Should single sex couples be allowed to compete in figure skating pairs competition?

[CaughtInThe]

Hell no

 

[Fearandloathing]

"One night in late February, Madison Hubbell and Gabriella Papadakis, two Olympic gold medal ice dancers, glided into a skating exhibition in Zurich’s 85-year-old Hallenstadion to shatter one of figure skating’s great taboos by performing not with their longtime male partners but each other. ...They did this because they want to change figure skating — ice dance, in particular. In doing so, they are going up against more than 100 years of tradition because ice dance is different from any Olympic sport. At heart, it’s a performance as theatrical as it is athletic, each routine a fairy tale heavy on romance and chivalry. A male skater almost always leads, and his female partner follows, all while gazing at each other with loving eyes. ...Many women in skating, including Hubbell and Papadakis, find this dynamic uncomfortable and outdated.

...She and Hubbell see one gender ice dance as a chance to create more opportunities for female skaters because the pool of males is small, leaving many women without partners. But skating is a judged sport, and judges tend to be old-fashioned. They like the love stories and can favor couples who seem more passionate than others.

Nearly three years ago, Skate Canada, the Canadian figure skating federation, revised its rules to change the definition of a team from “one man and one woman” to “two skaters.” But no other country’s federation has followed, and the International Skating Union, which oversees the sport globally and at the Olympics, does not allow single-gender teams. ...“I think when [people] see two women skating together, they are like, ‘Oh God, this is gay,’” Papadakis said. Or as Kaitlyn Weaver, an American-born ice dancer who went to two Olympics with Canadian skating partner Andrew Poje and led Skate Canada’s gender definition change, said, “The conservative people don’t want to see two men skating together … it’s their homophobia.”

“This is a white, cisgender, hetero sport,” she said."

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On the one hand, there is a necessity for it, on the other hand, it's quite a change in culture.

I'm kind of speaking for them but I suspect its a matter of the historical perspective of skating and especially pairs skating.

Understand, boys and girls in Canada start skating as toddlers.

The display cycle which has been gobbled up by the Olympics and commercial interests is a way of life in many communities. The history of the 'Pairs' skate go back to a time when men and women didn't touch even when dancing!

So it has always been "racy" in a boy/girl way with many, many Canadian kids, especially girls dreaming of a lighted skate with their favorite beau in front of spectators in high fashion....!

It was controversial in the 1910's when they held hands and touched face to face, even more scandal in the 20's when the man lifted her into the air, often, gasp, exposing her derriere. From those humble beginnings we have arrived at a point where they could be copulating with clothes on.

BUT...no body wants to admit it sexier than a Vegas strip show! It's "high class" now and the fact she is upside down with her crotch in his mouth is not sexual at all!

So allowing two men or two women to do that they would have to cop to the farce it is NOT a sexual show. Not at all.

 

[CLAX1911]

It seems that you're skating predominantly exists for figure skaters I'm not sure there's a whole lot of spectators.

I don't think there's a problem with the category for two Men and category for two women and then the category for a minute and but they couldn't compete with each other for the same reason that a male fighter shouldn't fight with female fighters.