Answers to Barjor's Post on Competitiveness

[minnathered]

Why is "competitive" a bad word for many people?  Some of it is cultural/family conditioning, especially for women who came of age before or during the early years of Title IX.  Women were supposed to be "cooperative" not "competitive" and competitive was often seen as a synonym for the lady's nightmare epithet of "aggressive."

Should everyone be

Comments

[borderpap]

I was thinking about the impact of title IX on agility, as I think I am of that age (first generation) to have benefited from title IX. I know that I have had conversations about WNBA and how those women are really the product of Title IX, and how cool is that?

I really wonder if there is a correlation between those who competed in sports in grade/high school and those that consider themselves "competitive".

All very interesting stuff!

I hope that you don't feel pressure to compete with Rory, but enjoy your time with her.

[minnathered]

I think you are about a decade younger than I am, so my guess is that Title IX was more real (and some of the lawsuits had been resolved) for you since I think it passed in 1972 and was fleshed out around '75 or '76. My parents were much older than the parents of most of my classmates, so my family upbringing may have tended toward that of an earlier generation in terms of male/female behavior. Yes, they were highly in favor of my studying engineering, but they were also oddly conflicted on their kids excelling at things. We were expected to do very well in school but also reminded early & often that we were nothing special