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Original poster

Lia Thomas (again)

323 replies

Signalbox · 27/01/2022 20:18

Reports that Lia Thomas has been exposing themselves to female team mates and that they have complained and been ignored on multiple occasions...

"While Lia covers herself with a towel sometimes, there’s a decent amount of nudity, the swimmer said. She and others have had a glimpse at her private parts."

"She stated that team members have raised their concern with the coach, trying to get Thomas ousted from the female locker room, but got nowhere."

"Multiple swimmers have raised it, multiple different times,' the UPenn swimmer said. 'But we were basically told that we could not ostracize Lia by not having her in the locker room and that there's nothing we can do about it, that we basically have to roll over and accept it, or we cannot use our own locker room."

"It's really upsetting because Lia doesn't seem to care how it makes anyone else feel,' the swimmer continued. 'The 35 of us are just supposed to accept being uncomfortable in our own space and locker room for, like, the feelings of one."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10445679/Lia-Thomas-UPenn-teammate-says-trans-swimmer-doesnt-cover-genitals-locker-room.html#comments

OP posts:
Thread gallery
11
nolongersurprised · 05/02/2022 21:36

WP is very left-leaning. The comments are heartening; the tide has turned.

Sophoclesthefox · 05/02/2022 20:31

What a lot of lovely sunlight there is on the issue.

More, please!

I am still waiting for an answer to the questions I posed upthread:

  • are the women on the swimming team allowed to object to having male bodies with penises, erect or otherwise in the womens changing rooms?
  • how many of the women would have to object for the objection to be valid?
  • given that a male with a man gender identity doing the same thing as Lia would be committing an offence by causing these women and girls to see his penis in the womens changing room, what is it about the presence of a woman gender identity, (which exists in Thomas’s head or soul or internal state of being and cannot be seen or experienced by any of the women present), that turns this from an offence against them, to an obligation on their part to accept it? When nothing about their experience of the situation has changed? Does this seem right or fair, that their reality is overridden by someone else’s beliefs? Really?
334bu · 05/02/2022 20:15

edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/02/05/trans-swimmers-teammates-claim-she-has-unfair-advantage.cnn

Really encouraging to see this, especially on CNN. Sharron Davies is terrific here, explaining the unfairness of all this. Marvellous interview.

Delphinium20 · 05/02/2022 19:02

@DomesticatedZombie

They ARE interesting comments. Almost like a US version of Mumsnet. Is WP left leaning? I see a few mentioning how they are left/Democrats but don't support Lia swimming against women.
WaPo is very left leaning...it reminds me of the Guardian. I'd argue that that NYTimes, while also left leaning, employees more conservative columnists than WaPo but it seems someone at WaPo is listening to women. On the flip side, the WaPo changed their long-standing young women's magazine, The Lilly, is replaced (as of 1/2022) by their new "Gender and Identity" blog.

My response can only be given in emoji

EnvyAngrySadConfusedHmmBiscuit

DomesticatedZombie · 04/02/2022 21:57

They ARE interesting comments. Almost like a US version of Mumsnet. Is WP left leaning? I see a few mentioning how they are left/Democrats but don't support Lia swimming against women.

Original poster
Signalbox · 04/02/2022 20:15

Lia really is. And by indecently exposing themselves they are putting to bed the myth that there are "no reported problems" with TW using female locker rooms. This is a problem and it's been reported.

OP posts:
Goatsaregreat · 04/02/2022 19:56

Good to see the comments in the WP article mirror all those in our UK publications that allow their readers to comment. Lia is doing sterling work in demonstrating the unfairness of born males competing against women in so many sports.

Original poster
Signalbox · 04/02/2022 19:47

Kara Dansky is on the case...

womensdeclarationusa.com/letter-regarding-upenn-womens-swim-team/

OP posts:
Needmoresleep · 04/02/2022 09:24

The MSM is out for readership and those that are getting wind of the fact that the majority do not support the overthrow of women's sport are the ones who will increase their reader numbers

The WP is owned by Bezos who has ambitions to create the leading international quality English language newspaper. They have been offering very cheap on line subscription deals.

The NYT are now in on the game. Introdutory offers for as little as 50p per month. Both will be watching the mail online. They will also need to differentiate content/editorial slant.

Heres hoping that the WP goes for a line which reflects the common sense views of most readers. And that Bezos is brave enough to support.

334bu · 04/02/2022 09:12

Comments are very interesting, especially given the political demographic of the Washington Post.

highame · 04/02/2022 08:37

@Needmoresleep

The WP article has attracted a lot of comments, most showing support for the girls.
This was always going to happen which is why the 'under the radar' strategy was the course of action. Unfortunately there is no way to hide males competing against women and all the issues associated rise to the surface.

