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Old 06-23-2012, 08:00 AM   #4
CherylNYC
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Before Title IX, girls in my school could either be cheerleaders or play field hockey. We also had a strange thing called 'Red and Blue', (school colours), which was some sort of thing where the participating girls were divided up into competing teams where they were graded in weird, non-sporty events. That's what passed for girl's sports. I'm not making this up! Besides cheerleading, field hockey and Red and Blue, there was no other funding for girl's sports.

A few other bold girls and I ran on 'the track team'. That is, the boy's track team. It was the only team, and I was fast enough to compete. All eyes were on me all the time, which was especially harsh for me while my body was changing and I was having trouble handling an ever increasing level of unwanted sexual attention from men. As bad as that was, it was worse to be so unsettled about how to handle my level of competitiveness. When I beat boys, they were subject to extreme shaming. If I didn't, I proved what all the boys thought, which was that I didn't really belong there. It was excruciating, but I stuck with it. I loved the feeling of physical power, and I really loved to run and win, but I hated the pressure. Interestingly, I didn't even know I was under pressure. It's just what my life looked like. Young people often don't know that the trials they're experiencing are unusual. They accept the situation as given. I certainly did.

Because of Title IX, we suddenly had a girl's track team. It was awesome! I found myself competing against my peers, not testosterone driven, somewhat menacing creatures who were rapidly growing to be twice my size. I could relax into a supportive, relatively fair competitive environment. I was welcome to be there! I never stopped feeling relieved about that.

I found out some time ago that one of my HS records was retired unbroken when the event was changed to a different length.
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