Girls are Better than Boys

The Griner Affair, 7/8/2022

“Would you rather be a boy or a girl?”

I remember asking my friends that question when I was a kid. I have no idea why I thought it was an interesting question. Indeed, turns out it wasn’t a very interesting question, as every interviewee answered in the expected way; i.e., boys said they’d rather be a boy, and girls said they’d rather be a girl.

My 10 year old brain extrapolated this result to infer that boys think boys are better than girls, and girls think girls are better than boys. I guess that’s the way it should be. It’s good to be happy with oneself.

And so, having been born male, I went through 60 years knowing that boys are better than girls. Then, in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, something interesting happened.  I decided that I wanted to do something completely different. I’ve always felt that teaching is, arguably, the most important, albeit most underappreciated and under-respected profession. So I got myself a job teaching at an elementary school.

Within a few days I realized, incontrovertibly, that my lifelong world view was completely wrong. Girls are better than boys in every way. They’re smarter, better behaved, less prone to learning disabilities and emotional problems, more communicative, cleaner, better dressed, and more empathetic. In two years I’ve received scores of little notes and drawings, most shaped like hearts, expressing appreciation for my efforts as a teacher. All of them were given to me by girls. I understand that this might also indicate that girls are more cunning than boys, but I’ll categorize that under “smart.” To be entirely truthful, I did get one of these notes from a 1st grade boy last year. However, later in the year, that 6 year old child publicly announced as transgender. It was the bravest, coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

I offer this preamble because I fear I’m about to take some incoming from the gender I know to be superior. The other day I was listening to MSNBC in the car. Andrea Mitchell was reporting on the Brittney Griner debacle, and her guest was Dawn Staley, a basketball Hall Of Famer, 3-time Olympic Champion, and current coach of the University of South Carolina. The two were lamenting Brittney’s situation as a Russian prisoner, and what needs to be done to extricate her from this awfulness. Staley lamented that, because the WNBA doesn’t pay much, Brittney had to go to Russia to earn additional money. Staley went on to imply that, in a just world, WNBA players would make as much as NBA players.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT???!!!

In no universe should WNBA players earn as much as NBA players. The NBA is an international, multi-billion dollar juggernaut that has been around for over 75 years. They have billion dollar national and local TV and radio contracts. Fans buy up overly expensive tickets and purchase overly expensive food and merch. People all over the world watch NBA games and idolize its stars. In short, NBA players get paid astronomical sums because their skills enable their “company” to generate the revenue to warrant their salaries. Even if the WNBA had an equally adept union, they still couldn’t get paid as much as NBA players because the money simply isn’t there. I’m a liberal in many areas, but I’m also a capitalist. People should be paid what they’re worth. NBA players, at least at this time, are simply worth more than WNBA players.

I love watching women’s basketball. They play a more fundamentally sound game than men have played since Bob Cousy hoisted up set shots on the parquet floor in the ‘50s. I hope that, in time, the WNBA builds itself into a juggernaut like the NBA. But, until that time, ladies, please don’t choose this hill to die on. It’s a false equivalency.

I’ve never understood inequality between the sexes. I remember sitting in classrooms since the late ‘60s with the complete knowledge that the girls around me were going to achieve anything they wished to achieve. Never in my whole life have I ever heard anything that would make me think otherwise. I remember Denise Benkel, who recently replied to one of my posts, expressing her interest in being a doctor. Never did it cross my mind that she wouldn’t achieve this end. I knew she was smart, and it would never enter my mind that she would be held back because she was female. Ditto for every other girl I grew up with.  

I’ve also never understood the unequal pay thing. Who could even conceive of the notion that a woman shouldn’t be paid the same as a man for doing the same work (which they’d likely do better than the man)? I know it’s not a concept that I’d ever conjure up. I’ve been an employer. Paying a woman less than a man is simply not something that would ever cross my mind.

That said, it’s not rational to think that this rule applies universally. Women tennis players get paid as much as the men, at least at the major tournaments, because they’re worth it. I know that I like watching the women more than the men. But, more importantly, the TV networks know it too. They know they can sell spots for the ladies’ matches for at least as much as for the men’s. Same may be true for women’s soccer. Team USA is the best in the world. If they generate the same revenue as the men, if not more, they should get paid in-kind.

Brittney Griner has to get out of Russia. She did something stupid, but she’s being used as a political pawn in a grossly unbalanced prisoner swap. But, Ms. Staley, please don’t say silly things. You don’t need to. It doesn’t help the cause. You see, very few men have taught elementary school, so very few have figured out that women are the superior sex.