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The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

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Consider school sports teams. We still have men’s basketball and women’s<br />

basketball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer, men’s volleyball and<br />

women’s volleyball, and so on. Women rarely get <strong>to</strong> wrestle, and almost<br />

never get <strong>to</strong> play football. Can this be justified rationally? It might be said<br />

that women are on average weaker than men. But, Socrates would say, so<br />

what? <strong>The</strong> strength of the average man or woman is irrelevant. What<br />

matters is even matching. A tall brawny woman is likely <strong>to</strong> be a better<br />

basketball player than a short flabby man. <strong>The</strong> idea wouldn’t necessarily be<br />

<strong>to</strong> have the best women players play with the best men players. <strong>The</strong> idea<br />

would be for the best players <strong>to</strong> play <strong>to</strong>gether, the mediocre players <strong>to</strong> play<br />

<strong>to</strong>gether, and the poor players <strong>to</strong> play <strong>to</strong>gether. If all the players on a given<br />

team were women, or were white, or what have you, it wouldn’t matter. <strong>The</strong><br />

point would be even matching, not forced integration. Is there a good reason<br />

not <strong>to</strong> continue the sexual revolution and achieve equal treatment in school<br />

sports?

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