Connecticut Girl Track Athletes Fighting To Get Transgenders Off Their Track

But why not?

Argument on body differences doesn't stand up given that black and white are allowed to compete together.

Impact wise, transgender is tiny % of the population. Black and White is a huge %. There is much more chances of "unfairness" with black and white competiting in same sport.

 

Sports are pretty meritocratic and in the context of this issue I don't think it's fair competition.

 

Are black folks that much more inherently "better at sports" than white folks? There is a reason why we separate male and female competitions.

 

sure, but nobody will buy that Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue for sure
@Jontro

 

You know that sports aren't separated by sex technically. There's really no such thing as men's sports leagues, anyone is allowed to compete in the NBA or NFL etc.

Women's league is created because the biological advantage between the two sex are recognized as large enough that women wouldn't be able to compete at all in the highest level of competition. It is a way for women athletes set their own records and get the same recognition.

I don't see how gender identification have anything to do with this. Women's sports are created purely from a biological difference in sexes.

I think it's really against the spirit of competition to allow biological male to compete in a league that is designed to accomadate a physically weaker sex.

I really don't see the point of having a biological male who identifies as a trans woman to go and crush every women's record in history. Is that really what sports is all about. If that's the case, why even have women's sports or special olympics even.

 

I mean, if we wanted to be fair, we would.

Personally I think I'd let trans-women compete if they've been on hormone therapy for a certain length of time. I'm okay with them competing pretty much regardless, but no awards until they've been on it for the required time. Be hard to master in team sports, but it is pretty rare that there is actually a trans-athlete that is dominating in women's sports.

 

Some sports yes, blacks on average definitely jump higher and run faster therefore dominate sports where those attributes are showcased . Yet the difference between races is small enough that whites can compete at the highest levels of every sport. That is not the case with female to male differences.

 

Is a male now female enough to compete with women seems like a really difficult thing to enforce.

It's such a small percentage of the population it's kind of a silly thing for anybody to get worked up about. Trans people aren't transitioning to dominate in female sports.

 

I think this is a fictitious argument to compare biological difference between black men and white men vs Male and female.

Just as an example, the women's 100 record time is about the 8000th best time in men's 100 m time. This difference is nowhere as big between black and white men.

In other words, for almost all sports, no woman in the world can qualify for an Olympics if everyone competed together. That is the reason why a separate class is created for them.

Everyone knows biology is not completely fair, but when 50% of the population at the top level is completely left out due to biological difference, we had to do something so women can get some recognition too.

 

I don’t blame them one bit

 

Call me ignorant, but why would trans woman want to intentionally and artificially lower their physical abilities just to compete in a weaker class of competition.

If they are born with the increased testosterone level, bone density, wingspan etc. shouldn't they be comfortable to seek to compete in a stronger playing field. Is it because of stigma that they don't want to do that? What if we got rid of "men's sports" and rename is "open sports", would that entice them to compete.

 

They don't...

They do want to feminize their bodies to feel more attractive.

 

I think this idea that there a lot of men who just want to win and see becoming trans as a way to do it is very overblown. Changing the hormonal balance of your body isn't necessarily pleasant and even though more accepted now isn't something that is universally accepted and we still see stigma attached with it. If we're talking about getting the operation would a man be willing to cut their junk off just to win medal in a women's division?

I have had male to female trans student and my impression of why she transitioned had nothing to do with winning in a weaker division and as a female Judo and Jiu-Jitsu competitor didn't dominate her competition. I never talked to her about this but the impression I had was that she really liked doing martial arts and even though she changed her gender still wanted to do martial arts whether she had an advantage or not.

 

I think pgabs (and some others here) is just upset because he got beat in a race by a girl. Last place...

 

This issue is seemingly a circle that cannot be squared.

Human's sexual dimorphism can't be wished away. The inherent strength and speed advantage men possess over women is not a social construct.

The few trans people I know absolutely hate this issue because they feel it is a sideshow standing in the way of their mainstream acceptance and general ability to live a normal, boring life. Same with the bathroom bills. It shines a light on people whom largely don't want the extra attention.

If you're a trans woman, I think it's a small but worthy sacrifice to eschew competing in most women's sports to perhaps win a larger victory in society as a whole. We can hold two truths in our head together at the same time... that sexual dysphoria is a thing and transitioning genders is a completely appropriate measure for some people... and that there are fundamental, immutable differences between the sexes that should be respected when it comes to sport.

 

I don't think MTF trans folks are intentionally doing it to win at sports. That idea is ridiculous. Outside of maybe a crazy outlier. MTF trans people are by far the most stigmatized and marginalized group on earth. Their lives are very hard.

The problem is fairness with regards to womens sport. Men and women were divided into separate categories as a recognition of the physical differences between the sexes and those physical differences impact on sport. While I certainly have a lot of empathy and compassion for MTF trans people and the very very difficult path they have in this world. I don't think they should be allowed to compete in women's sport.

You will never have complete fairness in sport. We don't all start from the same spot. I was in HS at the same time as Andrew Luck was playing QB at Stratford. Is it fair that Andrew Luck was the son of an NFL QB and had these ridiculous genetic/physical advantages over me? Is it fair someone grows to become 6'6 and some stop at 5'2? The fairness line has to be drawn somewhere and stopping at gender makes the most sense.

 

I think this is the most sensible resolution. It sucks but whatever the resolution is its going to suck for someone.

 

This is how I feel as well.

Trans men competing against women engenders far more resentment than it is worth. Especially for a group of people whom have such a hard go of it in the first place... that community needs more allies, not fewer.

 

As someone involved in a combat sport my biggest concern is safety and this is where the differences in upper body strength could be an issue.
For lighter weight classes it might not be that bad but in heavier weight classes it could be more pronounced. Even with less testosterone someone who's 200 lbs and was already an adult male will still likely have differences even if they have transitioned.