LAX

That's the abbreviation for lacrosse. Tonight Ya-Ya's team played next to a team of boys, same age, same skill level. Yet, while the girls were equipped with goggles and mouth guards, the boys were OUTFITTED with full pads, gloves, guards, helmets, they looked like little storm troopers for Christ's sake. So, I watched the practice and I noticed that while the girls were running and leap frogging and standing in line waiting their turn to throw the ball into the goal, the boys were full throttle scrimmaging. While the girl's coaches were fiddling with the nets on the walls, the boys coaches were in their asses telling them to go faster, better, harder. (well, that statement could sure be misconstrued out of context)

After the practice, we hung around for a few minutes. There was a professional lacrosse player there practicing with his coach. I whispered in the ears of Ya-Ya and her friend, "If you're really on the ball, you'll watch what he does and memorize it."
"Oh we can't do that," said Ya-Ya's friend. "We're not allowed to play like the boys."
"Why not?" I asked in abject amazement.
"Because those are the rules. We're not allowed to play rough."
Mind you, this is the town sponsored, nationally recognized lacrosse league.

The girls don't get the proper equipment because they play gentler. They play gentler because they are told to do so by the adults running the game. There are literally two sets of rules, girl rules and boy rules. And I'm not really ok with that.

There are two sets of standards in the Corps as well, or at least there used to be. The argument was that men's bodies are better equipped for physical exertion than women's, so during Physical Fitness Tests, women's run time standards were slower. Women were allowed to do a flexed arm hang rather than pullups and less situps in the given time. And even though those lower standards made life easier for me, they smacked of danger because we would all go to the same battlefield and dodge the same bullets.

This whole boy/girl lacrosse thing reminds me of that double standard, made for whatever lame ass reason, but leaving girls back in the dirt. Now, you won't find me preaching feminism on anyone's soapbox. I love, no, I CELEBRATE the differences between a man and a woman. But, I believed then and I believe now that if a woman wants to be a Marine, she should be held to the same standard as a male Marine. And if my daughter wants to play lacrosse, she should be allowed to play the game, the way it was written, balls to the wall just like any of the boys. And if she can't hang, she can't hang. But she should at least be allowed to try.