Trans women in sports is a bullshit niche problem that republicans use to bash you over the head with fear and paranoia.
There are almost no trans women in sports, and even fewer who are competitive enough to force out top athletes who aren’t trans.
Maybe you’re thinking of the Fallon Fox orbital fracture incident?
A study of over 4,000 professional MMA and Boxing matches shows that a little over 3% of matches result in (at least one) orbital bone fracture.
Maybe you’re thinking of Lia Thomas? She did win 1 of 22 races in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
As far as I know she hasn’t won first place in any other championships.
Maybe you’re thinking of Laurel Hubbard? The weightlifter who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
She was disqualified with a DNF after falling out of the snatch portion (stop it).
Things aren’t as simple as your choice of political candidates would have you believe. Surprise surprise.
That said, I am a fan of pragmatism and compromise, and I will admit as a trans woman myself the sports thing has always been a sensitive subject for me.
Puberty matters. If you go through male puberty, your body is likely to be different from someone who never did — often in noticeable ways, usually that give weight (combat and lifting sports usually separate divisions by weight), wing-span, and/or upper-body leverage advantages that don’t simply “go away” with hormone treatment and surgeries.
I know I’m not supposed to say that as a generally left leaning person, but I’m sorry. It’s true. I’m not going to sit here and deny reality to appease a narrative people I otherwise associate with feel adhered to.
If you’re a lefty you may be asking “why make the distinction? Aren’t you just splitting hairs to capitulate to bigots?”
I know. I feel that in my gut. The problem is at the highest levels of competition, the hairs matter, and I’m not willing to bite my tongue about the truth, even when it emboldens bigots, because I care more about the truth than I care about the bigots. We need to care more about the truth than our feelings or our victories.
There are people who research these things and make these decisions. Sports scientists. Researchers. Athletic boards. Etc etc.
I vote people like me AND people like you (@ZK686) ignore our feelings and have the a-political professionals dig into it and separate what feels true vs what is actually true, announce their findings, and make decisions.
Anything else is just kicking the can down the road likely for the sole purpose of keeping it as a dividing issue for political purposes.
Also if you’re interested, here’s one last truth that I challenge you not to ignore.
Trans women in sports is a bullshit niche problem that republicans use to bash you over the head with fear and paranoia.
There are almost no trans women in sports, and even fewer who are competitive enough to force out top athletes who aren’t trans.
Maybe you’re thinking of the Fallon Fox orbital fracture incident?
A study of over 4,000 professional MMA and Boxing matches shows that a little over 3% of matches result in (at least one) orbital bone fracture.
Maybe you’re thinking of Lia Thomas? She did win 1 of 22 races in the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
As far as I know she hasn’t won first place in any other championships.
Maybe you’re thinking of Laurel Hubbard? The weightlifter who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
She was disqualified with a DNF after falling out of the snatch portion (stop it).
Things aren’t as simple as your choice of political candidates would have you believe. Surprise surprise.
That said, I am a fan of pragmatism and compromise, and I will admit as a trans woman myself the sports thing has always been a sensitive subject for me.
Puberty matters. If you go through male puberty, your body is likely to be different from someone who never did — often in noticeable ways, usually that give weight (combat and lifting sports usually separate divisions by weight), wing-span, and/or upper-body leverage advantages that don’t simply “go away” with hormone treatment and surgeries.
I know I’m not supposed to say that as a generally left leaning person, but I’m sorry. It’s true. I’m not going to sit here and deny reality to appease a narrative people I otherwise associate with feel adhered to.
If you’re a lefty you may be asking “why make the distinction? Aren’t you just splitting hairs to capitulate to bigots?”
I know. I feel that in my gut. The problem is at the highest levels of competition, the hairs matter, and I’m not willing to bite my tongue about the truth, even when it emboldens bigots, because I care more about the truth than I care about the bigots. We need to care more about the truth than our feelings or our victories.
There are people who research these things and make these decisions. Sports scientists. Researchers. Athletic boards. Etc etc.
I vote people like me AND people like you (@ZK686) ignore our feelings and have the a-political professionals dig into it and separate what feels true vs what is actually true, announce their findings, and make decisions.
Anything else is just kicking the can down the road likely for the sole purpose of keeping it as a dividing issue for political purposes.
Also if you’re interested, here’s one last truth that I challenge you not to ignore.