THE ATHLETIC GIRL.

Northern Advocate, 7 October 1913, Page 6

THE ATHLETIC GIRL.

A London newspaper has opened its correspondence columns to a discussion on the subject of the athletic girl, and the letters which have been published contain some interesting reading matter. Here is what "An American Crack" has to say on the American girls' attitude towards sport: "The ideal American sportswoman is the tidy tennis girl playing doubles with her brother or a man friend. She will rarely be found taking up sports that are not both healthful and picturesque. An attempt was made not long ago to introduce women's" baseball, but the danger in using a hard ball and the questionably graceful act of 'sliding for a base' condemned it completely. Just now canoe-cruising has experienced a boom in the States, and consequently one finds hundreds of couples taking a canoe trip for a honeymoon. The American girl has now grown so fond of summer sports that she is leading the women of other lands in inventing indoor games, and is even playing games throughout the winter. One game in particular, basketball, she has made particularly her own. It allows an oportunity < for the designing and wearing of attractive and dainty frocks, and at the same time is neither too strenuous nor awkward. Indev3d, in many colleges men's and women's basketball games, attended by many thousands of spectators, may be seen alternating on one programme of indoor winter sports." On the other hand, "A Doctor" condemns without measure the arming of the athletic girl. He -writes: "Womanliness and domesticity take flight when the athletic girl is around. The craze for athleticism is simply another phase of woman's desire to 'emancipate' herself. In other words to place herself absolutely on a level with man. She apparently thinks the best way to proclaim her independence of spirit is to be as like a man as possible, so she smokes and strides and indulges in violent exercise, all of which are bad for her constitution and in na way advance her 'cause.' For you cannot get away from Nature, who, in framing woman, saw to it that physically woman must always be inferior to man; consequently in attempting to emulate him the athletic girl puts an undue strain upon her constitution. If women were content with a moderate indulgence in games it would not matter, but they are not. The fact is women are always immoderate, and this craze for games and strenuous exercise is bad in every way—bad for themselves, bad for men, and bad for the citizens of the future."