- cross-posted to:
- globalnews@lemmy.zip
- cross-posted to:
- globalnews@lemmy.zip
You must log in or # to comment.
Were transgender women winning a lot of golds at Olympic events?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinn_(soccer)
Nothing else in terms of medals. One trans woman in power lifting who didn’t even place and IIRC nothing else for trans competitors.
Not a problem that needed solving then. Common IOC L.
Most golds are based on luck, getting qualified to go at all is a huge achievement.
There is no good evidence that transgender women who have been on GAHT for two years have any physical advantages over cisgender women. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/60/3/198
And here are two sources which state differently;
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10641525/
https://www.dw.com/en/do-trans-women-have-an-unfair-athletic-advantage/a-58583988
Who is correct?
The first link does not conclude what you state. From the conclusion, “The exclusion of trans individuals also insults the skill and athleticism of both cis and trans athletes. While sex differences do develop following puberty, many of the sex differences are reduced, if not erased, over time by gender affirming hormone therapy.”
The use of the words many, reduced and over time are all doing some heavy lifting if you want to use that statement to support the comment I replied to.
So, what about the second link?
And to be clear, I was just trying to point out that one link doesn’t give a consensus of accepted thought and there appears not to be that consensus.
The first link does not support your position. It comes to broadly the same findings as the one I linked. The second link is to a DW article that haphazardly hyperlinks to a couple of small-scale studies (that were themselves included in the meta-analysis from your first link).
The idea of a preturnatural sporting advantage for trans women in womens sports is taken as an axiomatic truth by most people when this issue comes up. In fact the evidence suggests that over the first few years of GAHT, trans atheletes’ physical performance approaches that of their cis peers. They tend to remain in the same percentile of performance for their true gender post transition as they achieved in their assigned gender pre-transition.
The article I linked was a large-scale meta-analysis (52 studies, n=6485) that is looking at a broader evidence base. At the very least, it is reasonable to question the base assumption that there is an obvious performence difference in the first place. Especially when that assumption is being used to justify the exclusion of trans people from yet another aspect of public life, both in professional sports and in for-fun, low-stakes highschool and local sports.
It certainly is reasonable to question assumptions and I myself and trying to wade bought a lot of differing opinions to get to solid proof.
I am not trying to “both sides” this, I want to get to the facts so I can form an opinion.
Exclusion from school and local sports is fucking stupid in opinion.
However in regulated “official” sports I do think we need to get to a consensus.
There’s just so much misinformation. Some may say I’m perpetuating that by having this conversation but I just don’t know how else we come to any conclusion except to talk about it and assess what knowledge there is to assessed.
“I’m just asking questions…”
Am I not allowed to?
You have a right to do many things but they will not always be appropriate or do anything to help humanity develop. Oh, and you missed the sarcastic rhetoric. You aren’t asking questions, you are pasting in talking points that someone else wrote to detour the conversation and cast doubt on the rights of others. Stand up behavior.
Wow. That’s a lot of assumptions that help you shut down conversation, how do you think you’re going to help human development if you just shit on people trying to form opinions?
Who is this someone else? Are you really that insecure in your opinions that you need to invent conspiracies? What next? I’m a shill for some anti trans … something?
I guess we should all just live in echo chambers of similar thought and never try and change or form new opinions.
Anyway enjoy your day I guess…
It’s not healthy to look for enemies in every interaction. Detouring the conversation and casting doubt on the rights of others? When? Where?
I’m not going to assume malicious intent from you but what you’re doing in practice is JAQing off.
If you care about getting to the facts to form an opinion, as you say you do, then you could have carefully read through the study I linked, or even the ones you posted, before you posted them. That’s what the several people who responded to you did.
I’m going to disengage now. Good luck to you on your fact finding mission.
Just Asking Questions" (JAQ; known derisively as “JAQing off”)[a] is a pseudoskeptical tactic often used by conspiracy theorists to present false or distorted claims by framing them as questions.
