Slave Power Conspiracy

Title IX: Reverse Discrimination Beginning some time shortly after

the end of World War II, there has been tremendous growth in

women’s athletics. For decades female athletes have been striving

to become as equally respected as their male counterparts. After

years of reaching for their goals, female athletes finally realized their

dreams in the form of Title IX. As stated by Jim Minter, former editor

of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Title IX is the federal

government telling colleges and universities that if X number of

athletic scholarships are given to males, then an equal number must

be awarded to female students…”(AJC A14). Title IX, a United

States federal law passed in 1972, was a milestone in the history of

the women’s rights movement. Female athletes could at last have

the same opportunities that male athletes had always had. But this

is not the end of the story, nor does the story have a happy ending.

There is a darker side of Title IX, a side that discriminates against

male athletes. A good example of discrimination against male

athletes involves the sport of wrestling. Not only is wrestling the

oldest sport known to man, it is also an American tradition. If the

average person in the South were asked to name his favorite

wrestler, however, that person would probably blurt out the name of

some phony professional wrestler. Why would this person be so

ignorant about the oldest sport known to man? The reason is that

Title IX has virtually wiped out collegiate wrestling in the South.

Starting back in the late l970’s, SEC schools began dropping their

wrestling programs to make room for more women’s sports. Today

there are only five or six colleges in the South that still have

wrestling programs. This lack of wrestling programs in the South

has significantly decreased the opportunities for ex-high school

wrestlers, like me, to continue their sport in college. Wrestling ,

however, is not the only men’s sport affected by Title IX; the overall

diversity of men’s collegiate sports has also decreased. At the

University of Georgia, there are ten women’s sports and only seven

men’s sports (“Football’s A14). Although I am not a math major, this

ratio seems anything but equal to me. Women are getting more

opportunities to compete in the sports that they enjoy than men are.

Consequently, there are more scholarships available for women.

For example, a good female volleyball player has a virtual

cornucopia of college scholarships available at her discretion,

whereas a great wrestler must look to colleges in the North to have

even the slightest chance of attempting to walk-on a team.