Tom Daley in The Times "trans women athletes have to have testosterone levels which are often lower than natural female athletes, so it's hard to compete"

[Sarkyharky]

Is this true?

I thought the testosterone levels in competing trans women was higher than most women's, and has recently been halved to reflect that.
Plus those born male have the benefit of male physiology, which must (and isn't?) taken into account.
I wonder if Tom is speaking with the confidence of someone whose athletic success will never be threatened by competitors born the opposite sex.

How transphobic of Tom to assume that all transwomen athletes have had their testicles removed.

But I thought they are natural females.

Also sorry, I'm in a particularly bitter mood today. If that comment was off do report it please!

I'm assuming Tom Daley knows a lot about elite sport. How can someone in his position actually believe that it's harder for men to compete with women?

So many questions.

If testosterone is so important then why are we letting 'natural' (Tom's word! men compete against 'natural' women in the first place?

If a 'natural' woman doesn't have testosterone levels at the cut off level, can she take drugs to raise it?

Why are men who aren't affected by any of these issues, and can blithely carry on unchallenged by a sex that is stronger that they are, given air space for their privileged views? And yet white feminists, yes, even lesbian white feminists, are told they must check their privilege?

Olympic rules (I believe) were saying Testosterone rates of 10 were fine

Which is at the bottom of the male range

And much higher than the female range

Yes I thought Tom's use of the word "natural" might ruffle a few feathers.

ardant

Your comment was spot on

Because Patriarchy.

Man can question, can use "bigoted" terminology without risk.
Women should know their place.

"you end up doing sport because you love it, but you can't easily compete. I hope that changes"

OH THE IRONY

WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN ATHLETES TOM?!

I wonder if Tom would like to compete against someone who took performance enhancing drugs for decades, built up their strength etc and then reduced their level for a year before competing against him. Would that be fair?

They've done a study that even after 3 years of testosterone supression when compared against trans men (so people who've been taking large doses of testosterone) trans womens muscles were still much more powerful

Of course he wouldn't. He's full of crap and his article has given me the rage.

I assume, when he says, 'often lower than natural females' he's referring to female athletes with conditions that raise their testosterone levels above that of most women. Caster Semenya, Dutee Chand etc.

Sharey link for you @Sarkyharky

"In sport, he concedes, the governing bodies haven’t yet come to terms with those who want to change sex. “It’s hard because if you are male to female trans you have to have a certain level of testosterone, which is often a lot lower than the natural female athletes. You end up doing sport because you love it, but you can’t easily compete. I hope that changes. Team GB had the most open number of LGBTQ+ athletes in the Olympics in 2016.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-daley-whos-the-daddy-lance-and-i-dont-know-ourselves-5ksxjw6kq?shareToken=8ebee0fa7b6f248587d1a314e2828a3a

“It’s hard because if you are male to female trans you have to have a certain level of testosterone, which is often a lot lower than the natural female athletes. You end up doing sport because you love it, but you can’t easily compete. I hope that changes. Team GB had the most open number of LGBTQ+ athletes in the Olympics in 2016.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-daley-whos-the-daddy-lance-and-i-dont-know-ourselves-5ksxjw6kq

I find it hard to take anything Tom Daley had to say about women seriously after reading the interview with him and his husband where they were surprised that they couldn’t get a womb for hire as easily as they thought they would - the entitlement was astonishing.

I assume, when he says, 'often lower than natural females' he's referring to female athletes with conditions that raise their testosterone levels above that of most women. Caster Semenya, Dutee Chand etc.

I didn't assume that

Oh, Tom. I saw him on tv the other day talking about how homosexuality is still a crime in many Commonwealth nations, he had the potential to be a strong and effective voice for gay rights, it sounds like he’s unquestioningly swallowed transagenda rhetoric though. I’d optimistically file this under ‘naive’ rather than ‘wilfully misogynist’ for now and hope that he is open minded enough to listen to women’s voices.

Full article share token here www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-daley-whos-the-daddy-lance-and-i-dont-know-ourselves-5ksxjw6kq?shareToken=46c071f9b417132cf143b57ae93de67a it’s a throw away paragraph towards the end.

Gah! This conflation of LGB and T.

Your sexual orientation doesn't make you want to cheat at sports by competing against people naturally smaller and weaker than you.

Him whining that the surrogate would legally be the mother whilst wearing a pair of Oh Baby fun glasses didn't change my opinion of him one bit.

Tosser.

"you end up doing sport because you love it, but you can't easily compete. I hope that changes"

But isn't this the case for all who participate in sport?
Only the best end up elite athletes? Why should trans women be allowed to have an unfair advantage?

you end up doing sport because you love it, but you can't easily compete

The complete and inability to see how this applies to women competing against trans identified males is ironic to say the least.

And just another example of society's expectation that women should be content with a walk on part in men's productions of The amazing story of me

I mean he's using those athletes with hyperandrogenism to set the bar. Which is ridiculous, they have hyperandrogenism.

I don't know where he's got his info from as it's almost certainly bullshit. I'm crap at googling these things so wouldn't be able to back that up though.

The complete and inability to see how this applies to women competing against trans identified males is ironic to say the least.

And just another example of society's expectation that women should be content with a walk on part in men's productions of The amazing story of me

Yes exactly. I imagine the thought that it might be unfair to women never once occurred to him.