I was beaten to third place in a running race by a trans woman

[Athleticpotential]

It's a very low key local running race, neither of us are usually contenders, but a combination of circumstances meant the field was such that we finished 3rd and 4th.

The prize is a bottle of cheap wine, it's not about that.

I know her to chat to at races and I like her. It's not common knowledge that she's trans, she enters races as a woman. She is very masculine to look at, but TBH, until recently I thought she was an unfortunate woman, I had no idea.

So in the scheme of things it doesn't matter, but it does....?

Should I "do" anything? What?

I've reported one post and I'd encourage anyone else who wants to to do the same.

With respect, fuck off with your CIS

we don’t need anything adding to describe what we are. We’re women. Adult Female Humans.

the term CIS is a term dreamt up by men to erode our space/rights.

I don't think trans people are plotting to overthrow cis people, I just don't think trans women are really female from a biological perspective and I think this should have consequences where biology matters. I am happy to be polite, but I don't think it is actually kindness to women (or even to trans people, frankly) to pretend that biology is an irrelevance.

No, I think males ‘overthrew’ females a long fucking time ago and this is just symptomatic of an age old trend.

I don’t think this but I do think sports should be separated by sex to be fair

I did think ‘cis’ wasn’t really used on here as many find it offensive

And I’m not ‘cis’- I don’t identify with any gender because I find it all very limiting.

🙄
some of you are so weird. You think a man’s hurt feelings matter more than women being discriminated against

Ach, I never bother reporting anything. Sunlight and all that.

And @Ntsure what would be wrong with having separate TW/TM categories? Or having an open category?

cis isn’t offensive, and it’s useful when having a discussion about trans women (because yes I believe trans women ARE women, so I will refer to them as such so how else would you like me to distinguish for the purpose of discussion)
no one actually thinks it’s offensive it’s a pretence to infer that trans women aren’t women.
Some people have an issue with trans women competing in female sports- fair concern, plenty of room for discussion on that. Others on this site clearly take issue with everything trans people do, insist on calling them “men pretending to be women” etc

Are people really allowed to say things like “proper women that is” and “men pretending to be women” on this site and claim it’s NOT transphobia?

I dunno, but this constant policing of women's language plus the endless demand for self-policing is exhausting and silencing and it hampers women from even describing and discussing what the problems are, much less expressing our feelings about them (which are not always sweetness and light, any more than they are for any other contenious issue here)

You've only got to read the bewildering definiton I linked to on Wikipedia to see that there's a big problem. No-one who didn't already know could have used that definiton to figure out that transwomen are born physically male.

And I still have to work out patiently in my head what physical sex a "transwoman" is and then find some complicated way to express it which isn't simply "man" or "male". It's like that experiment where someone writes the word "blue" in red ink and "red" in blue ink. Most people naturally read the colour they see and not the word as written. Women are being tongue-tied.

Though I think that we are allowed to use the terms you quote above as long as it's general not individual. Callling it transphopbia doesn't make it transphobia.

morescrummythanyummy- nothing would be wrong with that.

Congratulations on what should have rightly been third place, OP.
This definitely matters. Amateur sport is important to many people and allowing men to compete against women has consequences. For example qualification for the major marathons. There are only so many places. If there are more time qualifiers than places then the fastest runners in each age and sex category get in. To those saying it doesn't matter at an amateur level, you're wrong. It matters to tens of thousands of people. If I missed out on the Boston Marathon, or the London Marathon, or any of them, because a man cheated, it would really, really matter to me.
I would complain in this instance (making it clear it's the principle of it, not the bottle of wine, you're bothered about).

I find it so

you can use it for you but I don’t accept the term for me

Are runners normally gracious and supportive when they overtake? I suspect that tells you that she knew she should not have been in this race, but that normally being in a low position doesn't draw attention to it.

Yes, absolutely they are actually, at this level, even those who are unable to speak will make a tumbs up or similar

cis isn’t offensive, and it’s useful when having a discussion about trans women

Oh, I'm all for sauce for the gander and sauce for the goose. Just cos you happen to think cis isn't offensive that doesn't make it inoffensive. And if you want to call women "cis" then I can call them "proper", though maybe I'd settle for "material".

AmaryllisNightAndDay Referring to non trans women as “proper women” infers that trans women are what, improper women? Not women at all?
calling cis women, cis, isn’t anything other than a description there’s nothing derogatory or negative about it

1. males should never be entered into races against females - unless its car racing!
2. why are masculine looking women ‘unfortunate’?

If this person couldn't have known they would end up 3rd when they overtook, why did they bother to be gracious and supportive?

Because that's what we do. A runner expecting to finish in the 100s in a larger race will often still call out some encouragement as they pass someone

I think people should start recognizing second place female winners as first place winners if a trans woman "wins" first.
Most the general public is against trans women in women's sports and we can collectively give credit to the real FEMALE winners regardless of what media or those at the top of organizations say.

Please do not use the term cis women. There are women, trans women, men, and trans men. Funny how you never hear the term ‘cis men ‘ (or would it be ‘bro man’?!)..

That is personal, you can’t know for other women

I find it very negative

I find cis offensive. Or does that not matter?
It is also something like compelled speech, which I think human rights bodies tend to take a dim view of. As a pp says, it also hampers women from describing and discussing the problems. And it is another stick to beat women with, along with what we do as mothers/if we're too tough/not tough enough at work/if we smile too much or not enough/what we wear, what we weigh, etc etc etc.

Others on this site clearly take issue with everything trans people do, insist on calling them “men pretending to be women” etc

I'm tempted to say, "How odd," and recall discussions about helpful interventions or thoughtful work by Rose of Dawn, Debbie Hayden, Miranda Yardley, Fionne Orlander etc. and appreciation for the courage and work of Kiera Bell, Sinead Watson and so many others to whom we're indebted for so many reasons.

However, is this an example of, "Tell me that you're not familiar with the discussions on FWR without telling me that you're not familiar etc."?

You do hear the word cis man. A lot actually. In fact I would say I hear it a lot more often than cis women. Just not on here because they specifically take issue with trans women so it’s never relevant.