Could it be?

My first paper since my term paper written over a year ago.

Boy. English 160, let me tell you...

nothing.

If I Were a Male, I could be One Heck of a Baller

“Sexist pigs,” I remember mumbling to myself when I was denied to play knock out with a group of boys during recess in middle school. Just because I was a girl they would not let me play with them. If only I had been a boy they would have let me join, but I was a girl and was automatically thought of as a weak player. This always infuriated me, because how was I ever suppose to get better or learn more about the game when I was always denied the chance to play? If I had been born a male, I would have been given the chance to play. If I had been born a male, I could have been one heck of a baller.

First off, let me explain what happened that day in middle school during recess. I can still remember the excitement I felt when I saw a few people lining up to play knock out. Knock out was (and still is) one of my favorite basketball games, plus it was very seldom played at recess. Due to this fact, it was very rare that I got to play this game I so enjoyed. When I saw people rounding up to play I ran and got my two other friends, Elisa and Heather, to come with me to go play. We then, all together, ran to get into line. So there we were waiting in line, waiting for our turn when one of the boys behind us started getting impatient waiting for his turn. He started with a, “there are too many people!” Then when no one paid attention to him or dropped out he decided to pick on people who he knew he could get kicked out of line; us, the girls. “Hey!” he yelled at us, “you guys leave. There are too many people playing!” We first glanced at each other and then turned around and gave him “are you kidding me” looks. He then got the rest of his friends (the other boys that were in line behind us) to gang up against us and peer pressure us out of line. They then got a hold of the ball and threatened not to play until we got out of line. “Why?” I demanded after told of their threat. They said that there were too many people. This made me even angrier. First off, there are never too many people to play knock out. There is simply no limit to the amount of people who can play. The other reason this made me mad was that even if there were too many people to play (which isn’t possible with knock out) why did we have to leave when we got into line before all the boys standing in line behind us? To be fair, if there were too many people shouldn’t the people who were at the end of the line get kicked out of the game, too? There was nothing my friends or I could do. We were three girls up against eight boys who were all joined with one purpose in mind. We gave up and left the line bitterly.

One can see that if I or my friends had been boys there would have been no problem. If people had been complaining about too many people, then the people who would have been kicked out of line would have been the people at the end of the line and not the three girls in the middle of the line. I would have been able to play that day at recess had I been a boy. The other boys would have let me play with no issues, with no groups of boys demanding that I leave. After I was allowed to play they would have seen my talent and would have invited me to play a game after school. The knock out games after school would have turned into small pick-up games, where I would have developed the street finesse one needs to become a basketball player that has that unique talent it takes to get noticed. If I had been born a boy it would have been more socially accepted to play basketball and that would have given me a better chance at exercising my interest to the fullest.

Now just imagine what my life would if I were a boy and was given the chance to explore my interests all the way. I could have been the next Kobe (minus the sex scandal), Shaq (minus the size), or Michael Jordan (minus the whole sticking out the tongue thing). I could have gotten a full ride to college, saving my parents the financial dept that involves getting a higher education. I could have been the Final Four MVP my junior and senior year, which most likely could have made me the first draft pick for the NBA. Nike, Gatorade, Wheaties and every other company could be calling me at all hours of the day throwing me unheard of contracts. This all could have been my future if I had come out (which, oddly enough, my doctor swore I would) a boy. One just never knows. If our society did not have so many gender standards, if it where so completely different then it stands now, I may have had been able to become a great basketball player, respected and known by all by being just the way I am. As our society still is the way it is, seeing girls as weak and unfit for male dominated sports, and me being a girl this could never (well at least as close to never as one can get) happen. For a girl to receive that amount of fame she would have to break through all the barriers that our society has made between the female and male athletes and that would take a lot work and chances are she wouldn’t even get recognized for all that work. Being born a boy would have given me the chance to develop my skills to their fullest potential, but being a girl prevents me from achieving that type of success as easily.

One can see that my life could have been completely different, if I had been born a boy. Or in other words, if we weren’t not forced into these gender roles that our society places so strongly on us, my life could have been different. I would never have been unfairly turned away from a game of knock out during recess. I would have had a chance to explore my interests and develop my talents to their fullest potential. All these things were deprived from me, just because I was born a girl.