Sport again - Paralympics

[andyoldlabour]

It would appear that Valentina Petrillo, the Italian transgender sprinter is eyeing up some medals at the European Paralympic Championships starting 1st June. Petrillo won 11 National men's titles between 2016 and 2018. The Tokyo Paralympics start on 24th August, so I wonder if Petrillo has qualified for those events?

www.womenarehuman.com/first-male-athlete-with-male-documents-to-compete-in-womens-sports-category-at-national-level/?fbclid=IwAR0L86422AE3M0bpZEigJ7-BBaiy4dM8mW64-MrTOnWXRD3KbN85DxzdglE

Weirdly, you cannot identify as disabled and the Paralympics committee are exceptionally strict about what counts as disabled. I remember a few years ago a woman with conversion syndrome was disqualified from the wheelchair racing because her inability to use her legs was due to a mental illness as opposed to a physical impairment, and that wasn't good enough to count as disabled. Now, it was true...her legs definitely were very well defined and it was probably the case that even if she felt she couldn't walk she was still using the muscles (I think a doctor did a test and said that when she hoisted herself into bed she was still using her leg muscles, even if she wasn't aware of doing this.) But just think of the difference...a woman has an actual diagnosed condition, but because it's psychological her disability doesn't count. She wasn't malingering (as far as anyone can tell) or cheating. And yet you can self identify as a different sex and that's fine.

@StellaAndCrow

Wrong photo! This one.

Just came to post that picture. The physical advantage is obvious when side by side. There’s very few pictures of them with female athletes

This makes me so cross.
Why are women so expendable?

I don't understand how anyone can think this is in any way fair!

Petrillo clearly enjoys his so called success and beating the other women. An arrogance rather like Rachel McKinnon.

They are pathetic.

@StellaAndCrow

The photograph reminds me of a thread pointing out how often articles in favour of trans athletes show them photographed alone. When photographed with their competitors, the difference is so obvious.

Yes indeed it is. What I don’t get though is why hose two women are smiling at his side. What is the point of competing if you simply don’t care that a man can rock up and nick the gold off you?

What I don’t get though is why hose two women are smiling at his side.
What is the point of competing if you simply don’t care that a man can rock up and nick the gold off you?

Fear
Adrenaline
Socialization

Also, notice how he's pulling them in...

Hold on a minute.

Does the Paralympics not have the same rules as the Olympics?

I mean the Olympic ones are shit. But don't they apply?

Well that shows up in neon writing who the Olympics cares about.

It's all about able bodied men. If it's true there are no requirements.

Google tells me the testosterone limit is the same.

Slightly less enraged.

Rage still for sport in general obv.

I have sometimes wondered whether the way it will go in sport is to move to a system much more like the Paralympics. From what I understand it, there are different classes and, as described upthread, quite strict approaches to who is in which class based on medical and functional assessment. If there are no longer meaningful sex-based categories for sport, perhaps there could be different classes based on eg lung capacity, heart size, muscle mass and so. It would be interesting to see if those in each of these new classes had anything else in common

Yes testosterone reduction is necessary in Paralympics . However as for the Olympics, it is reduced to a level almost 5 times higher than the average level in a female body . Moreover, all the so called "research" comparing performance difference consists of a study of a handful of trans athletes who self identified a drop in performance after taking cross sex hormones and also compared performances recorded many years apart. Needle no consideration was ever taken into whether this drop in performance was anything like the difference between male and female athletes' performances. All subsequent research has proven little or no real difference in athletic performance after lowering testosterone . The advantage of having a male body therefore aallows,in this case a 47 year old veteran athlete to beat young female athletes who are at the very peak of their athletic careers. Yeah for inclusivity! Sorry girls you're just not good enough!

Needle? Needless to say,...

334bu

"As a Paralympian where fairness is ensured by a very complex series of categories and handicaps, it is especially appalling that a competitor should ignore the advantage a male body gives them and denigrate their opponents because they don't have this physical advantage."

Well said. I think this post highlights the absolutely ridiculous situation we have arrived at.