To think Laurel Hubbard should not be competing against other women

[Belle82]

I know I am going to get ripped apart for this.

I have no problem with the transgender community, that is your life/body and I am not one to judge anyone else, do what makes you happy.

There is something fundamentally wrong about a person who is biologically a man competing against a woman in sport as significant as weightlifting.
I am not taking anything away from women weightlifters, however when competing in that sport, a person who was born a man will always have an unfair advantage over a woman.

I am all for equal rights but it seems political correctness has now put us in a position that we will only consider the equal rights of those in the transgender community. What happens to the equal rights of all the other women who have worked extremely hard to get to the olympics who should be competing against biological women.

There needs to be clearer cut criteria on entrance requirements to every sport, to give every person the equal rights they deserve.

My heart goes out to all the other women competing who I’m sure must be somewhat disheartened about their chances of success now they are competing against a biological man.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/29/ioc-praises-weightlifter-laurel-hubbard-ahead-of-transgender-athletes-olympic-debut

YANBU - what can we do to correct this unfairness? Is there a petition?

@FurierTransform

Everyone suddenly agrees with this, but women on the whole have not been on the side of the (predominantly male) voices who have been pointing out how ridiculous this has been getting for years ...

Yes, Martina Navratilova, Sharron Davies and others spoke out and were vilified, the Guardian called Navratilova transphobic, news organisations like the BBC and CNN giving air time to abusive males like Veronica Ivy instead of balanced reporting etc.

It’s been on the cards for years and anyone who claimed it wasn’t an issue was dismissed or abused. Now it’s there for all to see those who have had their eyes open need to go back and appreciate all those who tried to make everyone see years ago but were kept quiet by those we are meant to trust.

@FurierTransform

Everyone suddenly agrees with this, but women on the whole have not been on the side of the (predominantly male) voices who have been pointing out how ridiculous this has been getting for years ...

That's rubbish. Many women (and some men) have been fighting this for years. Women have been threatened and have lost work and jobs over speaking up. Have had the police knocking at their door. Careers in tatters. Ever wondered why you never hear from Germaine Greer any more?

Very few men, and specifically sportsmen, have spoken out against allowing men into women's sports; Daley Thompson being an exception who has been supporting women fighting this shit for a few years now.

Testosterone is irrelevant.
You could remove every molecule of testosterone in a man’s body and it would do NOTHING to shrink his shoulder girdle, femurs, lung capacity, cardiac output, lean mass/fat ratio, oxygen carrying capacity, or lower his centre of gravity, change his pelvis, gait, carrying angle, proportion of fast twitch muscle fibres- need I go on?
He will retain all the advantages of being male, and is therefore beneath contempt for cheating if he enters a women’s sports event.
The IOC is destroying women’s sport to pander to men. In 20 years, every country will have to enter teams of men to all women’s events, to have any hope of winning.

Surely this has to be some massive big pisstake?
Surely he/she will jump out and shout haha fooled you all whilst promoting a range of sports clothing or something? So a great marketing strategy.
Otherwise the world has gone mad.

I can understand why some people want this hidden away in the naughty corner.

Cognitive dissonance hurts. 98% of people saying NO must shake your confidence in the belief that all right thinking people support inclusion of males in women’s sports and only a tiny number of Nazis, evangelicals and bigots disagree.

@Potteringshed

YABU to post here when there is a whole board for these conversations.

The whole point of AIBU is that we can vote.

And the vote as it stands does rather indicate that OP has a lot of support (97%).

Apologies if someone else has already made this point, but I'm in a hurry and haven't time to RTFT.

TBH I have a fear that Laurel Hubbard will deliberately fail so the narrative will then become 'See, no unfair advantage'

I also think this too. It's already happened in amatuer sports, then lo and behold, after a while, who wins!

He is cheating and by that same token NZ is cheating.

It's a travesty this is happening. I can't bring myself to watch any of this Olympics knowing how misogynistic the IOC is.

I know it's difficult because there are many great athletes who are in no way to blame for this but I'm voting with my feet and not giving any of it my viewing.

I can't have any respect for the Olympics at this point knowing they care so little about fair competition for women.

