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Original poster

Netball is a gender-affected sport. Any others?

37 replies

Fibbke · 12/07/2019 08:00

Reading the trans inclusion policy for England Netball and transwomen are welcome to train and play in friendly matches but not to compete in domestic competition unless they have had a gonadectomy or taken hormones and have t in a required range.

Why don't all sports do this?

OP posts:
Original poster
Fibbke · 12/07/2019 10:04

So why are English Netball allowed to say that netball is a gender-affected sport but football or athletics aren't?

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arranbubonicplague · 12/07/2019 09:22

The UK Rowing Olympic people are so streamlined with their training that a few years ago they basically places some newspaper ads that said:

Are you really tall? The sort that your mates call a giant or beanpole? Come along and try out for rowing.

Because rowing favours long bodies, long limbs - and yes, some of our current medallists came through that path, and the shift in the height profile of the women is notable. You can train as hard as you like but if you're a short rower it's increasingly implausible that you'd achieve elite status.

I wonder how long it will be before rowing and other sports where longer bodies are key to success are captured in the same way if the various sporting bodies don't revise their criteria?

SonicVersusGynaephobia · 12/07/2019 09:09

Yeah, a gonadectomy isn't going to remove all the dozens of other advantages that transwomen will have over women in netball by virtue of them being male. So I don't think that's good enough, unfortunately.

They need to just say a flat no to them competing in the women's category.

Or start an option for men too.

arranbubonicplague · 12/07/2019 09:01

Height matters in netball. Having a gonadectomy does not make a man shorter. Nor does suppressing testosterone reduce a range of other physical attributes (twitch muscles etc) to female levels.

^^ This. It doesn't remove the relatively unfair advantages even if the comparator is to naturally tall women. (Larger hands and easier ball handling; longer arms for defence etc.)

Joisanofthedales · 12/07/2019 08:57

No men in netball ever! It's ours! #adult human females!

Juells · 12/07/2019 08:53

I can't see what difference any surgery makes. If someone has gone through male puberty they will have male advantages.

UrsulaPandress · 12/07/2019 08:32

Please don't let them invade netball.

Needmoresleep · 12/07/2019 08:30

Height matters in netball. Having a gonadectomy does not make a man shorter. Nor does suppressing testosterone reduce a range of other physical attributes (twitch muscles etc) to female levels.

I think everyone agrees that a line needs to be drawn somewhere, or there is no female sports. The clearest and most sensible place to draw it is with sex.

Original poster
Fibbke · 12/07/2019 08:10

A trans person might legitimately ask why they are allowed to do one thing and not the other

They might ask but the rules are there.

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zippey · 12/07/2019 08:08

It’s a bit of a slippery slope from play/train to competing though. A trans person might legitimately ask why they are allowed to do one thing and not the other.

I think they should either play in their biological sex category or there should be a separate trans category.

Original poster
Fibbke · 12/07/2019 08:01

Meant to add they say that netball is defined as a 'gender affected sport'. Who defines that and how?

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