some of those bitches are cutthroat about getting to the finish line.

I would never get in the way of a drag queen sprinting. EVER.

when it comes to certain physical endeavors (sprinting being one of them), women are not on a par, physically, with men

This is true of running in particular just because male and female hips are built so differently (since men don't have to, you know, GIVE BIRTH with theirs). Even if you match up everything else (height, weight, leg length, etc), there are basic mechanical differences in how men and women run.

(And obviously this brings up all sorts of messy issues when you consider athletes who don't fall neatly into either binary sex category, but if we as a society ever get to the point where "legal ability to be an Olympic medalist" is the most pressing issue in sex/gender discrimination, I think we'll be doing pretty well.)

There was a Spanish runner a couple years ago who ended up banned from competing in women's races because of androgen insensitivity syndrome. 'Technically' she was an XY, physically she was female (missing a uterus), and had been young enough that her 'delayed' menarche had been attributed to lean body mass and training regimen. What a horrible way to find out something like that about yourself!

Didn't they use that in an episode of House (although I think they changed it to gymnastics)?

JZ, is there no Montessori alternative that's even remotely affordable? (Presuming, of course, that you'd even be down with the Montessori style.) Here it was $3K for four months, which at least breaks down to something more reasonable.

I would never get in the way of a drag queen sprinting. EVER.

HELL, no. I'm not afraid of much, but an angry drag queen gives me pause.

if we as a society ever get to the point where "legal ability to be an Olympic medalist" is the most pressing issue in sex/gender discrimination, I think we'll be doing pretty well.

Right on.

Seska, We do ave FMLA--Family Medical Leave Act--which requies employers to let employees take 12 weeks UNPAID leave for family or medical reasons. Most employers here ue that or some use Short term disability insurance to give mothers a week or two of pay--AFTER the person exhausts ALL their paid vacation and/or sick leave. It's a crap system that means any family who can't afford any appreciable time without a paycheck to put wee babies in daycare immediately at considerable expense for the parents.

God bless the US of A. @@

Didn't they use that in an episode of House (although I think they changed it to gymnastics)?

They used it on an episode of "Mental", but it was a boy who'd had a botched circumcision that they raised as a girl.

JZ, is there no Montessori alternative that's even remotely affordable? (Presuming, of course, that you'd even be down with the Montessori style.) Here it was $3K for four months, which at least breaks down to something more reasonable.

Not JZ, but in Brooklyn the Montessouri schools charge about the same as everyone else. i.e., A Whole Lot, If Not More.

They used it on an episode of "Mental", but it was a boy who'd had a botched circumcision that they raised as a girl.

No, but I'm pretty sure they used that on House, since I've never watched Mental, and I remember the condition.