Sexism in school PE lessons

football christmas ornamentsThroughout year 7 to 9 I experienced sexism in PE lessons (physical education) at school.

I am a tomboy and always have been. As a result of this I have been bullied as I don't fit in with the normal expectations of a girl. PE lessons in school didn't help my confidence as we were made to do nothing but dance and rounders (both of which I find boring).

One day I asked my teacher, "why can't we play football, basketball, rugby and cricket like the boys?"

My teacher replied with this: "because those sports are traditionally boys sports so girls aren't allowed to do them."

This didn't help with my self esteem as they were implying the girls weren't as good as the boys which was why we weren't allowed to play them. I felt like I had to prove myself that I can do the same things as boys can.

I raised the issue of sexism multiple times to several teachers. I spoke to the headmaster, head of years, progress leaders and several other teachers I knew might be able to help.

After several months of patience I finally got justice. When I moved into year 10, they allowed for girls to do the same sports as boys and even mixed sets were introduced.

Sexism in PE isn't as much of a problem anymore although I still feel I have to prove myself on my new set as it is full of boys that think girls are pathetic at sports. My efforts have paid off and everything is much better and more equal for girls at my school.

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11 comments

  • Hatsune Milla

    Today in PE, we were playing AFL. I’m not very good, to be honest, but when I feel comfortable I like to get involved and do the best I can. This new boy joined our class today. As we were playing, every time I dropped or missed the ball he would groan REALLY loud, and look at his friend. He NEVER said anything when my male team mates made mistakes. I ignored him the best I could, and kept playing. Later on during the game, the teacher got so fed up with the fact that the boys were not passing to ANY girls on the team. She had to introduce a rule that two girls had to be passed to before anyone could score. We continued playing and the two guys kept complaining: can we swap players, miss? We just have butterfingered players on our team.

  • Mathilda

    Our school system says that boys get to have a heavier ball in a one sport than the girls get to.
    I’m fairly strong and the boys in my class are pretty tiny, so giving them a heavier ball and giving us the “girl appropriate” one really pissedme off. My old teachers sometimes let us choose the weight of the ball, but the new one apparently has to make it more difficult for the boys even though I’m in 6th grade and boys and girls have no physical difference. The rent is quite unnecessary, but I had to let it out even though it really isn’t as bad as most of the stories here (I forgot the English name but it’s basically a sport about “throwing” a metal ball)

  • nikolas

    This kind of thing has happened at every school i’ve been to (i’m a high school freshman). I know for a fact that I’m a dude and I’d be beat in a second in a race by literally any of the girls at my school. It’s stupid and it makes me so mad :/ Glad things got more equal tho!

  • This isn’t about sexism by a teacher, but rather by the male “jocks” in my class. We often play games involving passing to another member of your team (I’m in 7th grade btw) and it is often a problem about the male “jocks” not passing to anybody female. The teachers say it frequently to pass to everyone, but often times they won’t. Some of these people are great outside of gym class, but during gym they turn extremely sexist. I am not super athletic, but I still try. Today we were playing ultimate frisbee, and I was on a team with not a large amount of male “jocks” on it. During the beginning, both of the main boys playing would not pass to me. Quickly, one of them realized I knew what I was doing, and the other eventually caught on. I played so much, even though I dropped the frisbee sometimes and didn’t really know all of the rules. I even scored! I was so proud of myself, and I kept thinking “f*ck gender roles. F*ck the patriarchy, and whoever says boys are better than girls.”

  • Christopher Lee

    This has something to do with this, but my school has separated the girls and the boys. We go out in an open field, so it’s not like people are making out or having sex!

  • Cinders

    In my school girls are forced to do ribbon dancing instead of football and rugby. And my school gloats about equality. I’m doing a speech in class about it. Please give any stories you have. They are very helpful.

    • If he does that again, just ask, “Is there a problem?” Additionally, call teachers out on sexism. Moreover, please do ‘boy’ activities to prove them wrong (unless you would rather do a different activity). I am the one of five girls in a gym class of thirty or so boys, and I often feel pressured to do ‘girl’ activities instead of ‘boy’ ones. Do whatever makes you happy and ignore the stares.

  • Not saying my name!

    I am in 5th grade. A few weeks ago in gym class, my teacher had us play trench (a dodgeball game). It was girls vs. boys. First, he gave the girls ALL of the balls to start. Then, he gave us not one, not two, but THREE jailbreaks. By this time, my friend and I were so mad we weren’t participating. As if he hadn’t done enough, he then started playing on our team. He finally caught my friend and I, and made us tell him what was up. I said,”you gave us all the balls to start, you gave us 3 jailbreaks, and you helped us. Your just proving that you agree that boys are stronger and faster than girls. You are being so sexist.” He was astonished, but not too mad. He made the WHOLE class sit down and said,”I’m not even going to tell you what was just said to me, but I thought I was just being nice.” I thought, yeah right. I am still SO mad at him!

  • I am in 6th grade. Today in PE we went to the fitness room to prepare for the tests coming up. My teacher said that if you want to burn fat, go to the cardio machines. He said if you want to gain muscle, use a weight machine. Naturally, all the boys went to the weights, and us girls went to the cardio ones and looked at our bodies in shame. I went to a weight machine and my teacher looked at me disapprovingly. I looked at him and said in my mind “screw you”. I am outraged at the sexism that goes on in that class.I just want to tell everyone that we all have the same potential. We all can be great, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.

  • A

    Elysia – thanks for sharing your story. This is a great example of being persistent! Thank you for not giving up and for paving the way for other girls to enjoy those same activities.