Women and Athletics.

Southland Times, Issue 19197, 7 November 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

Women and Athletics.

IS CYCLINC' (.'OOD FOX WOMEN ? A SCIENTIST SAYS -' NO." Commenting upon Air II B. Mar-riott-Watson's pronouncement Uiat women by indulging overmuch in athletics are lc«iii£ their beauty, Dr William Henry, D.Sc, writes :— I quite agree with what Mr H. 13. Mucriott-Wutson says, and I especially agree with one of his statements—namely, that " bicycling is not a suitable exercise for women." I myself, iv my writings, have been saying the same thing for years. What surprises mo is that the medical faculty does not say it. 'They kiiow perfectly well that the wheel is playing havoc with the female sex — they know it not only theoretically but practically- Why don't they speak out ? , " Biking " is one reason why women nowadays are so delicient in bust development, and it is a prolific cause of their being thick-aulded. Nor is this form of exercise good for men even, since it leads to stooping and necessitate a forward position of the arms, both of which are obviously bad for the chest. In short, bicycling is a very great cvil — one which Dr Oxygen cannot counteract with his vital elixir. And 1 am sure that many a parent will back mo up in my statements. AN OPPOSITE VIEW. Another correspondent contests Mr Marriott-Watson's conclusions. lie says :— With regard to Mr Marriott-Wat son's remarks on physical exercise and training producing "flat-chested and colourless women, wried and atrophied by rough wear and unseemly habits," I, as an observer of both sexes, strongly refute this assertion. The effect such training has produced on the women of England has been such as to render them tall, well-built, and altogether of an imposing figure, which makes (I regret to have to make the statement) the majority of men look absurdly in«ignilicant and diminutive. Possibly the early smoking of our youths has had something to do with this. Would the writer prefer women of the early Victorian era. who fainted upon the" slightest provocation ? To say the least, it must have been distinctly exciting to have a woman j dropping prostrate into one's arms a dozen times a day. J, for my part, prefer that our women should be more reliant. That in itself renders them mere capable of bringing up their children in the right direction, and it does mot make them one whit less tender and true. It appears to me that the struggle of lilb is now carried on between women and men, instead of only among men, as formerly, and in this race, although heavily handicapped, women will not be beaten, but are coming to the fore. SOME OTHER OPINIONS. An admirer of "the sex" writes : — Though a great lover of athletics myself, I do not believe in them for the softer sex. I believe that any exercise requiring strenuousness (Greek girls danced and played ball) produces a sinewy leanness and tends to dry up those wells of sweet femininity which are so eloquently expressed by a proper development and delightfully ripe plumpness. Now plumpness (not to be confounded with fatness) is in male eyes the most pleasing feature in a wolimit's physical entity. Of the women ! the lean and meagre bear but a small part; and vivacity and wit must be ! great to overcome such defects. '

Continental women, who take little violent exercise, are much better developed than our oiwn. and the same upplies to Jewish girls. With regard to Americans, 1 fancy few will be disposed to agree with jour correspondent, as a large proportion of ■ them are tall, fine, and wetl-djvdop- ( ed women, and 1 think they do rot practise athletics to anything like the same extent as English women. THE MEN BLAMED. I The modern doctor says Ri rls . should skip and play like all \oung tilings, but excessive marching is bad. I know wctnen who cannot walk two or three miles without tferious discomfort, because as growing girls their fathers took them for walk's of ten or fifteen miles, under the impression that they were beneficial. Men foryot that women are physiologically different from men, yet they are always urging them to try the same conditions of existence and then changing their minds. I can remember man adjuring woman to cultivate her intellect instead of being frivolous- Then he ascribed flat chests (which are siinuly a reversion to peasant type and are not necessarily 1 narrow chests) to overstudy, so ho urged woman to share his sports. Now he ascribes the same result to over-athleticism, and advocates women following in the w a ke of their empty-headed, "toasted, and beautiful grandmothers," or the serious middle-class dame of the sumo period. • He professes to admire "womanly women" of a meek and quiet spirit, but having offered his respect he leaves them to become old maids and bestows his love on athletici or f l ivolotis or even studious women. Ts it nothing that athletics have dispersed for ever the "megrims" and the "wantonness" that an old* writer complains of?. But all doctors will tell you that, athletic or not, women are more asexual than men. And I think "Cynic" has transposed cause and effect- It is the dark, sinewy girl, always prone (to her sorrow) to a moustache, who is athletic, not the athletic girl who develops n hairy upper lip. j