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

TransplantsArePlants
And longlostpal's 'parting shot' about "thinking of the children" actually boils my bones.

The thing is that longlostpal ignores the damage that transistion is doing to a young child's/adolescent's body.

I played rugby at school. The girls were not allowed to play against the boys past about age 12 I think due to health and safety concerns. How the hell are men allowed to play on women’s teams these days?

This is insane and so wholly unfair afuckingain on female athletes!!
I reached international level in my chosen contact sport, playing against women. I would have refused to play against a man transitioning to a woman on safety grounds.
And i met plenty of women who were capable of hitting hard.
This makes me so

Long lost the thing is it doesn't just impact the "winner" who doesn't win it also has an impact on "sports for sports sake". Women will stop participating because they fear injury or because they aren't comfortable with the changing facilities. Women's sport has made great steps forward in terms of profile in recent years - professional status is a possibility for women in an increasing number of sports but if biological men can compete that will all vanish. All the hard work undone because who will fund "female" sport when men are taking part? They already fund male sport.

Mixed rugby was compulsory at my school when I was 11. One boy had started puberty much earlier than average, whichever team he was placed in always won, mostly because the rest of us were petrified of going near him. Tackling him was suicidal, and when he tackled me I was limping for the next three days afterwards. Biological sex has to be the primary consideration when separating groups into leagues in all sports involving physical strength.

And my parting shot aka long is that this thread has brought a focus on Women's Rugby. And maybe a poss solution. Meto way upthread suggested that females should walk out and refuse to compete against males who can only win against females (lets call them transathletes for now).

Now I can see how a female athlete in an individual event wouldn't want to walk away, but a Team can. And Women's Rugby has the mentality to do this - and the injurious statistics/evidence to back it up.

Women's Rugby and it's global acceptance has broken through many boundaries and 'unseen' but evident male hierarchical bs. Really, I don't play now (mid 50s - it would self harm to play now) but I would walk off the field with my Team to keep these cheaters off the field. A big part of me would want to stay and play with the aim of taking them down - but for the greater good I'd walk away.

I play rugby.

As a woman, my relatively unusual height, weight and speed give me an advantage as a FEMALE player, but if I was to play against men - even very average men - I'd be knocked on my arse or even seriously hurt.

Let me play my sport of choice against people that I have a fair chance of matching, please. I play for fun: if I'm going to have the shit beaten out of me on a regular basis or even badly injured, it will force me to stop.

For context: I'm 5'9, weigh 75kg, and was a sprinter when younger, so I play second row or wing forward, where height and speed give you an advantage, but also have enough weight to make myself useful in a scrum.

Male backs rarely weigh less than 80kg, most male forwards who play in the positions I play often weigh in excess of 95kg. I couldn't put myself up against that, it would be suicide.

Proposals already being put forward to do away with sex segregated sports in favour of play where you feel most comfortable.

twitter.com/GameTimeCT/status/1003739370736816129?s=20

Sorry- wrong link.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/04/24/transgender-students-should-not-have-declare-birth-gender-applying/amp/

I'd be interested to see how accepting of this sort of thing American Colleges actually are in awarding sports scholarships. Is there any information available? It's not something that had occurred to me until I read it here but it's yet another depressing addition to the problem.

The college application thing is complex in the US. It isn't just the sports scholarships (they are rare enough), it is the complete application. So a kid who will get into one university no problem on her grades, might get accepted to a much more competitive university based on academics and athletics and other stuff (playing the basoon or french horn pretty well would be good too). The girl who "came third" may never run track in university or may only do it for a year - but she might be accepted to a university that she really wants because she is an excellent track star and has won prizes.