As you don’t want to engage with me and just quiet me then fine, but it seems disingenuous to claim that I’m a conspiracy theorist.
You could of answered my questions with facts and engaged in an actual conversation but, oh well…
You could of answered my questions with facts and engaged in an actual conversation
I did, and i did.
it seems disingenuous to claim that I’m a conspiracy theorist.
I didn’t say you were a consipiricist and I specifically didn’t ascribe to you malicious intent.
Perhaps in the spirit of learning, you could maybe read into that rhetorical technique a little. The wikipedia article maybe focuses a little too much on conspiracy theorists but it’s a well-developed concept and it is in fact what you are doing.
You are crowding the conversation with questions that you’ve not sincerely attempted to answer for yourself, instead you saw my comment, googled for 30 seconds and dumped two links in here, that you didn’t read, as if they were some kindof gotcha. You’ve forced several other people to take time to engage you in the substance of your questions, which they, and I, did.
Nobody is silencing you, I’m disengaging because this is the sum-total of the amount of energy I’m willing to put into this conversation with a stranger, whose motives I don’t fully trust. You are of course free to continue crashing out.
My point was that there isn’t consensus.
You refuse to engage with that conversation.
Every comment you’ve made has tried to ascribe malicious intent, from claiming my thoughts aren’t my own, to telling me that asking questions is somehow malicious.
No you haven’t you’ve just attacked the person questioning the validity of what you posted
I haven’t forced anyone to do anything.
You posted the wiki article, not me, I just quoted it.
What is this nonsense about crowding the conversation? I just took part in it, it seems clear that you only want to engage with people who share your opinions, fine but why even bother replying?
And as to your attempt to belittle my position by claiming I’m “crashing out”, childish
Anyway, enjoy your day.
Did you even read those at all? The second one literally agrees with their comment.
After one year of hormone therapy, trans women performed better in sports than cis women. After two years, their performance was largely equalized.
Hell the conclusion of the article basically states we need to study it more. That there is every indication that proper regulation can level the playing field to a degree but sports have never been fair. Which yeah of course not, no amount of training was going to let me dunk over Shaq.
So we need proper regulation? I agree with that.
Btw I know everyone will jump to the conclusion that I’m arguing trans people shouldn’t be allowed in sports, I am not. I simply don’t think there is consensus on this issue and the only way that happens is through conversations like this, pretending the matter is settled seems disingenuous.
Also the word largely could mean quite a bit there, it seems to be suggesting that there are still advantages, though they are lesser than in the first year.
You have asked for a conversation, and I want to present a different position that I don’t often see.
Are trans women… Women?
If they are, then what’s the problem with trans women in sports? A women’s competition was held, women competed, a woman won.
What’s the problem? Tall women are not banned from basketball, or track, despite having natural advantages. Micheal Phelps has clear physiological advantages in swimming. He is not banned from competing, he is celebrated.
Why are gifted trans women not celebrated?
I’m not sure it’s a semantic argument about the word women that’s the issue most people see here.
“Tall women are not banned from basketball, or track, despite having natural advantages. Micheal Phelps has clear physiological advantages in swimming. He is not banned from competing, he is celebrated.”
This is a great point and thanks for making it.
I agree that if, after some time period the physical differences between their original gender (I’m sorry if I’m not using the right words, I don’t mean offence if I am) and their new (again sorry if this is the wrong words) gender are negligible/non existent then yeah i agree everyone has certain things they are better at and that’s to be celebrated.
Thank you for engaging in this conversation and not attacking me for asking, I appreciate it.
I want to drill down on this if you will indulge me.
Conceding the need for hormone therapy is easy. Nearly every trans person will do this anyway and the science suggests that it more or less accomplishes the goal of a gendered sports category to provide women a space to compete fairly.
But this conceeds the point that matters to most non athletic trans women.
Are we? Or are we not? Women?
I am a trans woman if that wasn’t clear.
