022-04-20T23:52:30Z")
This is the correct answer… ![Screenshot_20220420-175024_Chrome](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/uploads/yoyoexpert1/original/4X/5/2/b/52b2df58e1a6996883401956c9f8cc60058608a1.jpeg) Regardless of what you post in this thread… you are wrong, or maybe right, it depends who reads it. 🤷 Everyone is an individual and feels differently on the subject. There is no “one size fits all.” ---
**Author:** ![zslane](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zslane/32/19816_2.png) [@zslane](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/zslane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/35 "2022-04-21T00:34:04Z")
I kinda see this subject as part of the broader subject of how do we get yoyoing to be more popular overall? How do we induce a new yoyo boom? ---
**Author:** ![vegabomb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/vegabomb/32/199_2.png) [@vegabomb](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/vegabomb)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 12:47am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/37 "2022-04-21T00:47:02Z")
> [@zslane](#): > > I kinda see this subject as part of the broader subject of how do we get yoyoing to be more popular overall? Really? The title of the thread is “Why are competitions separated by gender?”. I don’t think the two intersect at all. ---
**Author:** ![zslane](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zslane/32/19816_2.png) [@zslane](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/zslane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/38 "2022-04-21T00:55:18Z")
Competitions are separated by gender because of the participation gap. The only way to meaningfully increase the participation gap is to figure out how to make yoyoing more popular in general, and then worry about whatever special efforts might be required to make it appeal to girls. It may turn out that nothing special is required at all, but I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure until the general effort is made first (and made with girls in mind from the start). ---
**Author:** ![vegabomb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/vegabomb/32/199_2.png) [@vegabomb](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/vegabomb)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/39 "2022-04-21T01:04:25Z")
> [@zslane](#): > > Competitions are separated by gender because of the participation gap. That doesn’t make sense in my head. It seems to me that that would have the opposite effect. The participation gap is way more boys and way less girls. The easy fix is have them all participate together. ---
**Author:** ![zslane](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/zslane/32/19816_2.png) [@zslane](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/zslane)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/40 "2022-04-21T01:54:52Z")
Exactly. It is precisely because the participation gap is so huge between genders that you have so few top female achievers (when you mix genders together). Consequently, if you combined both genders and made them compete against each other, it would be an incredibly rare event for a female to reach the podium. To compensate for this, events are split between genders in order to allow females to reach top ranking in something. It is the same problem as in chess and events like it (go, shogi, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![vegabomb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/vegabomb/32/199_2.png) [@vegabomb](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/vegabomb)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 1:59am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/41 "2022-04-21T01:59:44Z")
That makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![stephencaplanis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/stephencaplanis/32/250916_2.png) [@stephencaplanis](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/stephencaplanis)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 2:52am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/42 "2022-04-21T02:52:31Z")
I would say there has to be a big movement to stop insecure men from gatekeeping the hobby from women. I think its slowly happening with things like gaming but there needs to be a conscious effort not to allow any gender discrimination in the hobby in order for women and others to want to participate with men. I am sure many people know the treatment that women in gaming get a lot of the time, whether it be trash talk or creepy comments, etc, and all of those things contribute to less women in the hobby. If we want more women in the hobby there needs to be a real effort for inclusivity by everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Bobparty](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/bobparty/32/302913_2.png) [@Bobparty](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/Bobparty)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089/43 "2022-04-21T03:22:03Z")
Lmao, it was a reply to someone that screwed up and ended up as a normal “thread” reply so I deleted it [Previous page](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/why-are-competitions-separated-by-gender/304089.md?page=1)