Politically homeless lefty with a positive critical view of the world. I'm a lefty; not a loony.
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” -- Thomas Paine
Never debate to convince an ideologue. Debate to convince more reasonable people listening in on the conversation. Stay calm. Stay reasonable. Stay honest. Be convincing.
After all:
"Female sport exists to celebrate the achievements of extraordinary females, not those of ordinary males."
-- Dr. Emma Hilton (
@FondOfBeetles
).
Since I keep seeing the same arguments being used in the
#transathletes
discussions, I thought I'd gather my thoughts in this Twitter thread:
Over time, we have created separated sports divisions based on measurable physical conditions, such as age, sex, and sometimes weight.
@rachael_katz
@againstgroomers
@LeftyLindeey
It may come as a shock to you, but most people are able to agree with others on some points while disagreeing on others. People aren't "allies". People sometimes agree, and in this case we all agree that grooming children is unacceptable.
Obviously, lowering the testosterone levels of adult males is likely to negatively impact their performance, but just as that’s no reason to allow them to compete in the youth division, that’s no reason to allow them in the female division. They are neither children nor female.
@davidhattonbook
It's one thing to state that you hold different opinions on some topics than the person who made your fame possible; it's quite another to demand that this author should be removed from the production of the movies on the very books she wrote. It's OK to agree to disagree.
People should not compete in a sports division which base characteristic reason for existing they don’t share, not even after lowering their testosterone levels. Unfortunately, the IOC seems to have forgotten that sports are separated by sex, and not gender identity.
There is no need for discrimination or exclusion of trans athletes:
- Transwomen can compete in the male division, just like all males.
- Transmen can compete in the female division, just like all females.
- Doping remains illegal in all sports divisions.
An additional problem is that neither law nor regulations allow for the distinction between transwomen and men pretending to be transwomen. The IOC has created a “legal” way of cheating in 2015, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
Girls are missing out on the ability to participate in - and/or win championships, and lose out on sponsors and scholarships. As more elite males come out as transgender, it is likely that the elite female levels will also be impacted in time.
Just because non-elite adults could be defeated by elite children, and non-elite males could be defeated by elite females, that doesn’t mean we should be looking for ways to allow adults to compete against children or males to compete against females, no matter how they identify.
The effects of allowing transwomen to compete in the female sports divisions are slowly becoming visible. Mediocre male athletes are winning female championships in the youth and regional competitions, and some are approaching elite female levels.
@billybragg
Gender identity is not a sports category, Billy. Sports are separated on the basis of age, sex, and sometimes weight, and for very good reasons.
@ForWomenScot
@HotchkissRhona
@Channel4News
Perhaps they could first make up their mind on whether these are
1. Predatory transwomen we're told do not exist.
2. Predatory men pretending to be transwomen we're told do not exist.
?
It is high time that sports organizations like the IOC take a look at the USAPL () policy, and realize that sports are separated based on sex, not gender identity, for very good reasons.
Except when it comes to extreme endurance sports, the male world records are generally 10-40% better than the female world records, depending on the type of physical sport. Even the world records of 16 year old boys are often better than those of adult females.
There appears to be some confusion with regards to "male advantage" in sports. Male advantage does not mean that all males could beat all or almost all females. Male advantage simply means that both on average and at the elite athletic level, males perform better than females.
Since some people get confused after their redefinition of the word woman in the whole discussion on whether transwomen are women or not, I propose we rename the divisions to male sports and female sports, and consider turning all male divisions into open divisions.
@cyclingweekly
@runthinkwrite
Yes, it is. Gender identity is not a sports category. Sports are separated on the basis of age, sex, and sometimes weight, and for very good reasons. Male athletes should not be competing in the female sports division, regardless of how they identify or how badly they perform.
@StopFundingHate
If you seriously claim that it's "toxic" to report on the activity and consequences of having male athletes compete in the female sports division, you simply do not understand why sports categories exist.
These divisions exist due to the performance differences between the elite members of each class, and sometimes due to safety considerations.
That doesn't mean that every adult would be able to defeat every child; few adults would have been able to outrun 16 year old Usain Bolt.
One woman reported being targeted in an online group. "I was told that homosexuality doesn't exist and I owed it to my trans sisters to unlearn my 'genital confusion' so I can enjoy letting them penetrate me," she wrote.
@PennyRed
@redney71
... and yet you wonder why an increasing amount of people object to this trans ideology ...
You would seriously blame teenage girls for their discomfort in this situation? Why do you think those spaces are separated in 2021?
@micahneilson
@helenstaniland
@mushycrouton
Why do you believe that? You seem to think that women objecting to male genitalia in their communal shower areas and locker rooms is "transphobic". Most people would consider that common sense.
@FondOfBeetles
@VyvEvans
@PsychToday
Exactly. Woman, to me (and biology) is a sex, not a gender (identity).
Gender roles are something to be abolished, not to be elevated as "identities".
@WomenAreHereNow
@sharrond62
The female Olympic champion is a 150 kg woman, yet her record is broken by the male world champion ... in the 67 kg division. The male world champion in the heavyweight division lifts 47% more than she does. That's how big the difference is.
@rob3hats
@FifeRight14
@billybragg
@Glinner
Ah, yes. The image by a graphics designer that claims women with CAH are less female than men with De La Chapelle syndrome and men with Klinefelter syndrome are less male than Caster Semenya...