And if we are women, then what is the problem? What we are seeing is that a large part of our society answers this categorically: no. We are something else, presumably men, in their eyes.
That’s painful, to me personally. It hurts to know that on a very real level, I don’t get that recognition. I haven’t completed in sports since middle school, long before I knew I was trans. But this issue matters to me because it sets out in black and white what my society thinks about me and people like me.
Thank you for this thoughtful reply. I’m sorry for your pain, personally I can’t imagine what societal rejection like that would be like or the damage it must do.
Sadly it seems that this is such a polarising issue that many argue for one person’s right over anothers, I don’t feel this is a path to a happy future for anyone affected by this. I sincerely hope that in the future this entire conversation is moot.
However it’s clear that some consensus needs to be found as, in a society that values every one, no one person should feel that they don’t have a level playing field.
What is a woman and what is a man? I wish I had some clever words to answer this. It’s part of why I wish to have conversations like this. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had a clear way to parse this issue without hatred or suffering being involved.
I’ve been shown some studies that seem to indicate that after a period (two years was what I was shown) the differences appear to be negligible. If that’s the case then perhaps that is the way forward, once transition is complete (complete seems like the wrong word but I hope you understand my meaning) then there really shouldn’t be any reason to stop trans athletes competing, would you agree with this?
If there’s no clear scientific consensus, then why in fuck’s sake could you possibly justify a sports ban? You could actually be a child molesting pedophile. I have no evidence for or against this claim. But I better call the cops on you just in case!
You’re demanding someone prove a negative. That is not how proof works. You can scientifically proof Bigfoot exists. Find a Bigfoot corpse? Call in some scientists and they’ll document it, analyze it, read its DNA, and scientifically prove with a mountain of evidence that Bigfoot exists. In contrast, it’s impossible to prove that Bigfoot does not exist. There could always be some hidden cave or remote mountain valley somewhere where, against all odds, there actually is a population of large non-human primates living on the North American continent. I can prove Bigfoot exists. I cannot prove that Bigfoot does not exist. That is simply the nature of logic and proof.
You’re approaching this from a flawed premise. You’re effectively saying, “I will accept trans women in women’s sports when you conclusively prove they have no advantage whatsoever.” But that’s demanding proof of a negative. It is possible to prove an advantage. It is not possible to prove the non-existence of an advantage. Rather, the default assumption should be that no advantage exists. Since all secondary sex characteristics, including differences in musculature, come from lifetime hormone exposure, the default assumption should be that no advantage exists. Even men growing larger than women is because of hormone exposure at different periods in life. So if you switch someone’s hormones, the default assumption should be that no advantage exists. And basic humanity dignity and respect for human beings demands that you start by assuming a position of equality.
The burden of proof is on those demanding we strip people of their liberty and dignity. The burden of proof is on those who would do real tangible harm to a group of people. Remember, these are lives we’re talking about. You’re arguing a hypothetical, but we’re talking about real human beings. And we know that trans women athletes will be harmed by being excluded from women’s sports. They certainly can’t meaningfully compete against cis male athletes. By excluding trans women from women’s sports, you are making it so trans women cannot compete in any competitive sport at all. That’s an entire realm of the human experience you’re cutting them out from.
If it can be proven that some overwhelming advantage exists, sure. On a sport-by-sport basis, perhaps bans would be justifiable. But you need to actually prove real harm before you start taking people’s civil rights away. You are demanding proof that no advantage exists. You should be starting by demanding those who would take away civil rights present a rigorous case and actually prove real harm.
I wasn’t aware I was justifying anything, I’m just trying to form an opinion that I can hold moving forward.
It seems I’ve caused offence here and that was never my intent.
You raise an interesting point about the burden of proof, as you put it.
I’m not entirely certain about your point, well made as it is (I like the Bigfoot analogy), that the default position should be that there is no advantage when there’s lots of proof that, in certain activities, men have physical advantages over women.
