gender equality You know, the one I'm talking about, the one  that was ushering in gender equality? As a teen I felt empowered by the classic Marlo Thomas television special " Free To Be, You and Me " My high school drama department class even mounted Free To Be You and Me as a show. socialization When I was a kid, my favorite team sport was soccer, and that turned out to be the sport my son wanted to participate in. He loved the game, and played for fun in the co-ed "house league" throughout his public school years.  But when he was in high school, the league began segregating the younger teams according to gender. I asked why, and was told it was to make sure that girls got to play as much as the boys. That's a shame. I don't think such a policy is particularly good for either boys or girls.  Some of the best soccer players my son played with were girls.  As a parent watching all the games, I always saw at the beginning of each season, there were always some boys and some girls who seemed a little uncomfortable playing together.  Boys wouldn't pass to girls, for instance. And maybe some of the girls lacked the confidence to fight boy players for possession of the ball.  But by the end of every season, every year,  the boys and girls were working together. It was necessary if your team was going to have a shot