Great article - 'The Death of Women's Sports'

[SpinsterOfArts]

T Nation is a site for people involved in strength training. I came across it as a newbie to powerlifting looking for tips. Lifting is one of those activities where the physiological differences between men and women are immediately apparent.

Anyway, I wanted to share this very recent article by Dani Shugart that I found there. It's well-written, and given the current ideological climate, I'd also say that it's brave. Well done, Dani!

www.t-nation.com/opinion/trans-athletes-the-death-of-womens-sports

A few extracts:

"Most people don't care how anyone else identifies. If you're trans, most people want you to live your life however you see fit, just as long as it doesn't hurt them.

But that's the crux of the situation. If a biological woman invests a lot of time preparing for a competition, and then the playing field becomes significantly un-leveled, it does hurt her.

It hurts her chances of getting a scholarship, earning a title she worked for, turning pro, making it to the Olympics, winning a cash prize, setting a prestigious record, or in certain cases, it may irreparably damage her body, depending on the sport."

"This issue is NOT about whether you love or hate trans people; it's about the death of women's sports.

Nobody is saying trans people should not compete. The more people involved in sports the better, but the clear solution is separate divisions. Division in sports is not discriminatory; it never has been. Most sports already have divisions including sex, weight, and age.

If biological women get fed up and stop participating, then trans athletes might just be competing amongst themselves anyway.

I know what's coming though. If you're a person who's blinded by social justice and political correctness, you're going to see my position as anti-trans. But if that's the only conclusion you come to, maybe you need to examine your anti-female ideology."

Thanks OP, I have shared this with my sporty friends, it really is good.

I was in a twitter thread where someone asked about young people who have grown up trans, been through puberty blockers etc and how they, surely, won't have an advantage in female sports as adults. I gave my usual reply that there will never be an elite athlete who has done this as elite sports starts in childhood with total immersion and commitment to training, building skills, strength, fitness etc. A child who spends their childhood trailing round therapists and doctors, being medicated, operated on, navel gazing about their identity has no opportunity to develop sports skills.

I suddenly thought, perhaps for the first time, how much this whole trans rights to compete in the group they identify as , is all about the adults who want to switch to competing in the opposite sex group now. It's never going to be an issue for the younger trans group growing up. Has Jazz Jennings ever so much as hit a tennis ball? Not trans but a childhood denied - Desmond is amazing and Lactatia - is there any evidence they have ever kicked a ball, learnt to swim or even climbed a tree?

I think I'm trying to say it really is a power/invasion and domination thing for the adult trans trying to make a point now. An MRA issue really. I don't know what it means for the future but it has absolutely nothing to do with the rights of trans youth as they won't be interested or capable of joining in anyway.

I don't think I can write my final conclusion on this as it will earn a deletion.

You're absolutely right. I think it's telling that some of the most high-profile cases (McKinnon, Hubbard) are in older, 'Masters'' divisions, and would be absolutely mediocre competitors if they were in the men's category.

Young people who make being trans the focus of their entire identity, like Jennings and Madigan, don't seem at all interested in sport. That said, there have been cases in the US of male high school athletes deciding to identify as female and compete with the girls - and according to the article, in 17 states they can do this just by self-identifying, no testosterone requirements or anything else. Given the importance of sports scholarships over there, this seems profoundly unfair. And also a way of subverting Title IX, which is meant to give boys and girls equal sporting opportunities in school.

And also a way of subverting Title IX, which is meant to give boys and girls equal sporting opportunities in school.

Indeed it’s rather chilling that Title IX is simultaneously being used to defend the right of women to have single sex sports and spaces (Selina soules case), AND being used to allow post-pubertal males to compete and win against women (dear colleague letter). Obama why....!!!

I really hope the Supreme Court takes this up.

That was a very refreshing read, especially if you follow it through to the Facebook comments. This is after all a set of people very concerned with bodily reality, and they ain't buying it! Lots of facts and figures regarding musculo-skeletal differences etc, and commenters were not just trotting out the usual MRA tropes. Thank you for linking this spinster.

Great article thank you for sharing.

Seems like someone's not happy here:

twitter.com/MichealConraoi/status/1186040754495463425

was in a twitter thread where someone asked about young people who have grown up trans, been through puberty blockers etc and how they, surely, won't have an advantage in female sports as adults.

Perhaps counterintuitively, prepubertal castration of animals results in taller individuals, as without the testosterone growth plates in males are slower to close. So a bullock will be taller than its entire bull twin, for example. Genes matter; chromosomes mattter.
A bullock isn't the same as a cow.
A gelding isn't a mare.
And so on.