I guess I just want to have a solid idea of when or if those advantages do in fact disappear to a point that it doesn’t matter any more.
But as you’ve pointed out I’m really not sure how that can be proved, which leaves the argument open for those who do want total bans or whatever to argue that they will always be there.
As to the point about infringement of rights etc, I certainly want anyone to be able to do and be celebrated in whatever they put their time and effort into. I live with three women, all of whom have stated that they feel their rights to compete on an even playing field could be negated by trans athletes with possible advantages from their previous gender (I’m sorry if my phrasing is offensive, I don’t mean it to be). How should this be answered? I’m not a woman and I’ve been slightly stumped tbh.
When it comes to sport by sport bans, the one I always have brought up to me is strength based sports, the skeletal differences, bone mass, differing physiological differences of muscle mass and such is often cited to me in these conversations.
Are these things that are completely negated through hormone therapy?
Thank you for engaging with me and not attacking me for asking, I really appreciate it.
Who are you agreeing with? You’re the one that posted the article, I’m just explaining to you what it said since you apparently didn’t read it. Am I living in some kind of Bizarro World here? What are you contributing here to this conversation?
“That there is every indication that proper regulation can level the playing field”
This is what I was referencing in my reply.
The quote from that article points to initial differences that then fall off over time.
So it seems that in certain physical sports there may need to be some regulation (I’m not sure how that would work without being quite invasive for trans athletes though, any thoughts?) to ensure a level playing field for all women both cis and trans.
If I’ve caused some offence, which the aggressiveness of your reply seems to imply, I apologise, it was never my intent.
Super concerning that you don’t know the difference between aggressiveness and bewilderment.
That’s what you took away from my comment? Ok…
The amount of reactionaries here is deeply disappointing, I expected nothing from a world community and yet somehow I am still disappointed
IOC 2022 “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination”.
IOC 2026 “Pander to Sexists, Racists, and Morons”
It’s so sad to see hatred winning.
Sad times if you’re a cis woman who happens to have a wider jawline, larger nose or who generally does not look sufficiently “feminine”. You can be subjected to cruel, invasive transvestigation instigated by people with sinister motives or bitter rivals.
As always, transphobia is used to pander to bigoted pricks. This is not a victory for women in any shape or form. This just opens more avenues for abuse for the fucking gender police.
Right?
…What happens when the athlete is a minor? Who inspects the child?
Trump
At this rate trans should launch their own olympic games.
I mean… Good?
We separate genders in most sports for a reason. If I were a woman who trained my whole life as a woman, and got to the Olympic level, and I suddenly had to face an opponent that went through puberty as a man, trained as a man, and then a few years ago decided they were a woman, and began taking hormone blockers, I would be fucking pissed. There are significant biological and hormonal differences between men and women, which is why testosterone levels are monitored and regulated among female athletes.
Overall, I think articles like this are just intentional trolling with rage bait about stuff that doesn’t directly concern or impacts a thousandth of a percent of the population.
There’s real news in the real world that’s impacting all of us that we should be aware of and angry about.
Didn’t read but thank you for identifying yourself as a bigot
Careful about saying stuff like that on Lemmy. If you can’t tell by your downvotes, you’ll find out when they start stalking you. lol
So you’re a transphobe too eh? Way to brag about it
What are you going around the bends about, mate? I’m not transphobic at all. I’ve never done anything transphobic, and I’ve never said or posted anything transphobic. The Olympic committee decided this, I had no vote or say about it whatsoever. Are you under the mistaken impression that I’m part of the Olympic committee?
I responded to what you said not, the article. Weird deflection.
What did I say that was transphobic, then? What have I said or posted anywhere that was transphobic in any way, shape, or form? Please post here so everyone can see. Because you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Weird projection you have going on here.
Doesn’t seem like you know what projection means
I know exactly what it means.
Now please show me even one example where I’ve said or posted anything transphobic. You’re the one who threw the accusation at me, so let’s see the receipts.
