Can somebody explain to me why we shouldn’t have a trans league or allow them to play with the opposite gender? There’s a reason we have men’s and women’s leagues. Trans women can have a big advantage over many cis women. What am I missing here?
A few years ago, I played roller derby. It’s one of the most trans inclusive sports on the planet. Trans women are explicitly welcome to play in the womens leagues.
I live in Australia, in a city of a couple of million people. We had 4 or so different derby “clubs”, and each one of those could field anywhere between 1 and 3 derby teams of various levels. Once you looked outside of the city to include towns and smaller cities within a couple of hours drive, there were around 10 or so “teams”. I was one of 2 trans folk active in my city at the time (3 if you count someone who was playing on the mens team)
Now, every capitol city in Australia has a similar situation, though the bigger cities can field a few more teams than my city could.
At one tournament weekend, with a whole year of planning, folk decided to put together a trans team for a demonstration game. It took the whole country to fill that team, and they played the game, without having had any chance to practice together.
There wasn’t enough trans folk to make two teams, let alone a meaningful season, with playoffs and multiple rounds against different teams.
“Just make a trans league” has the same meaning as “trans people aren’t allowed to participate”.
Guess who else has an advantage over many other cis women? Cis women with “superior” genetics. We don’t bar them. In fact, finding them seems to be one of the main drives of sports.
Usain Bolt has such a massive genetic advantage over everyone else and no one is calling for him to be banned from running, or to be forced in to his own league. Same with Michael Phelps. Let’s not even get started on tall people in basket ball.
The push to ban her was because of a conspiracy theory that she wasn’t actually born female, wasn’t it? I think that puts her in to the “ban because she’s trans” category, rather than the “ban her for superior genetics” category. Ie, without the current “trans sports panic” no one would have even considered banning her.
The difference is HRT could be considered as gaming the system whilst being born that way is luck of the draw.
Michael Phelps has gentics made for swimming that allow him to perform multiple strokes to perfection. He’s considered a lucky man. If there was a pill one could take to attain such superhuman abilities. It would be considered doping, and rightfully so.
That’s irrelevant. Being trans isn’t “gaming the system” it’s just something you’re born being. No one is going to transition for an advantage in a ball game and it’s ridiculous to even suggest it.
Right! No one is doing so now, but there’s nothing stopping people from doing so if it becomes so normalized. It’s a reductio ad absurdum of your argument. You’re acting like this is the first time legislation can be passed in favour of a group of people such that it can’t be abused by others strictly for personal gain.
Furthermore, just because people’s intentions for transitioning now aren’t chiefly to obtain an advantage in a ball game doesn’t mean that they DON’T actually possess an advantage…
Also you need to provide a justification for why my initial distinction is “irrelevant”. The classifications into men’s and women’s sports are based on sex and not gender.
No one would ever do it and it’s ridiculous and transphobic to suggest it. Do you think a cis man would actually choose to live like this for a possibly minor advantage in women’s sports? It’s a joke.
I’m sure someone might try, but once the realities of gender dysphoria sink in and their boobs start growing they’d realize it isn’t worth transitioning to the wrong gender just to be able to dunk in the WNBA or whatever. I don’t think you realize how fucking horrible it is for your body to mutate into a (WRONG HORRIBLE NO NO NO) form that you hate. No one would choose to live like that for what might ultimately be a very minor advantage. Stop entertaining that as a legitimate concern.
Whether we should segregate sports by sex instead of other considerations is a separate conversation that other people in this thread want to have, but that’s besides the point I’m trying to make. I’m telling you, gender dysphoria isn’t something someone would choose.
Do you think a cis man would actually choose to live like this for a possibly minor advantage in women’s sports?
Google reductio ad absurdum.
Also:
Furthermore, just because people’s intentions for transitioning now aren’t chiefly to obtain an advantage in a ball game doesn’t mean that they DON’T actually possess an advantage…
I’m all for letting trans women participate in male sports if it they’ve been in the transition period long enough that their physical capabilities don’t give them an unfair edge. I also think you’ve done me a huge disservice by claiming that I’m “trivialising” gender dysphoria when all I’ve done is use a valid argumentative technique. I only brought in the reductio ad absurdum to show that anybody can claim to be “born” that way regardless of whether or not transitioning is practical.
Whether we should segregate sports by sex instead of other considerations is a separate conversation that other people in this thread want to have, but that’s besides the point I’m trying to make.
Your original claim was that trans people are “born” that way and i disagreed. Citing that we classify these things based on sex and not gender. It’s not another discussion entirely because it’s my rebuttal to your claim.
There’s no need to make this about ad hominems or bring your emotions into this. I’ve never once claimed in this thread that trans folks should lose rights or be barred from participation in society.
When trans women go on GAHT/HRT, our bodies change a lot. I’ve lost considerable muscle mass and strength versus just over a year ago (it was very noticeable in the garden this year, oof). The lack of testosterone also changes your mental state and tones down the stereotypical male competitive nature. You literally become softer.
My personal opinion is that if you’re on hormones for at least a few years, you’ve shown that you clearly want to play and shouldn’t be disqualified, and at the very least be given a chance to participate. As far as I’m concerned, this entire thing is politically-charged and is about as interesting as acetaminophen and vaccines causing autism.
