In Connecticut, two teenage boys who identify as girls have come 1st and 2nd in the girls' 100m sprint

[OrchidInTheSun]

twitter.com/GameTimeCT/status/1003739370736816129

Reposted from Feminism Chat as more people need to see this.

Neither Miller nor Yearwood have got times that would be remotely remarkable for boys (200th and 443rd respectively) but they are smashing the girls' records out of the park as now they identify as girls, they're allowed to race them instead.

Watch the face of the girl who comes third. That's pretty much her best ever 100m race. But she didn't win.

Self identification means this kind of thing will keep on happening. If you value women's sport and think that women and girls deserve to compete on a level playing field, please sign the petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214118

Regardless how long a trans women has been trans and it’s irrelevant how long that have presented themselves as female or what operations they have had and what treatments they have had they are still biologically male and always will be that can’t be changed so they will have an advantage in sport

I can’t believe and get my head around how in 2018 women are having to fight such issues. the only people that are going to benefit from these changes are a few and it is a very few and they are male yes or impacts all girls and women in some way

Cue: influx of radical feminists telling AIBU women how terrible trans people are and how they are going to destroy the world.

Have a look at feminism chat for more!

Has anyone said this will destroy the world?

Because I doubt that's been said.

What has been said is most sports are divided by male and female and these children are male so have taken two places in a girls race - and 'won' the two top spots. Tiebreak winner is the girl now relegated to third space.

If this was not happening people would not be talking about it.

We are talking because it is happening and it is unfair to girls.

Sorry not Tiebreak winner- the real winner...

Oh I'm sorry if my feminism being centred on women is somehow offensive to you MoreTroubleThanItsWorth.

I just believe in biology more than feelz. If trans athletes want to complete they can fight for their own space, rather than steal womens. I would whole heartedly support that. Bit this seriously affects women. There are 2 girls who may not now get to go to college because 2 male bodied people have stolen their place.

Yes, do please come over to FWR if you're interested in this issue.

But back on point. Janice Turner (Times journalist) had a great twitter thread on this, and I'll repeat her question on that thread to you, MoreTroubleThanItsWorth.

What do you say to the girls?

These are girls who have trained for years, who are good enough to be in the state championships, who might aspire to a career as professional athletes, or be hoping to get to university with the help of funding from an athletics scholarship. They now have no "level playing field" on which to try to compete.

Regardless of the sincerity or otherwise of Yearwood or Miller's beliefs about their gender, Yearwood and Miller have male physiology (Miller was, until relatively recently, competing against boys, and all their and their parents public statements to date indicate that neither is taking blockers or cross sex hormones).

Basically, that's a whole load of girls' athletic ambitions crapped on from a great height.

So:
What do you say to the girl who came 3rd, who should have placed 1st?

What do you say to the girls who came 4th and 5th, who should have had medals but were bumped out of the medal spots?

What do you say to the girls who were 9th and 10th in the qualifying rounds, who should have made it to the final but didn't?

Why don't these girls matter? Why do only the physiologically male transgirls matter?

These biological males competing against girls is about as fair as an adult playing scrabble against a 4 year old.

Maybe that adult really, really identifies with 4 year olds and really, really feels like they did at 4. But they're not 4. They have a lifetime of language experience and it's just not fair.

These boys have the physiology of males. You can see it with your own eyes. Even if they were taking hormones, bone structure, muscle density is all different.

I'm sort of hoping Usain Bolt identifies as a woman and competes in the women's 100m at the next Olympics. Because if you think this is fair, then that has to be fair too, right?

Consult with women on proposals to enshrine 'gender identity' in law

www.petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214118

Would the same people still be so up in arms if the situation were reversed? Or would they be demanding that women be allowed to compete in male events?

edition-m.cnn.com/2017/10/27/sport/lindsey-vonn-mens-downhill-soelden-world-cup-winter-olympics/index.html

All the progress women have achieved in sport is being undermined by this sort of thing. It's not just this one girl, it's all women taking part in competitive sport and it must be heartbreaking and demoralising for all those young women affected.

It must make them feel like giving up because after all, what's the point in taking part in a competitive sport that you know you can never have a chance of winning, not because you're no good at it, but because the odds have been stacked against you because some of the competitors are cheating and cheating moreover, with the blessing of the sports' controllers.

