When it comes to sports, the tricky part is male to female transition. There's not much of a way to put the genie back in the bottle in terms of someone being born a man and having experienced puberty as a male. Those women will have an inherent and immutable advantage in sports against other women. Ideally they should either compete against each other, or take it on the chin and not compete at all unless they go to significant lengths to conform to the all-female league. And even then, the female league should not be compelled to allow them if its governing body does not feel it appropriate in terms of maintaining fairness. Case by case evaluation is necessary. Female to male transition is fairly straightforward. Trans-men should be competing against other men. It is very unfair to everyone involved to keep them in a female-only league. If they can't hack it in the male-only league, then they can find a co-ed league or a trans-only league to participate in. If a man has an objection to competing against a trans-man, then I say tough s*** and they deserve the L in forfeiture. Of course the leagues should have final say on who gets in and who doesn't, but rejection should be the exception, not the rule. Otherwise the league is doing a disservice to itself.
What you say makes sense in terms of fairness to the other people they would be competing against but what about the psyche of male to female transition if they are unable to play? They probably already have a hard time fitting in. Not being able to play sports if they want to will make it that much worse. What would the courts say if they sued over not being able to play? I am not sure there is a good answer to this that makes everyone involved happy.
Just set anti-doping rules limiting the testosterone level of female sports to biologically female levels. They won't be able to manage to stay under that cap and the problem will solve itself.
It's an unfortunate situation, but we've all got our crosses to bear. I don't think it is reasonable to negatively affect a huge number of female athletes to accommodate such a tiny minority.
that does not work imo. It's not just testosterone levels that differs man and woman from an athletic perspective. Our bones structure, nervous system etc. are all significantly different. There's no way to undo these things as a trans no matter how much hormone therapy you do.
why not let everybody dope. Is it really fair that someone is only born with 300ng. Lets just make it even for everyone.
Well, for the most part, they can. So long as men stay within the normal parameters, no one would know. You only really get in trouble when you boost your levels a lot higher than normal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/sports/caster-semenya-800-meters.html Somewhat related article on the Caster Semenya saga.
Interesting. Yes this does articulate the issue at hand with transgender sports participants and testosterone except the subject of the article was not transgender.
The Women’s Swim Team at Penn wrote a letter supporting the ban on their transgender teammate who has been breaking female swimming records. "We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. Lia has every right to live her life authentically," the letter says. "However, we also recognize that when it comes to sports competition, that the biology of sex is a separate issue from someone's gender identity. Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women's category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female." https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/04/us/lia-thomas-ncaa-transgender-policy-letter/index.html
I don't know. Trans have no place in a binary society already rife with it's own issues. I'm fine with seperaration of biological gender, but there's internal discrimination and bullying that makes it hell for them. That nyt article that kc posted doesn't make even that cut and dried. XXY folk exist. It's a bit self serving to exclude them when those who can't pass as binary have been excluded for most of their lives. Also sad when former Greats chime in on the issue with the mindset that their own achievements were earned and exceptional but that the new exceptional "freak" would tarnish the sport...and their own past glory by extension. Grow the **** up and try to acknowledge the athlete. Still a ton of hard work and dedication involved.