The reason you aren’t showing us anything, is because I haven’t said or posted anything transphobic. lmao
Yes, they’re “trolling” or “rage bait”…but you’re the one getting baited.
…you’re the one babbling about the never-has-or-will happen-but-is-technially-possible scenario. You obviously completely unaware of the standards that were in place…which made it impossible for the athlete that you described to compete as a woman.
All this is going to do is allow transphobes and other perverts to inspect the generals of athletes…some of them minor athletes…if they wish to compete.
This is a virtue signal for bigots, solving a problem that didn’t and couldn’t exist. Full stop, end of story.
decided they were a woman
Jeeeeeesus Christ it’s twenty fucking twenty six, how do you not know how gender dysphoria works? Do gay people decide to be gay?
There are significant biological and hormonal differences between men and women, which is why testosterone levels are monitored and regulated among female athletes.
And cis women who have naturally high testosterone levels are then discriminated against.
Overall, I think articles like this are just intentional trolling with rage bait about stuff that doesn’t directly concern or impacts a thousandth of a percent of the population.
Discrimination like this are huge signs of the problems of socitey. Sure, trans people not being able to compete isnt the end of the world… but the Discrimination doesnt stop there. We can just look at history for examples.
They never care about trans men because this is just misogyny.
Now I’m curious: Are there official limits on just how much a trans man is allowed to juice as an athlete?
No clue tbh. There probably are though as testosterone is a monitored thing.
Or because trans men don’t have a physical advantage over Cis men competitors in physical competitions.
Not all Olympic events are about brute strength or reaction time etc.
There’s equestrian, sailing, shooting, and an array of mixed events where a trans man could have an advantage over a Cis man.
You’re correct (shooting… women are naturally better shooters than men in my experience.) I agree in competitions that don’t rely on pure physicality this ban wouldn’t make sense, but I don’t agree this is just misogyny versus some other type of prejudice.
I think a one way ban makes sense in some fields because a trans man competing against cis men is already at a physical disadvantage. That’s not the case if the genders are switched.Curling is the only sport in the Olympics that matters and it would probably be fine ungendered.
Not sure why you’d agree…then double down.
Mmm. I don’t think anybody was saying that misogyny is the ONLY issue.
Literally the original comment I replied to claims, “this is just misogyny.”
Has Domi pointed out elsewhere in this thread. There is no evidence that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women, provided they’ve been on HRT for 2+ years. here’s the meta-analysis they linked
That’s neat. Wild how much an affect hormonal changes can have on the body. Humans are weird.
Now comes the “spite filings” on athletes just before competition.
Can we just, I dunno, end competitive sports for a while already?
The planet is going to shit, dictatorships are running wild, democracy is dying, wars, …
Meanwhile these assholes are SOOOO concerned about people their genitalia and using that to distract people from ACTUAL problems. Like maybe just stfu and go away.
Same for the whole Eurosong debacle btw.
Why were they ever allowed to compete in the first place?
Definitely not a transphobe though.
I wouldn’t say I’m a transphobe since I’m not scared of trans people. I generally support causes for trans people except if its for trans women being in womens sports or trans children
I’m not going to talk about trans women in sports as that has already been addressed in another comment.
For your trans children comment. Why? Why the fuck? You know that them not transitioning doesn’t mean they’re not trans, right? You know that it just means they’ll likely kill themselves, right?:
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/
https://goodlawproject.org/new-data-shows-surge-in-trans-kids-suicides-following-healthcare-rollbacks/Kids should not have the ability to make permanent life-altering decisions, period. We don’t let kids get a tattoo or drink so why the fuck should they be allowed to change their gender
It’s Lemmy. Don’t expect nuance on this. Expect pitchforks if you don’t 100 percent agree with the mob. lol
Is suicide not a life-altering decision you fucking moron? Do you think that tattoos are as much of an emergency as gender affirming care?
