Thanks. I don’t disagree with you about that the impact of

men in women’s sports is likely low, and that we tend to focus on the shiny stories about certain men who weren’t competitive in the men’s division all of a sudden becoming world-beaters in the women’s division. However I still hold that in general it’s an unfair practice, but agree it’s not a ubiquitous phenomenon.

On the gender pay gap, I agree that was just one of your points but it did strike a chord. I appreciate you sharing the link, but unless I’m missing something (which is entirely possible as I’ve been up for 26 hours and read it on my phone), that study suffers from the same issues I laid out in my previous post. I clicked on their link about how they came up with the 18 cent difference, and it seems they just looked at the median earnings between men and women. That again doesn’t take into account personal choices. They did survey individuals about their perception on why there is a difference, but people’s feelings about the reasons don’t change the data or personal decisions which would account for the main differences. I do agree that historically women have been discouraged from pursuing the more high-paying STEM jobs, which may be the point you’re making and would be a large factor in the difference in median income. But a broader discussion (and maybe not one for now) is that men and women are inherently different. Why do women (generally) choose more interpersonal jobs like nursing, education, social work, etc that pay less? Why are women more likely to choose to leave the workforce for longer periods to care for their children? Why are men more willing to relocate for work and take more dangerous (and high-paying) jobs? I don’t pretend to know the answers, but I’ll dig up that Scandinavian study I referenced below where these choices are apparent. Is it society causing this or something more inherent in the differences between men and women? These are questions i can’t answer but i also don’t want to run to the conclusion that it’s all somehow sexism. I also acknowledge that some of these generalizations may piss people off back here, but it’s backed up by data that there are far more men in these particular fields. So apologies in advance haha.

Anyway, I appreciate the volley on this but I’m about to crash so may not respond for a while. Have a good evening.