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JRut,
On one level I sympathize with your feelings regarding the responses to your posts in this thread. Since I do not know you, I must take you at your word when you make repeated claims, both expressed and implied, that you had no agenda when posing the questions you did in your initial post. I think that, if taken in the right spirit by all interested parties, that such questions may yield fruitful discussion.
It strikes me as disingenuous of you, however, to respond with such shock and dismay when people become defensive when such questions are posed in that manner. Being a college women's official yourself, you have been around enough high-quality women's officials to know that, while questions such as yours may be important--or at least interesting--they need to be asked with care. Certainly, in a perfect world, there would be no pattern of discrimination against women that would cause defensive and sometimes even irrational reactions to questions such as yours. But to expect otherwise is to ignore history.
At 26, I have decided to throw my hat into the men's ring and see where the chips fall. One of the people whose counsel I have sought several times over the last year is a women's NCAA official. He started out in the men's game, and switched almost exclusively to the women's game about six years ago. His advice has been invaluable to me, and I am very grateful to him for the time and effort he has spent to help me. Part of my appreciation for him manifests itself in the fact that I would never ask him, "Are men's officials better than women's?" (I apologize if I did not get your phrasing exactly right) Instead, I might ask him, "What, if anything, do you think are some things that officials do better in the women's game, and do you think that there's anything in your game that might better be done like the men's game prescribes?" Now, my friend might not take offense to the former phrasing of the question, but I couldn't possibly imagine him being offended by the latter form.
All of that said, I did think that some of the attacks on you were unjustified, and you certainly parried most of them admirably. My hope (boy, this statement is going to seem loaded) is that women's officials can be secure enough in themselves and the game that they enjoy (watching and officiating) that they can give the Ruts of the world the benefit of the doubt when they do ask questions like these; and, rather than go on the immediate attack, politely suggest alternative forms of the question, then following up with an honest and thoughtful response.
jb
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