Address what I actually said and sourced dipshit.
I’m of two minds about this:
First, let people compete in comparative tier skill events. We have different weight classes for boxing, why should other sports be any different?
Second, who fucking cares? Sports are literally just physical games which have become the victim of capitalism, and the Olympics added nationalism and implicit racial perspectives.
You will never see a Japanese woman winning the 100m sprint. Should we have another category for Asian sprinters? Maybe? But at some point you need to realise:
NONE OF THIS SHIT MATTERS.
Most of these athletes are doing drugs anyway lol.
My feeling is that if there was an unfair advantage due to hormones or genetics, or would seem unfair to peak athletes. However, there appears to be none or minimal. It seems that most elite athletes have genetic or other advantages is some way, as you alluded to with racial differences.
However, that aside, when we look at the purpose of sport, fun, exercise, community, human achievement; the exclusion of trans people undermines that and disappoints far more people. So for me, it’s a no brainer. Inclusivity wins out as that’s what protects the most kids (and people) from harm.
biggest advantage is just having the funds/support network available to dedicate your whole life to X sport
It matters exactly for the reason why it’s banned. Sports is a pretext for hurting trans people. Sex assigned at birth should not matter at all. The bigots know this is just a way to draw in normies. Their bigotry is acceptable as long as it’s dressed up as an intellectually honest debate about fairness in sports. Fairness in sports is a fool’s errand, like you point out. Having that discussion at all is letting the bigots win.
Sex assigned at birth should not matter at all.
It shouldn’t, but it does. As a matter of what is statistically relevant about the dichotomy between males and females.
I’m not having that debate. Nobody cares except bigots trying to hurt trans people. If you’re not, don’t get sucked into that debate. They’re arguing in bad faith
You’re arguing in bad faith?
You are creating a strawman by claiming anyone who cares about gender in sports is a bigot who is trying to hurt trans people.
No, I said people are being duped into debating by bigots. This is about politics, not sports.
That’s a strawman.
You are saying that people do not reach that conclusion on their own.
Has Domi pointed out elsewhere in this thread. There is no evidence that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women, provided they’ve been on HRT for 2+ years. here’s the meta-analysis they linked
So yeah, based off of:
It shouldn’t, but it does. As a matter of what is statistically relevant about the dichotomy between males and females.
You’re either a bigot trying to use sports to hurt trans people, or you’ve been duped by bigots. So, unless you’re made of straw Qevlarr isn’t using a straw man argument.
is that true, though? What I’ve read is that the science is showing the opposite, that sex is mostly plastic and that after a couple years on hormones, trans women have similar fitness and athletic ability as cis women:
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2026/01/22/bjsports-2025-110239
While transgender women exhibited higher lean mass than cisgender women, their physical fitness was comparable.
transgender women’s VO₂ max, when adjusted for weight, aligns with cisgender women,4 further supporting parity in endurance capabilities
the absence of strength disparities between transgender women and cisgender women found in the current review was consistent and contradicts narratives framing male puberty as conferring irreversible athletic advantages despite [gender-affirming hormone therapy].
transgender women’s pretherapy advantages in push-ups and sit-ups disappeared after 2 years of feminising hormones among 46 individuals who started [gender-affirming hormone therapy] while in the US Air Force.
I’m going to plagiarise myself:
This systematic review aligns with previous ones in highlighting critical research limitations. This includes the typically short study durations (<3 years) and a lack of data on elite athletes.
So we aren’t talking about Olympic tier athletes.
Also, the authors themselves acknowledge the evidence quality sits between very low and low
Why are you demanding that someone proves no advantage exists? If you find the level of proof ambiguous, then the null hypothesis must be that no difference exists. That’s just basic respect for human rights and dignity.