DD's friend is very sporty - best sport is probably crew. They are in junior year (penultimate year). She wants to get acceptance to the best university for her with the best financial aid package. So she is sending video clips of her best crew times/performances etc to the various unis. The girls who were pushed out of placement probably knew their likely place, there may even have been scouts from colleges at the meet. Their parents might have been recording the race to add it to a college application some day. They can hardly add it and say "but I would have come first if it wasn't for ... "

and that is apart from the intrinsic unfairness of the entire thing - easily seen on the faces of those girls. Also if a boy identifying as a girl breaks a record in the school - well even if no other boy identifies as a girl for years after, the record still stands, the name is up on the board and the next few years of girls who may well be breaking records don't get the recognition.

Not only is this unfair but it is deeply troubling that yet again the solution to a social issue of "how do we deal with this complex thing?" Is "I know! Let's get the women and girls to suck it up!"

Ridiculous.

Ad to the poster who said that if we had 'gender' equality then switching 'gender' would not matter..thats correct really. But we do not have equality, not even close. And even if we were totally equal, biology means males and females should be seperate in sport else the females do not stand a chance.

I dn't blame the boys for this, but I do think they will eb aware of what they are doing. I blame the adults in it all, whoever is making these ridiculous decisions. The sport thing really does wake up a lot of men. Men who dislike cheating and can see that this is clearly cheating. The identifying as disabled and entering the paralympics anaology is absolutely correct. There would be total outrage and I doubt anyone would defend the cheaters. But its only girls affected by this, so the excuses come

Not only is this unfair but it is deeply troubling that yet again the solution to a social issue of "how do we deal with this complex thing?" Is "I know! Let's get the women and girls to suck it up!"

As Caitlin Moran says, if you want to think critically about any perceived imbalances in society, ask yourself: 'are the boys doing it?'

If the answer is 'no', then it's likely a massive crock of shit.

I don’t really have a strong view on whether sports should be segregated by sex or gender. I can see arguments for both.

I hope you come back to this thread as I am actually very interested in what your argument is for sport being segregated by 'gender'? Surely segregating by something inside your head is pointless when the reason for segregation is biology? I am trying and cannot think of any reason at all for it.

Those who feel that women/men should be participating in the same sports, do you feel that it's acceptable for Fallon Fox, a transwoman, to be competing against women in MMA? One woman was slammed for claiming she wouldn't fight Fox because she felt Fox had an unfair advantage. I can't even begin to imagine how I'd feel if I had trained so fucking hard to compete against my own sex and then have to come up against men. Also, those who feel that there is no advantage to transwomen then why are they 'winning' and breaking long standing records?

I think you can be outraged by this and NOT be Trans phobic

I am always calling out posts in here

And this is a fucking disgrace .

This is the reality the youth of today are screaming for, till they grow up and see how stupid it is.

Perhaps we need a few horses and cheetahs to start identifying as human and maybe when the men's world records are no longer held by men there will be a reaction.

Transmen are at a disadvantage it they enter male sporting competitions, as they are still biologically Female, and their body is different physically. Hardly fair comparison at all.

So a 443rd place boy is still a better athlete than the 1st place girl? Really?

Maybe everybody competing together regardless of gender/sex is the right way to do it. By having female only competitions your basically saying that they are inferior to boys so have to have their own special competitions so they can have a turn at winning.

By having female only competitions your basically saying that they are inferior to boys so have to have their own special competitions so they can have a turn at winning.

No. You’re saying that women are smaller and physically different to men. If you want to say inferior then that reflects your own opinion. Different.
Would you say that a team of eight year old boys playing rugby was inferior to a team of 18 year olds? Or would you sensibly note that letting an eight year old and an eighteen year old who are physically very different in strength and size is madness and likely to lead to serious injury or death?

And would you pat the 8 year olds on the head and tell them they were inferior and now have a chance of a turn at winning?

Yanbu

This is ridiculous

Good idea grumble

By having female only competitions your basically saying that they are inferior to boys so have to have their own special competitions so they can have a turn at winning

No. You’re acknowledging physiological differences and allowing women equality by giving them an opportunity to compete.

Great post Bowlofbabelfish