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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Winter Olympics

12 replies

user1471464218 · 05/02/2022 19:04

Are there any transgender athletes in the Winter Olympics? Specifically, are there any men entered in the women's events?

I was surprised and disappointed at how under the radar the transgender athletes in the summer Olympics were.....even Laurel Hubbard.

OP posts:

MNHQ

HebeMumsnet · 05/02/2022 19:56

Evening, OP. Just letting you know, we've moved this to our Feminism: Sex and Gender board.

Plasmodesmata · 05/02/2022 20:14

OP I don't know, sorry. But I was watching women's ski jumping today. It is only the 3rd time that women have been allowed to do this at the Olympics, before 2014 it wasn't allowed.

Theeyeballsinthesky · 05/02/2022 20:20

Well we do have the first nb athlete apparently

www.independent.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/timothy-leduc-figure-skater-non-binary-b2006022.html

Answers on a postcard as to how exactly Timothy is nb and presenting a different narrative

VelvetChairGirl · 05/02/2022 21:14

Dont know dont care they should be boycotted anyway because they allow them to take womens places and because china.

FannyCann · 05/02/2022 21:17

@Theeyeballsinthesky

I think it means they both get to wear lipstick. And despite defying gender roles weirdly it is only one person doing the heavy lifting. I can't imagine why.

FannyCann · 05/02/2022 21:25

I was only half watching and not paying full attention but watching the opening ceremony last night I picked up two references to diversity and being fully inclusive in the speeches. It felt like a #NoDebate warning.

ErrolTheDragon · 05/02/2022 22:36

[quote FannyCann]@Theeyeballsinthesky

I think it means they both get to wear lipstick. And despite defying gender roles weirdly it is only one person doing the heavy lifting. I can't imagine why. [/quote]
Almost like there's something other than 'gender' going on, isn't it? The one doing the lifting seems to be a very slightly gender nonconforming male.

Wanderingowl · 06/02/2022 10:57

@Theeyeballsinthesky

Well we do have the first nb athlete apparently

www.independent.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/timothy-leduc-figure-skater-non-binary-b2006022.html

Answers on a postcard as to how exactly Timothy is nb and presenting a different narrative

I've always had NB's pegged as attention seekers, people who make a very, very ordinary trait that everyone has as absolutely nobody conforms to all gender stereotypes, and makes out like it's a super extra speshul trait about them and them alone. But this guy is an Olympic athlete. One of the absolute best people in the world at a complex and beautiful sport.

How is being an Olympian not enough for him to make him feel special????? On Friday he got to walk out in the opening ceremony with his team. What an experience! Only a proportional handful of people to have ever lived have gotten to do that. And he got to. A mixture of his natural talent, hard work and sheer luck to have won the birth lottery of being born in a place where learning to figure skate is possible and having a family that could afford to invest in what is actually a very expensive sport, has given him the ability to do something that most people can only dream of. And it's not enough. It doesn't make him stand out enough. It doesn't make him special enough.

All it tells me is that he is not good enough to win. Not good enough to go down in the history books as an all time great. He isn't good enough to stand out among the best. And instead of finding satisfaction in his status as one of the best, he has to pout and find a magic way of standing out and going down in the history books. So he claims to be a gender special instead.

I mean not to be funny, but he's a male figure skater. All of the men in his sport are somewhat gender non-conforming. Because at entry level, most figure skaters are female. Nearly every single man who figure skates, would have gone through some degree of being questioned about or teased as a boy for committing to their sport. Just like nearly all male ballet dancers, gymnasts and cheerleaders would have. (That's not a reflection on their sports, strengths athleticism or manliness, just a reflection on how our society views these particular activities as more feminine.) But all of the men he is competing with have gender non conformed just by being in their sport and the only song and dance they are making about it, is the song they chose to choreograph their routine to. They must all have some degree of low level contempt for him and his attempt to upstage everyone else who worked to get there.

BootsAndRoots · 06/02/2022 11:02

It is indeed historic that a bearded male figure skater has self declared himself to be non-binary.

I'm sure with the 100+ genders that the BBC/Stonewall have defined that there are at least another 99 athletes who could make history too.

OldCrone · 06/02/2022 11:10

My first thought was that this he is probably gay, but from a conservative or religious community which is openly homophobic, and that being nonbinary is a way to trans away the gay. His Wikipedia page seems to suggest that this might be the case.

LeDuc is the first openly gay skater to win the pairs title at the U.S. Championships.

When they first came out as gay at age 18, fellow Christians attempted to make them straight through conversion therapy, which LeDuc rejected. Their family later came to accept their identity; LeDuc remarked, "Now my parents walk with me in Trans Pride marches and in Pride marches."

InvisibleDragon · 06/02/2022 11:22

Wandering
I've always had NB's pegged as attention seekers, people who make a very, very ordinary trait that everyone has as absolutely nobody conforms to all gender stereotypes, and makes out like it's a super extra speshul trait about them and them alone.

Maybe, but not always. From what I've seen, there is pressure on young people to identify as non-binary if they are in any way gender non-comforming. Has a conversation with one young man who was upset because he just wanted to be a gay man and wear whatever he wanted (liked flamboyant stuff) without being read as trans / non-binary. Which, given that 10 years ago he would have been read as obviously gay (which is what he wanted) doesn't seem unreasonable.

As far as I'm concerned, Timothy Deluc can wear as much makeup as he pleases. He's still competing in the correct sex-based category. Although it's pretty crappy that there's no longer space in the male category for men who like makeup and glitter. Gender woo is such toxic nonsense.

InvisibleDragon · 06/02/2022 11:23

Also, this reminds me that I have the whole of Yuri!! On ice to watch ...

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