There's no right way to do the wrong thing

Men have been launching themselves off ski jumps since...well, probably since around the time alcohol was invented. We've seen them on Olympic broadcast for years as they hurl themselves into the great unknown, hoping not to land on their ass. It's a beautiful, awe-inspiring thing to watch...but not so much that I'm feeling the urge to move to Norway and begin training for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

It turns out that women are also prone to the same sort of madness. Thanks to the protective paternalism of the International Olympic Committee, though, women don't have to worry about endangering themselves in front of the world...because they're not allowed to do so.

Yes, you read that correctly. Women play hockey, ski down mountains at 80MPH, and slide head first and feet first down icy tracks. For reasons known only to the sclerotic intellects who inhabit the IOC, women aren't allowed to compete in ski jumping, even on an exhibition basis. No seemingly logical explanations have been proffered, but the IOC is not an organization famed for creative, modern thinking. We may live in a world where women find themselves under fire in combat zones, but the idea of soft,delicate females hurtling themselves off a ski jump is just too much for the paternalistic souls at the IOC to contemplate.

It's easy to pat ourselves on the back in self-congratulation at how we as men have made women equal partners in so many ways. In some ways, that's very true, but episodes like this only serve to demonstrate how far we have yet to go before women truly are treated and regarded as equals.

If women want to strap skis to their feet and hurl themselves off a ski jump, there's no reason in the world that they shouldn't be able to do so. The IOC allows women to dive off 10 meter towers...not exactly a risk-free pursuit...but they draw the line at ski jumping? You'll have to pardon me if it seems as if I'm having a "WTF??" moment...because I truly am.