Realize what you are suggesting. You are suggesting that trans women and girls be completely cut off from competitive sports in any form. Trans women are conclusively far below cis men in performance. We’re just squabbling over whether some minute advantage exists over cis women. Trans women can’t just go and play with the guys. You’re arguing for trans women to be completely excluded from any form of sports whatsoever, a complete expulsion from an entire realm of human culture and experience.
If you’re arguing for something so radical and cruel, the burden of proof is on you. The default assumption is equality. We don’t take away civil rights on a whim. If it can be scientifically shown, on a sport-by-sport basis, that trans women have some massive advantage over cis women? Fine. In that case I might support a handicap system, or if that were not possible, exclusion as a last resort. But the burden for proof for that should be high. You’re hurting real people here. Unless you can scientifically prove that some advantage exists, the default assumption must be that no advantage exists.
Women’s sports exist because they can’t actually compete against men. The division is inherently and explicitly exclusionary. They were created to give 50% of the population a chance to compete on as fair of a stage as possible.
Women’s sports exist because men wouldn’t allow them to even play competitive sports, period. Women’s leagues were created as a conciliatory gesture from misogynists, not out of some sense chivalrous duty to uphold fairness and equality.
There isn’t men sports. There are sports, and women sports. The league men play in allow both genders.
That’s how it works today, but historically that has not been the case. Women even being allowed to play sports is less far removed from the present day than you might imagine.
Lol, no they don’t. Some do, but many don’t.
For games like golf, up until relatively recently, women weren’t even allowed to be club members.
Let’s not rewrite history.
That’s an interesting take when there’s generally no rules preventing women from competing in professional men’s leagues.
Women’s sports was not created to protect women. Women’s sports were created to protect the egos of men who would place under women. If women competed with men, there would be a bunch of butthurt men who would be angry they aren’t as good.
For example, the Battle of the Sexes tennis matches had so many men coping and seething when a women beat a man in a highly publicized tennis match after the guy was talking mad shit. You can look up any number of examples like this where after a woman does well in a sport, a seperate league for women is established.
I think this should be handled by the communities of the different sports in stead. I imagine some sports, like power-lifting, would end up separating on biological sex - with some others wouldn’t
The only trans woman to ever compete in the Olympics was a power lifter. She came last.
Your intuition about trans athletes is wrong.
I don’t think that single example really proves that. There’s reasons why we have separate events for men and women, and some of those have to do with biology - if biology didn’t matter, we could just remove the separation altogether.
…but then again, I really don’t think it should be up to me either, that’s kind of my point. The communities and institutions of the different sports should figure this out, not the IOC, and certainly not me.
If transphobia wasn’t rampant, that would be ideal. But transphobia is rampant, and it just means each and every sport defaults to exclusion. That’s how it worked before this IOC ruling. That’s how it worked at the last Olympics, in which zero trans women were able to compete.
Idealised scenarios that assume fairness and good will don’t work. They just lead to exclusion, and worse, they make it impossible to gather more data.
And the reason for that is that everyone thinks like you. Which is to say, everyone thinks “Biology matters”, but for some reason, is never working to challenge that assumption by acknowledging that trans folks biology changes with the introduction of hormone replacement. It’s also a space with a lot of bad faith and actively misleading research, because of the aforementioned transphobia.
Excluding trans people from sport is an openly acknowledged “first step” of a where they’re using to normalise exclusion of trans folk in wider society. These are the folk generating much of this research, research that normally would be laughed out of the room, but when it’s about trans people and aligns with the “common sense” belief that trans folks have an advantage in sports, somehow the research gets taken seriously.
That’s the environment we live in. And that’s the environment that tried your approach, as a stepping stone to the outright exclusion we have now.
I don’t see how entrusting the process to the IOC will ensure that there’s less transphobia behind the decision. It’s not exactly known for being very progressive :p
And either way, I don’t think fighting to push something through against the popular will, without a clear plan for consensus-building afterwards, is a good way of building lasting change - I’d say it is a good way of creating a backlash, and of selling the Conservative image of the trans movement as anti-democratic and elitist.
