Erwin Straus (in: The Upright Posture, in Phenomenological Psychology, 1966) shows “the remarkable difference in the manner of throwing of the two sexes”.
Citing a study and photographs of young boys and girls, he describes the difference as follows:
The girl of five does not make any use of lateral space. She does not stretch her arm sideward; she does not twist her trunk; she does not move her legs, which remain side by side. All she does in preparation for throwing is to lift her right arm forward to the horizontal and to bend the forearm backward in a pronate position_The ball is released without force, speed, or accurate aim_A boy of the same age, when preparing to throw, stretches his right arm sideward and backward; supinates the forearm; twists, turns and bends his trunk; and moves his right foot backward. From this stance, he can support his throwing almost with the full strength of his total motorium_The ball leaves the hand with considerable acceleration; it moves toward its goal in a long flat curve.
Straus is convinced, however, that the early age at which the difference appears shows that it is not an acquired difference, and thus he is forced back onto a mysterious feminine essence in order to explain it.
Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology off Feminine Body Comportment Motility and Spatiality ~ Iris Marion Young