What you don’t hear is trans men wanting to compete in men’s sports. They need to have a voice too, as rare as it might be.
The first is that trans women do not have a big advantage over cis women. They have, at best, a very slight advantage, depending on their time on HRT and age.
The second is that there isn’t a lot of trans people. Trans people make up around 2-3% of the population, so they would have around 1/30th of the number of teammates in their school. That would be difficult to make a full team around. And because they’re segregated out, they would need to find other teams to play against, as well.
The third thing you’re missing is that you really only care about trans women in this debate. Do you care if trans men compete against cis men? They compete at very similar levels, too, and if you think being born as a woman is a disadvantage, then why do they do just as well after transitioning?
And the last thing is that we have gendered leagues due to a sexist history behind sports. Women weren’t allowed to compete in a variety of sports for a long time. Women’s leagues were initially created for the same reason black leagues were created. We have kept them because they are a really lazy way to determine what category of play you are in, as though they act similar to weight classes in wrestling. But athletes within the same sex can compete at completely different abilities for different reasons. Taller players can have a much bigger advantage against shorter players in a ton of sports, so why don’t we use height as a determiner of which league you play in instead?
only considered trans women because generally in sports you’re trying to be stronger and larger. Trans men can do that and have the disadvantage.
I get what you’re saying about separate leagues but the strongest and tallest men would have an advantage over the strongest and tallest women, skill aside.
Maybe just make a mixed league that everybody is cool with playing in and keep separate leagues too.
No, I get it. But, you’re using what you feel is true versus what is true. The “advantage” you’re talking about isn’t significant among any study, ranging from a 7% advantage in some athletic categories to a 13% disadvantage in others.
Competitive sporting associations have rules and regulations for trans athletes competing in sex-segregated leagues, and they typically involve around two years on HRT and I’m not sure if you’re aware of the side effects of starting HRT, but athletes typically see substantial muscle loss. These competitive organizations do not see trans athletes excel when following these rules. And that is because trans athletes aren’t superior to cis athletes.
The strongest and tallest man probably has some advantages in some sports over the tallest and strongest woman, but you need to compare the strongest and tallest trans man to the man and trans woman to woman because those comparisons are surprisingly more in favor of the cis athlete than you would probably like for a whole host of reasons.
Can somebody explain to me why we shouldn’t have a trans league or allow them to play with the opposite gender? There’s a reason we have men’s and women’s leagues. Trans women can have a big advantage over many cis women. What am I missing here?
A few years ago, I played roller derby. It’s one of the most trans inclusive sports on the planet. Trans women are explicitly welcome to play in the womens leagues.
I live in Australia, in a city of a couple of million people. We had 4 or so different derby “clubs”, and each one of those could field anywhere between 1 and 3 derby teams of various levels. Once you looked outside of the city to include towns and smaller cities within a couple of hours drive, there were around 10 or so “teams”. I was one of 2 trans folk active in my city at the time (3 if you count someone who was playing on the mens team)
Now, every capitol city in Australia has a similar situation, though the bigger cities can field a few more teams than my city could.
At one tournament weekend, with a whole year of planning, folk decided to put together a trans team for a demonstration game. It took the whole country to fill that team, and they played the game, without having had any chance to practice together.
There wasn’t enough trans folk to make two teams, let alone a meaningful season, with playoffs and multiple rounds against different teams.
“Just make a trans league” has the same meaning as “trans people aren’t allowed to participate”.
Guess who else has an advantage over many other cis women? Cis women with “superior” genetics. We don’t bar them. In fact, finding them seems to be one of the main drives of sports.
Usain Bolt has such a massive genetic advantage over everyone else and no one is calling for him to be banned from running, or to be forced in to his own league. Same with Michael Phelps. Let’s not even get started on tall people in basket ball.
A person’s sex is just more genetics.
Well, there is Imane Khelif. There was a push to bar her from boxing. But that kind of thing happens very rarely.
The push to ban her was because of a conspiracy theory that she wasn’t actually born female, wasn’t it? I think that puts her in to the “ban because she’s trans” category, rather than the “ban her for superior genetics” category. Ie, without the current “trans sports panic” no one would have even considered banning her.
I think the reason they were accusing her of being trans was just because she’s naturally a good boxer.
The difference is HRT could be considered as gaming the system whilst being born that way is luck of the draw.
Michael Phelps has gentics made for swimming that allow him to perform multiple strokes to perfection. He’s considered a lucky man. If there was a pill one could take to attain such superhuman abilities. It would be considered doping, and rightfully so.
Being trans is being born that way.
How so? The classifications are based on sex and not gender
That’s irrelevant. Being trans isn’t “gaming the system” it’s just something you’re born being. No one is going to transition for an advantage in a ball game and it’s ridiculous to even suggest it.
Right! No one is doing so now, but there’s nothing stopping people from doing so if it becomes so normalized. It’s a reductio ad absurdum of your argument. You’re acting like this is the first time legislation can be passed in favour of a group of people such that it can’t be abused by others strictly for personal gain.