Just posting to note that voting is 97% YANBU, before this thread gets moved to the naughty corner.

YANBU

Emperor's New clothes stuff. Women are being gaslight to believe that if we speak put about the unfairness were bigots

I honestly hope this stays on this board and is covered in the media.

This week is going to be very unpleasant afa the Olympics is concerned. Athletics is dirty as all hell and Hubbard in the weightlifting. The truly rotten side of sport.

YANBU. We are being gaslighted on a massive scale with this shit. Forced into silence or we get called bigots. Its fucking appalling.

If you are a woman, and you specifically opened this thread to attempt to silence a woman concerned about women, be ashamed of yourselves.

The female Olympians are so inspirational and play a hugely important role in helping girls and women get into sport. I think its a huge betrayal to invite males to compete in women's events.

I completely agree.

Whilst it would be a travesty for the other competitors, I hope Laurel wins. Shining a light on this issue is the only way to really demonstrate how inequitable this is. I fear if Laurel doesn’t do very well, there will be a chorus of ‘see, there was nothing to worry about’.

And I hope this thread is allowed to remain in AIBU. Loads of stuff can that could be posted elsewhere.

If you have 56 seconds please watch this video. Not so much for the race, which was a foregone conclusion, but for the faces of the defeated female competitors at the end. They say what a million words can't.
www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cece+telfer&ru=%2fvideos%2fsearch%3fq%3dcece%2520telfer%26qs%3dLS%26form%3dQBVDMH%26sp%3d2%26ghc%3d1%26pq%3dcece%2520te%26sk%3dMM1%26sc%3d8-7%26cvid%3dC8A29585B5F742F08A8F3BB39B55DDD2&view=detail&mid=B06E6F8C36D913E7EB0AB06E6F8C36D913E7EB0A&&FORM=VDRVRV

I think @FurierTransform is one of those misogynistic people that only hears men’s voices. Lesbians were the first people to flag this, because they were the people hit first. Men have never been the predominant voice in this debate, not on the side of women anyway.

@Babdoc

Testosterone is irrelevant. You could remove every molecule of testosterone in a man’s body and it would do NOTHING to shrink his shoulder girdle, femurs, lung capacity, cardiac output, lean mass/fat ratio, oxygen carrying capacity, or lower his centre of gravity, change his pelvis, gait, carrying angle, proportion of fast twitch muscle fibres- need I go on? He will retain all the advantages of being male, and is therefore beneath contempt for cheating if he enters a women’s sports event. The IOC is destroying women’s sport to pander to men. In 20 years, every country will have to enter teams of men to all women’s events, to have any hope of winning.

I concur. In two decades there will be all male women's teams.

Women's records will be wiped from history.

Women will (and already being) denied places on women's teams. Women will not be getting funding. Girls and women will not be encouraged to take part in sports. Some women will not be able to take part in sports against males.

Mediocre male athletes will be the new breed of elite "women" athletes.

There's a reason why there's no mix gender boxing match. So of course women should only be competing against women!

It takes a certain type of person to derive enjoyment from cheating.

Speaks volumes about the sort of person LH really is.

I hope that MN allow this thread to stay in AIBU as this issue needs a much wider audience.

419 votes.

97% YANBU

What do you think the best solution is for transgender athletes? They should compete with the gender they’re born into? Not be allowed at all? It seems unfair to say Laurel can’t compete. Maybe there needs to be extra categories

@Babdoc

Testosterone is irrelevant. You could remove every molecule of testosterone in a man’s body and it would do NOTHING to shrink his shoulder girdle, femurs, lung capacity, cardiac output, lean mass/fat ratio, oxygen carrying capacity, or lower his centre of gravity, change his pelvis, gait, carrying angle, proportion of fast twitch muscle fibres- need I go on? He will retain all the advantages of being male, and is therefore beneath contempt for cheating if he enters a women’s sports event. The IOC is destroying women’s sport to pander to men. In 20 years, every country will have to enter teams of men to all women’s events, to have any hope of winning.

Yes I agree - it is the process of going through a male puberty that gives him his advantage . That never disappears .

The Olympics committee?