Gender equality in sports: a one way street?

A couple of days ago I was reading an article on ESPN about a girl who was playing on a high school baseball team. The reason that this got some much attention from the media is because the opposing team forfeited the game before it even started because this girl (Paige Sultzbach) was playing on the baseball team. In all of the different articles I read from ESPN, Yahoo!, and other sources, the media outlet has tried to make the opposing team look like the bad guys for forfeiting. I think that decision to forfeit by the opposing team was completely warranted for many reasons.

Wie practicing before a PGA Tour event

First off I want to say I am completely for what Title IX stands for (gender equality in sports). I think it is necessary for schools to be fair with the amount of money and equality put towards both men's and women's sports. Title IX came up because women were fighting for equality in sports and behind the idea that they should get everything that a male athlete gets. So, after hearing this, you may think it's fair for the Sultzbach to be playing for a men's baseball team, but I don't.

By the logic that women and men should have equal opportunity in sports to the point where women can play in a men's sports, why shouldn't a male be able to play in a women's sports? Why would it be unfair for me to try out for the women's softball team, but when a baseball team doesn't want to play against a team with a girl on it, they get scrutinized? This "equality" that women are fighting for seems like a one way street.

Let me give you another more popular example. Female golfer Michelle Wie was a phenom since she was a teenager. She was thought to be so good that feminists and other supporters believe that she should compete on the PGA Tour (top men's professional golf tour). At the time, she was competing on the LPGA (top women's professional golf tour), and because of all of the support she got, she got sponsor's exemptions to play in a couple of PGA Tour events (she missed almost every cut). The feminist movements worked, crossing the gender line that they believed leads to equality. But, once again, by their logic that men and women should have equal opportunity in men's and women's sports, why can't Tiger Woods play on the LPGA? Some may say that is ridiculous and unfair, but if there is such aforementioned gender equality in sports, then it should be fine and uncontested.

To me, this whole gender equality in sports issue seems to be a one way street. Women are able to compete in men's sports, but men aren't able to compete in women's sports. It just doesn't seem fair. The solution is to keep sports in the sections where they belong, men's and women's. I am completely for the equality in support for both men's and women's sports, and I think Title IX is fair and I support it as well. But things like what Sultzbach and Wie have done might be going a step too far.