You Climb Like a Guy!

I rock climb. Most of the time, I’m the only girl at the gym climbing. Let’s just say that it’s a refreshing treat when there’s another female in the gym (other than the employees) who I can climb and chat with.
Most of the time this doesn’t bother me and I’m pretty used to it. Lately, however, there have been some guys there who, while quite eager to hang out and climb with me, are constantly bombarding me with comments having to do with how I’m too masculine. For example, they will tell me that my way of being frustrated with my performance is too manly “Shit, Margot, you get mad like a man!” At first, I would simply shrug it off and laugh. But after several comments such as “Woah, you climb like a man – just muscling your way through” despite my ability to climb as well as most of the guys making the comments, I’ve started to patiently explain to them that even though I am a woman, I can climb, talk, get frustrated and grunt just like any other climber, male or female.
It used to be that a woman had to assume “masculine” roles to participate in sports. Otherwise the usual insult was that you ran, threw or performed “like a girl”. Since when did the unacceptable thing to do become doing sports “like a guy”? I wish people would judge my performance on my ability just accept that I am simply an athlete who strives to perform my best – like anyone else.