Furthermore, just because people’s intentions for transitioning now aren’t chiefly to obtain an advantage in a ball game doesn’t mean that they DON’T actually possess an advantage…
Also you need to provide a justification for why my initial distinction is “irrelevant”. The classifications into men’s and women’s sports are based on sex and not gender.
No one would ever do it and it’s ridiculous and transphobic to suggest it. Do you think a cis man would actually choose to live like this for a possibly minor advantage in women’s sports? It’s a joke.
I’m sure someone might try, but once the realities of gender dysphoria sink in and their boobs start growing they’d realize it isn’t worth transitioning to the wrong gender just to be able to dunk in the WNBA or whatever. I don’t think you realize how fucking horrible it is for your body to mutate into a (WRONG HORRIBLE NO NO NO) form that you hate. No one would choose to live like that for what might ultimately be a very minor advantage. Stop entertaining that as a legitimate concern.
Whether we should segregate sports by sex instead of other considerations is a separate conversation that other people in this thread want to have, but that’s besides the point I’m trying to make. I’m telling you, gender dysphoria isn’t something someone would choose.
Gender dysphoria is real. Stop trivializing it.
Google reductio ad absurdum.
Also:
Furthermore, just because people’s intentions for transitioning now aren’t chiefly to obtain an advantage in a ball game doesn’t mean that they DON’T actually possess an advantage…
I’m all for letting trans women participate in male sports if it they’ve been in the transition period long enough that their physical capabilities don’t give them an unfair edge. I also think you’ve done me a huge disservice by claiming that I’m “trivialising” gender dysphoria when all I’ve done is use a valid argumentative technique. I only brought in the reductio ad absurdum to show that anybody can claim to be “born” that way regardless of whether or not transitioning is practical.
Your original claim was that trans people are “born” that way and i disagreed. Citing that we classify these things based on sex and not gender. It’s not another discussion entirely because it’s my rebuttal to your claim.
There’s no need to make this about ad hominems or bring your emotions into this. I’ve never once claimed in this thread that trans folks should lose rights or be barred from participation in society.
When trans women go on GAHT/HRT, our bodies change a lot. I’ve lost considerable muscle mass and strength versus just over a year ago (it was very noticeable in the garden this year, oof). The lack of testosterone also changes your mental state and tones down the stereotypical male competitive nature. You literally become softer.
My personal opinion is that if you’re on hormones for at least a few years, you’ve shown that you clearly want to play and shouldn’t be disqualified, and at the very least be given a chance to participate. As far as I’m concerned, this entire thing is politically-charged and is about as interesting as acetaminophen and vaccines causing autism.
What you don’t hear is trans men wanting to compete in men’s sports. They need to have a voice too, as rare as it might be.
I’d assume there aren’t actually enough trans women trying to play sports to form a league. NCAA President Charlie Baker testified in December 2024 that he knows of fewer than ten transgender college student-athletes among 510,000 athletes total.
The first is that trans women do not have a big advantage over cis women. They have, at best, a very slight advantage, depending on their time on HRT and age.
The second is that there isn’t a lot of trans people. Trans people make up around 2-3% of the population, so they would have around 1/30th of the number of teammates in their school. That would be difficult to make a full team around. And because they’re segregated out, they would need to find other teams to play against, as well.
The third thing you’re missing is that you really only care about trans women in this debate. Do you care if trans men compete against cis men? They compete at very similar levels, too, and if you think being born as a woman is a disadvantage, then why do they do just as well after transitioning?
And the last thing is that we have gendered leagues due to a sexist history behind sports. Women weren’t allowed to compete in a variety of sports for a long time. Women’s leagues were initially created for the same reason black leagues were created. We have kept them because they are a really lazy way to determine what category of play you are in, as though they act similar to weight classes in wrestling. But athletes within the same sex can compete at completely different abilities for different reasons. Taller players can have a much bigger advantage against shorter players in a ton of sports, so why don’t we use height as a determiner of which league you play in instead?
Can you give some examples of these sports?
only considered trans women because generally in sports you’re trying to be stronger and larger. Trans men can do that and have the disadvantage.
I get what you’re saying about separate leagues but the strongest and tallest men would have an advantage over the strongest and tallest women, skill aside.
Maybe just make a mixed league that everybody is cool with playing in and keep separate leagues too.
No, I get it. But, you’re using what you feel is true versus what is true. The “advantage” you’re talking about isn’t significant among any study, ranging from a 7% advantage in some athletic categories to a 13% disadvantage in others.
Competitive sporting associations have rules and regulations for trans athletes competing in sex-segregated leagues, and they typically involve around two years on HRT and I’m not sure if you’re aware of the side effects of starting HRT, but athletes typically see substantial muscle loss. These competitive organizations do not see trans athletes excel when following these rules. And that is because trans athletes aren’t superior to cis athletes.
The strongest and tallest man probably has some advantages in some sports over the tallest and strongest woman, but you need to compare the strongest and tallest trans man to the man and trans woman to woman because those comparisons are surprisingly more in favor of the cis athlete than you would probably like for a whole host of reasons.
Not enough trans anthletes to warrant their own league. Who would even watch it?