“Boys will be boys.”
This antiquated message has been long-standing in all sorts of settings.
But are boys just being themselves when harassing girls? When ridiculing them for doing the same things they do? How about when sexually assaulting women? Is it excusable then?
Following the United States men’s hockey team’s gold medal win at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games on Feb. 22, U.S. President Donald Trump had a phone call with the team. What he had to say was as disappointing as it was unsurprising.
“We’re gonna have to bring the women’s team,” Trump said apologetically during the call. Gonna have to. After they achieved the same thing? Not to mention that they’ve been winning gold for years while this is the first time for the men’s team to place first at the Olympics in 46 years.
This isn’t just distasteful. That phone call opens the window into the deep-seated ridicule that women’s sports have faced for… ever.
The chauvinistic behaviour demonstrated by Trump isn’t at all surprising, but the blatancy of it was wild. To make a comment like that and not even call to congratulate the women’s team — for winning the same medal — is unreal.
As a woman who comes from a very athletic background and who has taught martial arts for years, I’ve encountered my fair share of misogyny — most of it in work settings and not on the mats if I’m being honest — but still. It’s there, it exists. And I fear it hasn’t gone away like some people like to believe. Just because it’s the 21st century doesn’t mean deeply entrenched sexism just, poof, disappears.
Going back to the Olympics, these revered games didn’t permit women to compete until the year 1900, when a mere 22 out of 997 athletes were women.
Women’s achievements in sports have long gone under-reported and were barely even accepted in the past. Women were deemed unfit for athletics when their participation in sports first bloomed largely because it was disgusting how violent and sweaty they got from competing. To avoid this, it was proposed by powerful men that women should only be allowed to compete in graceful sports like figure skating or swimming. Listen, as someone who competed in sparring divisions for years, I can tell you that sweat is damn earned and nothing beats the rush of a match — which still requires plenty of grace.
Now I’m all for celebrating a big win, and if their president was less of an asshole, maybe I’d feel a little differently toward the men’s U.S. hockey team. But when you huddle around a phone and celebrate sexism with laughs and cheers, that’s when I lose respect.
You don’t have to be the one mocking to be complicit in demeaning women.
This could have been a purely celebratory and historic moment for American sports. However, the focus shifted due to this ignorance.
“I think this is a really good learning point to focus on how we talk about women, not only in sport but in industry,” said Hilary Knight, captain of the U.S. women’s hockey team in response to Trump’s comment. “Women aren’t less than.”
It’s unfortunate this controversy has largely overshadowed the accomplishments of both these teams, but I believe it has led to a greater conversation, one that has been ongoing for generations.
Stand up for women. Not in big Superman-esque ways, but by standing up to misogynistic men and fighting against everyday comments like “it was a joke” and “boys will be boys.” It’s understood that it was meant as a joke. Doesn’t mean it’s funny. It’s not that the teams don’t get along either. The men’s team may have supported the women’s by going to their games and celebrating together after their dual wins, like some members have said — but that really goes out the window when you choose to join in on a “joke” at the expense of those you claim to respect. You can’t claim to be so courageous and then drop the ball when it comes to standing up to one of your own in defence of women.
It’s time to stop laughing at jokes that aren’t funny and stop normalizing casual misogyny.
