Can a woman beat a man in swimming?

...there is evidence that boy do feel more comfortable in jammers versus "speedos". In New England, boy participation in HS swim meet increased with the popularity of jammers. When I spoke to several people involved in MA high school swimming they confirmed their belief that jammers made swimming more "comfortable" for boys. Old thread, but I liked it and felt like voicing my opinion for a change. I think this "Speedophobia" has significant bearing on the lower number of boys. Partly b/c Speedo briefs are generally mocked by society at large if seen outside of a swimming pool, and this does have a knock on effect. Europe is not so bad as they tend to have a pretty "laissez faire" attitude to beach life. Indeed much of Europe find clothing a hassle to tanning and provide places for tanning "hassle free." There is of course the motivation that Dad sees the next Nolan Ryan, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretsky, or lately David Beckham when they see their kid play a sport. The power sports seem to generate a greater feeling of braggability to the narrow minded. Thus many athletes are shepherded away into real sports by parents and other social pressures. Swimming is a sport that IMHO takes a great deal more natural talent to do even locally good, not top tier elite, at. My friend a good Football (soccer) player said once that it was not fair to race me as I could swim. I told him why not he was swimming too. He replied "No I'm moving in the water; you can SWIM." I got what he was saying. He however can PLAY football I just kicked folks. Not that I'm great at swimming but I feel a certain predispoition, either hereditary or learned by exposure, to being happy in the water--I suggest all of us here are like this. So when you mesh the need for a more intrinsic ability in water ( to achieve top end ressults) with the social attitude towards $ being the measure of what's best, and the preoccupation with violent/contact sports equalling manliness, many kids will be initially moved towards sports that might lead to a more obvious financial or street cred return, or even if they are swimmers they leave for other "REAL" sports at a time when non academic activities have to be reduced. All sports are hard to excel in, and swimming is tough on a person, time and effort is considerable; 5am practices etc. There are many factors, and I don't think the prospect of being beaten by a girl is really a deciding issue. IMHO.

...there is evidence that boy do feel more comfortable in jammers versus "speedos". In New England, boy participation in HS swim meet increased with the popularity of jammers. When I spoke to several people involved in MA high school swimming they confirmed their belief that jammers made swimming more "comfortable" for boys. Old thread, but I liked it and felt like voicing my opinion for a change. I think this "Speedophobia" has significant bearing on the lower number of boys. Partly b/c Speedo briefs are generally mocked by society at large if seen outside of a swimming pool, and this does have a knock on effect. Europe is not so bad as they tend to have a pretty "laissez faire" attitude to beach life. Indeed much of Europe find clothing a hassle to tanning and provide places for tanning "hassle free." There is of course the motivation that Dad sees the next Nolan Ryan, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretsky, or lately David Beckham when they see their kid play a sport. The power sports seem to generate a greater feeling of braggability to the narrow minded. Thus many athletes are shepherded away into real sports by parents and other social pressures. Swimming is a sport that IMHO takes a great deal more natural talent to do even locally good, not top tier elite, at. My friend a good Football (soccer) player said once that it was not fair to race me as I could swim. I told him why not he was swimming too. He replied "No I'm moving in the water; you can SWIM." I got what he was saying. He however can PLAY football I just kicked folks. Not that I'm great at swimming but I feel a certain predispoition, either hereditary or learned by exposure, to being happy in the water--I suggest all of us here are like this. So when you mesh the need for a more intrinsic ability in water ( to achieve top end ressults) with the social attitude towards $ being the measure of what's best, and the preoccupation with violent/contact sports equalling manliness, many kids will be initially moved towards sports that might lead to a more obvious financial or street cred return, or even if they are swimmers they leave for other "REAL" sports at a time when non academic activities have to be reduced. All sports are hard to excel in, and swimming is tough on a person, time and effort is considerable; 5am practices etc. There are many factors, and I don't think the prospect of being beaten by a girl is really a deciding issue. IMHO.