Seeking Perspectives: Trans Athletes in Women's Sports (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by Zeon@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Hello everyone,

I'm interested in gathering thoughts and perspectives, particularly from the trans community, regarding trans women's participation in women's sports. This is a topic that often sparks debate, and I want to understand the various viewpoints better.

My question is: What are your opinions on biologically male trans individuals competing in women's sports? Do you think there should be separate categories for trans athletes, or should they compete in accordance with their gender identity? I am looking for thoughtful, respectful discussions, as my intention is not to discriminate but to understand the complexities of this issue better.

Thank you for sharing your insights!

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[-] Atin@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

The reason we have women's sports is because women are extremely rarely able to compete against men in most sports.

When MTF trans person reaches adulthood they have already generally attained a physical advantage over cis women that no amount of hormones and surgery will diminish. Their current levels of testosterone will have no impact on bone structure and muscle development gained through puberty. This can be shown by the lack of female to male trans athletes.

I am all for Trans rights, but becoming a professional or elite athlete is not a right, as much as I would love to become a racing driver.

Perhaps a mixed gender/sex competition could work, but allowing people that have transitioned after puberty took hold is blatantly unfair. Obviously there are some sports, such as shooting, darts, snooker etc where this advantage isn't really applicable.

Unfortunately in life compromises sometimes have to be made, and I believe that for males transitioning to female, not allowing them to compete as elite female athletes is a compromise that needs to be made for the greater good.

[-] moody@lemmings.world 8 points 9 months ago

How many elite-level trans women athletes can you name who are actually top of their field above cis women?

[-] gnuplusmatt@reddthat.com 6 points 9 months ago

You know that testosterone is required to maintain muscle mass, right?

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The best thing that I've seen from the anti-trans movement in womens sports, is the number of cis women who end up falling more afoul of the rules due to their genetic predisposition to have a higher than average level of testosterone for women with regards to anti-trans rules that almost always revolve around bodily testosterone levels.

Anti-trans rules will hurt women in womens sports far more than it will hurt trans women (as far as numbers go, to be clear), and no one wants to think or talk about that.

Trans women in sports are not dominating any field. All the outrage you see from it is like that Marathon from a year or 2 ago where a woman got pissed off for losing to a trans woman who finished infront of her, both of them in the high thousands of placement, not like 1st and 2nd place.. Both were beaten by thousands of other women, but that woman had a hissy fit because one of the women was trans.

[-] JoBo@feddit.uk 5 points 9 months ago

the lack of female to male trans athletes.

Stop making shit up. You hear more about trans women in sport because misogyny, not because trans men don't succeed in sport.

What About the Trans Athletes Who Compete — And Win — in Men’s Sports?

this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024

26 points (70.3% liked)

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