Are girls as bad as boys?

So much for the digital age advancing women's rights. We have the Internet to thank for intergalactic proof that girl jocks can behave just (about) as badly as boy jocks.

If you don't want proof, do NOT go to badjocks.com. There you will find photos of Catholic University's women's lacrosse team's "Initiation 2006" and Northwestern University's women's soccer team initiation (read that, hazing), in which the teams' members make absolute fools of themselves—"on the record," no less.

And lest you think this is something new in 2006, there are links on the website to all manner of bad behavior by female jocks dating back several years. Being the delicate type myself, I will not list the wide variety of pornographic poses these young women strike, but suffice it to say there are examples on the site of women displaying their own private parts, interacting lewdly with a male stripper, and proudly sporting T-shirts with derogatory references to women hand-painted in bold letters.

We all know hazing is omnipresent on campuses, almost always accompanied by drinking, and just as universally frowned upon or banned by universities. In Northwestern's case, school officials suspended spring training for the women's soccer team. And the women issued this apology in the school newspaper:

"We, the Northwestern women's soccer team, apologize for the negative attention, press, and controversy our alleged hazing incident has caused the university. We never foresaw that what began as a well-intentioned night of team unity and celebration would have such severe consequences, and we are embarrassed that our actions have become the source of such harsh criticism."(http://www.dailynorthwestern.com) Catholic University's website says it is investigating the women's lacrosse team incident and has policies against such behavior.

In another unfortunate example of women's alleged progress, Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reported earlier this year that the so-called substance abuse gender gap "has closed." In a February report entitled "Women Under the Influence," the center noted that "high school girls drink, smoke, and use illegal drugs as much as their male classmates. Misuse of controlled prescription drugs such as painkillers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives is higher among girls (14.1 percent) than boys (12.8 percent)."

This is one arena within which no more progress is necessary, thank you!