Should females be allowed to play on men's sports teams?

Yes. It should be determined by skill, not gender.

I think it should depend on the individual's desire. How can they improve their skills, if not allowed to play sports like rugby or the like? Where we live, there is a wrestling program that is co-ed and one of my nieces did quiet well for her age group.

No matter how good the female is, the answer is no. Have you ever been in a locker room full of Jockish guys? If so, you know why I say no. But wait, you seem to have a solution to that problem, how about we give the girl her own dressing room? Still no, that would make her an outsider and divide the team. Just isn't a good idea, she'd end up getting raped or something.

Desire is too nebulous. I have a desire to play the piano, but that doesn't mean I'll ever reach any skill level for professional playing or to complete in any way.

Not all guys are jockish, or in their prime if they have been jocks. Some females are very capable. I think it depends on the situation, and there doesn't seem to be a place in the poll for that.

No. Not unless males are allowed to play on women's sports teams or you make all sports a unisex activity. If you do that my guess is the average woman athlete would go the way of the dinosaur and not have an outlet to compete in her sport of interest.

Are we talking about:

Pro sports?

College teams?

High school teams?

Local and corporate teams?

In the case of pro teams, I would say, "no". I agree with Cereal Killer that a lot of women would not compete if they had to compete with men.

I do think though, that on local or corporate teams, where no one is an ace athlete, there would be no problem with women and men on one team.

Hmmm.. IMO, if it's a "male sports team" the answer is no. Seems pretty obvious. If a team has women on it it isn't a "male" team.

But if a woman can compete at the same level as her male counterparts why shouldn't they be able to be on the same team?

The idea of changing the rules of a sport to make women more competitive seems a bit over the top though.

I agree in theory that a team should consist of the best players, irrespective of gender.

However, in many sports of strength & speed, men perform better than women, and it is unlikely (although not impossible) that a woman would be good enough to take a place in a men's team.

If all teams were mixed, then this would mean that women would not get to take part in these events at all, and therefore having seperate women's events/matches makes more sense.

I also agree with Phoenix that at lower levels, it doesn't matter as much. I play mixed doubles badminton, and my female partner (and some female opponents) are better than me - not as much power but more nimble and with better shot selection.

I don't think females should be allowed to play on men's sports teams simply because I believe that it wouldn't be equality, but completely opposite of that.

I wrote that once on another topic, however I can't find it at the moment - look on that from this point of view: there is female competition and there is male competition; if female is allowed to compete in male competition then only logic and fair decision would be that male can compete in female competition too.
If Miss Janice Smith should be allowed to play in NBA if she is good enough, then why shouldn't Mr. John Smith be allowed to play in WNBA if his dream is to be professional basketball player but is not good enough for NBA? But, he is more then capable to play in WNBA?

And if we do that - as Cereal said - soon enough female sport will disappear. Or you will have 1 female athlete on 1.000 male athletes.

I was practicing some track&field and my best result is far from those of top males, however, I would grab a medal in women sprint on this summer Olympics.

Of course I also agree with Phoenix about lower levels.

I would make one exception however. If there is any sport WITHOUT professional competition for females, then eventual exceptionally good female athlete should be allowed. I don't know if there is female american football in USA? If there is not, then it's different story - if women capable of playing in NFL appears and team wants to sign her, well, that's different story. But, ONLY if there is no female american football teams.

I may be mistaken, but I think there's a woman kicker for one of the teams.

I think it also depends on the sport.. as in the badminton example.

In basketball, even though some positions utilize finesse and brains over brawn and height, a certain amount of brawn is neccessary to sustain life on the court at the higher levels of the game. Still, I remember some great "short" male point guards.. back at my university, UCLA, and then later in the pros, and so I can imagine a pickup game at Venice Beach - for example, one of those for players "under six feet" - could work out with a sharp swift woman.. in fact there used to be one who "held the court" pretty well.

it depends on what you mean by "play"!

lol! In the debate, i am on the 'pro' side, so of course i think yes...in most situations. if there are already sports teams for women, and the women are at the skill level that the team is looking for, then they should play on the womans team's. but if they are better than the rest of the women, then how can they form a team? it would just be plain logic then that the woman would go to the men's team of her skill level. right...?

In my high school (a couple decades ago), the hocky team (there was only a boys' hocky team) had a female goalie. She was the best goalie they'd ever had.

I agree with Phoenix on this one.

Corporate teams, family teams, children teams (if there are not enough children from a gender to make a league) should be mixed.

On competitive sport, it's another matter.

If some women are much better than their female counterparts, and better than most professional men, let them excell absolutely among women.

As for the female football kicker Cicerone talks about, I think she played in a College team, filed a sexual harassment complaint and (I think) got the chauvinist pig coach fired.

If you think that age is a factor in co-ed teams, then what would the maximum age to be in co-ed teams be? 10? 13? 15?