The MSM is out for readership and those that are getting wind of the fact that the majority do not support the overthrow of women's sport are the ones who will increase their reader numbers.

Whilst TRA and their allies were enjoying what they could achieve under the radar, they never thought about what would happen in reality.

Needmoresleep · 04/02/2022 08:25

The WP article has attracted a lot of comments, most showing support for the girls.

PurgatoryOfPotholes · 04/02/2022 07:51

Washington Post now reporting on it www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/03/lia-thomas-penn-swimming-teammates/?

ScrollingLeaves · 03/02/2022 22:04

It is so sad to have come to the state where these 16 women in one of the most advanced countries in the world, at the most elite universities of the world, have to beg to be listened to about how unfair it is that they have to compete against a male simply because he says he is a woman.

Jux · 02/02/2022 18:52

So as the changing rooms are now effectively unisex, if the women were to all go to change in the mens, then I suspect there's be a lot of complaints.

Furthermore, if Lia were to join them there, she would quickly learn how to behave properly as a bepenised person undressing alongside women,

ArabellaScott · 31/01/2022 09:54

[quote FOJN]Some brave women pushing back.

mobile.twitter.com/RevFemRebels/status/1487236438039142407[/quote]
That's fab. That's what we all need to do.

Stand Up For Women.

Good to hear people stood up and applauded, too.

FOJN · 31/01/2022 09:50

Some brave women pushing back.

mobile.twitter.com/RevFemRebels/status/1487236438039142407

Goatsaregreat · 30/01/2022 20:49

I remain optimistic that Lia is doing more to demonstrate the outrageous unfairness than so many trans activists. I feel for these young women being faced with someone like this, but Lia perfectly demonstrates what will happen as men are allowed to invade women's sport.

Needmoresleep · 30/01/2022 20:34

DS' US American University allows them to keep miniature horses as support animals - approval on a case by case basis.

How about support women? If the menz need them?

Artichokeleaves · 30/01/2022 20:12

Possibly support human harnesses might be nice too. Pink, obvs.

ArabellaScott · 30/01/2022 19:34

They are presumably a sort of decorative backdrop, Artichoke.

Artichokeleaves · 30/01/2022 18:38

So the designated role of females is to nicely clap and cheer on the obvious and predetermined betters who not only have unfair advantage in the pool but also in the hierarchy of priority for the University, and the University sees their role as retraining them in the proper attitude towards this? Presumably while smiling nicely? Possibly they could organise teas too. Being the chorus.

ArabellaScott · 30/01/2022 17:16

'they’re here for our emotions,'

That's big of them. Silly weepy women will learn to cope with losing, is the message there.

Someone noted that many of these girls are on scholarships connected to their swimming skills/abilities, so they can't risk losing their place on the team without potentially impacting their education, future career and life prospects.

It's more than just 'emotions'.

InvisibleDragon · 30/01/2022 16:57

Thank you for the update Purgatory

This is such a great statement from one of the women on the swim team:

The University of Pennsylvania swimmer told Fox News the change makes her “a little bit more hopeful” because the swimmers “kind of realize that it’s not just testosterone levels.”

“It’s testosterone levels from the last 20 years and how that affected, you know, the fact that [Thomas] went through male puberty and the way that built her heart and lungs and her hands and the way she circulates blood and the lactic acid and all that stuff.”

“Stuff that – it’s not just the difference between two girls and how one might have slightly larger lungs and that gives them a slight advantage,” she added. “These are monumental advantages that biological males just develop through puberty, and it’s not something that a year of [hormone treatments] can suppress because they still have all the muscle mass they had from the last 20 years.”

The swimmer went on to slam how the University of Pennsylvania has handled the situation.

“They’re just proving, once again, that they don’t actually care about their women athletes,” the swimmer said. “They say that they care and that they’re here for our emotions, but why do we have to be gracious losers? . . . Who are you to tell me that I shouldn’t want to win because I do want to win. I’m swimming. I’m dedicating more than 20 hours a week to the sport.

She continued: “Obviously, I want to win. You can’t just tell me I should be happy with second place. I’m not. And these people in Penn’s administrative department who just think that women should just roll over — it’s disturbing, and it’s reminiscent of the 1970s when they were fighting for Title IX and stuff like that. They don’t actually care about women at all.”

It has everything:

  • the facts about male puberty
  • asserting women's rights to competitive sport and to be the main characters not just supporting roles
  • a comment on the wider political context of Title IX and the choices made by the UPenn administration.