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From: sharring@cs.tamu.EDU (Steven L Harrington)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: sexism (against women)
Message-ID: <13379@helios.TAMU.EDU>
Date: 19 Mar 91 17:53:59 GMT
References: <561@clbull.cl.bull.fr>
Organization: Computer Science Department, Texas A&M University
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In article <561@clbull.cl.bull.fr> rao@cl.bull.fr (Srinivasam Rao) writes:
[regarding the ongoing discussion on differences in the brain
structure of women and men]

>I would like to ask one question in this context.  Why don't the members
>of the "weaker" sex prove themselves by competing with men in the World
>Chess Championship and becoming the world champion.  Atleast here, they
>cannot claim any disadvantage of physical or mental "weakness", can they ?
>It will be a good point to prove the world that women also have mental
>prowess equal to men as they are proving in other fields.  Any takers ?
>
>cheers from yet another  MCP.

I'm a master in the U.S. Chess Federation and I have played chess for
about 12 years. Having said that, let me explain why there has never
been a female world chess champ. It's basically a matter of numbers;
many more men play chess than women. Why? Well, once again it is
probably because of societal pressures which "say" that men are more
fit for math, science, chess, etc. This serves to drive young girls
away from such interests and pursuits.

Recent sucesses by the now famous (Hungarian) Polgar sisters have
provided further evidence of the fallacy of this thinking. Judit
Polgar, the youngest of the three, is on pace to break Bobby
Fischer's record for the youngest *person* to receive the Grandmaster
title. Even in the historical record, there is evidence that women
had the capacity to be very strong chess players. For more information
refer to the chess career in the early-mid 20th century of Vera Menchik.

The odds are certainly against a female world champ in the near future,
mainly because there are fewer women who play. Hopefully this will
change if/when society quits driving females (and males) into
stereotypical pursuits.

Unfortunately, the attitude expressed above has been expressed by male
World champs such as Bobby Fischer and even Garri Kasparov. The ultimate
silencing of these critics would indeed be a female champ. The Polgars'
example of refusing to play in women's tournaments is a good one; it
is simply absurd to separate the sexes in a sport that is 90% mental.


---Steve Harrington