49.需要替补(1855)

Passage Forty-Nine

Substitution required(needed)

【1】For half a century, between 1921 and 1971, the Football Association, which governs(manages) the sport in England, forbade(banned) women from playing on FA-affiliated pitches. “The game”, it opined, “is quite unsuitable(unfit) for females.”

【2】Tell that to the fans. The women’s World Cup, held this year in Australia and New Zealand, is gearing up for a final on August 20th between Spain and England, the reigning European champions.

【3】So far, more than 1.8m tickets have been sold, breaking the previous record of 1.3m in Canada in 2015. The television audience is likely to be double the previous record of 1bn. The level of play is higher across the board.

【4】The struggle for women’s football to be taken seriously has, so far, meant fighting for equality with the men’s game. In terms of money and exposure, it still has a long way to go.

【5】Although women’s prize money has more than tripled since the previous World Cup, it is still only 25% of men’s hauls. The disparity(difference) in club wages is cavernous. One reason is that women’s sport in general accounted for just 13% of TV sports coverage in Britain in 2022, and 5% in America in 2019.

【6】 But on the field itself, football is scrupulously equal. Women play on the same-size pitch, with the same-size ball and the same rules as men. And yet in sport that sort of equality is not always a good idea.

【7】Feminists have long argued, correctly, that women are not just men with long hair. The unthinking assumption that men are the “default human” means that everything from drugs and smartphones to stab vests and airbags has been designed in ways that are inconvenient or dangerous for their female users.

【8】Similar arguments apply to many sports, an irony(satire) given that they are the reason why women’s sport even exists as a separate category. Women’s bodies are smaller, on average, than men’s, even among elite athletes. One paper calculates(counts) that a pitch scaled for them would be two-thirds as big as it is now.

【9】Goals would be slightly smaller and the ball would be smaller and lighter. Expecting women to play on the same-size pitch as men, the researchers point out, means asking them to play a game that is different from the one the men play—and harder.

【10】Another worry is the risk of injury. Until recently, making a women’s football boot meant little more than taking a men’s one and colouring it pink. Never mind the different shape and structure of women’s feet. Never mind that studs designed for a man’s weight might provide too much gripfor a lighter woman.

【11】And never mind how that might increase the risk of knee injuries, to which women seem more prone. But it is not just knees. A 2018 study found that repeatedly heading a football seemed to harm women’s brains more than men’s. Having seen brain damage among American football and rugby players, the sport’s authorities have a duty to consider using a lighter ball.

【12】Admittedly, such changes would be controversial(debatable). When World rugby, the international governing body for rugby union, decided to test a smaller ball designed for women’s smaller hands, players were split. Some welcomed the removal(eliminate) of what they saw as a handicap. Others worried that anything which looked like a concession(compromise) risked undermining the prestige of the women’s game.

【13】That is a real risk, but it can be overstated. Plenty of other sports accommodate the physical differences between the sexes. In athletics, women’s hurdles are lower and discuses are lighter. Basketball uses a smaller ball; volleyball a lower net. Men and women should be treated equally in sport as in any other walk of life. But they are not physically the same, and it does no one any favours to pretend that they are.

第四十九课

需要替补

从1921年至1971年，半个世纪来，管理英格兰足球运动的英格兰足球总会禁止女性在隶属于该组织的球场上踢球。它认为“足球这项运动确实不适合女性。”

 把这些话留给球迷们说吧。在澳大利亚和新西兰举办的女足世界杯，其决赛即将于8月20日举办，由西班牙对阵英格兰（英格兰队是这两次的女足欧洲杯冠军）。

到目前为止，售出门超过180万张，打破了2015年加拿大举办女足世界杯时的130万张票的记录。上一次的电视观众为10亿，而这次的电视观众人数可能会翻一番。比赛水平在各方面都有所提高。

 到目前为止，让女足得到重视的斗争意味着与男足争取平等。就资金和曝光度来说，还有很长的路要走。

尽管自上一届女足世界杯以来，女足的比赛奖金已经增至三倍，但仍仅为男足奖金的25%。（男女足）俱乐部工资的差距也很大。其中一点原因是，2022年，女性体育赛事大体上只占到英国电视体育报道的13%，而2019年，美国的这一比例仅为5%。

但在球场上，足球是相当平等的。女球员（和男球员一样）在同等大小的球场上踢同等大小的足球，适用的规则也完全一样。但在体育运动方面，这种平等并不总是好的。

女权主义者一直强调女性不是长头发的男性，这种观点很正确。人们不假思索地假定男性为“默认人类”，意味着药品、智能手机、防刺背心、安全气囊等种种东西的设计对女性不方便或危险。

类似的论点适用于很多体育运动，鉴于这些论点是女性运动单独分类的原因，这不失为一种讽刺。平均而言，女性的体型较男性的较小，即使是精英运动员亦是如此。一份论文的计算出适合女性的球场应是如今球场大小的2/3。

球门与足球也会略小，同时足球还会更轻。研究者指出，要女性在同男性足球场地一样大的地方踢球，就意味着要求女性进行一项与男性不同的运动，并且难度更大。

另一个担忧便是受伤的风险。一直以来，制作女式足球鞋不过是把一双男款球鞋涂成粉色。丝毫不顾女性的脚有着和男性不一样的形状与结构。丝毫不顾为男子体重设计的鞋钉可能会给体重较轻的女性带来过大的抓地力。

更不用说这种做法可能会增加膝盖受伤的风险，而女性似乎更易于遭受膝盖受伤。但受到伤害的不仅仅是膝盖。2018年一项研究发现，多次使用头球对女子脑部的损害似乎较男子更大。考虑到橄榄球运动员遭受的脑部伤害，体育管理部门有责任考虑更换更加轻便的球。

诚然，此类改变会充满争议。当橄榄球联盟的国际管理机构“世界橄榄球协会”决定测试一款针对女性较小的手而设计的小款橄榄球时，运动员们意见不一。有人表示欢迎，因为这消除了她们视为不利因素的东西。另一些人则担忧任何看似妥协的举动都可能损害女子比赛的声望。

这的确是有风险，但有可能夸大其词了。许多其他类型的体育运动都考虑到了两性间存在的身体差异。在田径运动上，女子的跨栏栏架要更低，铁饼也更轻。女子用的篮球也更小。而排球网也更低。男女在体育上应像在其他行业一样受到平等对待。但男女的生理不同，假装二者相同对谁都没有好处。