If the people winning the race were young women who had taken performance enhancing drugs they'd be banned from competing because the drugs give them an unfair advantage; the fact that they are men gives them an unfair advantage. Whatever they claim, they are never going to be women.

So get back in the kitchen girls, you can't complete with the big boys.

If men feel they that females shouldn’t compete in male only sporting events and females competing in these events have an unfair advantage they are welcome to complain

@user1471447863 women competing in sports against men would not have an advantage.

But for the sake of all the girls pushed out of sport/first second or third places/sporting scholarship etc I would say females should not compete against males because males should not compete against females.

High profile female athletes should be speaking out against this cheating rather than putting out statements about wanting to compete against men. IMHO!

And if she does get to compete against men then in fairness women and girls should get to compete without men! If sport is really all about what individuals want (which it is not).

In the end the whole thing is obvious, men get privileged, women don't, or if they do it is a rare high profile woman.

That woman's argument just muddies the waters of the real issue girls and women's sports are for females.

Would the same people still be so up in arms if the situation were reversed? Or would they be demanding that women be allowed to compete in male events?

That’s not really a comparable situation though is it? More similar to when Oscar Pistorius competed against able-bodies athletes.

I have no issue with males and females competing together in sports where differences between the sex doesn’t have an impact. There are very few though.

@mipmipmip I've been looking but my googling is not turning it up.

It did the rounds a while back - it's by a bloke who was getting in with mras online and then had a few realisations. From what I remember.

I'll keep an eye out.

My 13 year old is a keen sprinter and I an so angry that this is being allowed to happen.

Disgusting

RoseWhiteTips
I think this is probably first time we agree on something.

Great tip MoreTroubleThanItsWorth

There's a great amount of knowledge and thought that goes into most of the posters' contributions in Feminism Chat. I have learned a lot from it

There should be a trans prize and then a women's prize then. It's ridiculous ex boys get to be winners - do they even realise it's not a real win?

To anyone saying that sports should be gender segregated, may I ask what the purpose of his would be?

There is a practical purpose to separating athletes by sex. I can't see any purpose to splitting by gender. Especially because nobody seems to even be able to give an objective definition of what gender is!

The Scottish Government have endorsed guidelines that support male bodied children competing against girls in school sports.

If school competitions or classes are organised by gender, a transgender young person should be allowed to compete in the category which matches their gender identity.

From the guidelines linked below, which also recommend that male bodied children be allowed to get changed with girls and share overnight accommodation with them without parents being told. And if anyone complains they should be reminded about “respect”. Because it is obviously disrespectful for girls to have boundaries around boys seeing their undressed bodies.

www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/media/1344/supporting-transgender-young-people.pdf

If you have a child at school in Scotland and are troubled by this, please ask if the school is using these guidelines, and if they are then ask to see their equality impact assessment. Schools are legally required to assess the impact any new policy may have on protected groups eg girls.

We all know who is male and female so it's dead easy to gender segregate and for the tiny number of trans people then they can have separate arrangements on a case by case basis. Strappling great people who were male clearly should not be competing in women's races. It's ludicrous.

I chose single sex schooling for all the children just as I had. It works well and the sports tend then of course to be gender segregated too.

Lemonjello you are only telling half the story there. The reverse is also true - girls will be allowed to infiltrate boys sports/accomodation/toilets etc. Or is that ok because they are just boys?

Hugely unfair on the girls.

Segregation by "gender" is meaningless - we may as well segregate by "people who like cats and people who do not"

Show me identifying as an OAP. I now demand my pension and bus pass.

Helllo user

Boys deserve their own spaces too, and clearly many boys especialyl teenagers will not want to get changed in front of a girl.

The focus on the other way around is becasue:

• The risks to girls from boys (statistically) is much higher than the other way around. Girls tend to be smaller and less strong than boys, and sexual violence is overwhelmingly perpetrated by males - including in schools
• In sport, if transboys compete with boys, at any time over puberty, they are pretty much going to lose. if transgirls compete against girls, at any time over puberty, they are pretty much going to win. As shown in this story
• In short, don't be so silly