Seriously? Is that the argument you bring to this discussion?
@plasticmartyr
Seriously?!?
You would claim people with Swyer syndrome aren't female?
You would claim people with Klinefelter syndrome aren't male?
You would claim people with MRKH syndrome aren't female?
Why would you make such a ridiculous claim?
@MinnOrchia
@coldcoffee23567
@jk_rowling
@dmf500
@MikeWhitton
@GettingEricD
Then you obviously haven't understood what feminism was about. Being a woman is about being female, regardless of your personality or the expression thereof. It's not about being feminine, regardless of your sex.
Women are/were suppressed on the basis of their sex through gender.
@battleforeurope
If Israel had wanted to slaughter the people in Gaza, they could have done so within a week. It's taking so long because they've gone above and beyond what any other country would have done to prevent civilian casualties.
@JRmilek
@jk_rowling
Then do so, in accordance with your sex, or ask for separate rest rooms. Don't insist on intruding where you aren't wanted. Those spaces are separated on the basis of sex for very good reasons.
@LGBTQPrideUK
@helenstaniland
It's not about their looks.
It's never been about their looks.
It's always been about their sex.
Which part of single-sex spaces and sports did you not understand?
@JeremyDBoreing
I disagree. Regardless of Disney's political position, I don't think any corporation should be given such an exceptional status in legislation to begin with.
@jvn
Well, at least we can agree in part: there is no excuse for threatening violence against other people. Your other claims however are without merit.
@Iamthisnotthat1
@ident1kitt
Exactly!
Conservative: A woman should act and dress in a certain way.
TRA: Someone who acts and dresses in a certain way is a woman.
GC: A woman is an adult member of the female sex of the human species, regardless of how she acts or dresses.
After all:
"Female sport exists to celebrate the achievements of extraordinary females, not those of ordinary males."
-- Dr. Emma Hilton (
@FondOfBeetles
).
@ChampagneRainbo
@stormrobinson
@AriDrennen
The female heavyweight world champion in weight lifting weighs 150 kg. She would be defeated by the male world champion in the 67 kg division...
Weight is not a substitute for sex in sports.
@MAMelby
@trixymalixy
@helenstaniland
No, the one where a registered sex offender (twice for indecent exposure) was hit with 5 additional counts of indecent exposure after "allies" claimed that person had every reason to swing their penis around in the spa area.
@FondOfBeetles
Somehow I detect a small conflict of interest when a transwoman, who never won anything worth speaking of in the men's division, but happens to become a two time women's masters world champion, declares that transwomen have no advantage in women's sports.
@TheLamb93
@helenstaniland
@PaulSimon1971
Simple: I am not transphobic, because I do not have an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to transgender people.
I do however reject queer ideology, for obvious reasons.
Now you give it a try: "I am not a misogynist, because...".
@MAMelby
@trixymalixy
@helenstaniland
It's just one of many reasons why those spaces are separated on the basis of sex. Why do you want to throw that all away, and make so many people's lives miserable in the process? You appear unwilling to leave even a shred of safeguarding open to people.
@ChangeEvergreen
If you wish to argue for additional spaces for transgender people, you'll get no argument from me, but males should stay out of female single-sex spaces and sports.
@KlinefeltersUK
@BluePeg62697795
47,XXY females do not have Klinefelter syndrome.
Neither have anything to do with gender identity either; Klinefelter syndrome is a male DSD.
@travisakers
People aren't fighting against CRT for talking about history; they're fighting because CRT claims that nothing has changed since then, people are guilty for the sins of others based on skin color, and the best way to analyze complex issues is through a racial lens.
@MAMelby
@trixymalixy
@helenstaniland
Well, if they stopped waving them in our faces, and stopped ogling the women in those spaces, then perhaps you'd have a point. You're trying to make a mockery out of safeguarding; something women have had to do ever since they were allowed in the public space.
@Toren_Ylfa
@salltweets
How do you propose to tell the difference? Most men aren't rapists either, yet we bar all males from female single-sex spaces regardless. Which part of single-sex did you not understand?
@janeclarejones
@TinaBhartwas
@LGBTLabour
If a term is almost exclusively used by the out-group and hardly ever by the in-group, you can safely assume that it's a slur and/or offensive.
It also means however, that if we didn't separate sports by sex, there would not be a single female athlete in the top 1000 of almost every physical sport. That's unacceptable. Elite female athletes deserve an equal chance at sponsors, scholarships, championships, and prices.
@GaryPayinda
Why do you believe that congenital medical conditions are separate sexes? Why would you believe that women with Turner syndrome for example are not female?
A spectrum is an ordered set of values; what sex(es) other than male and female exist, and in what order do they appear?
@G_ogenes
It's not about whether they are transgender or not.
It's about whether they are male or not.
Which part of single-sex spaces did you not understand?
@mikecompetition
@jk_rowling
Judging from the transcript, I seriously doubt it. The question here is whether the LGBA did something worthy of revoking their charitable status, and it's clear that the allegations are based on a completely distorted view of reality on the part of Mermaids.
@MAMelby
@trixymalixy
@helenstaniland
That's exactly what we want as well, so it seems we have a deal then. Keep those penises away from women's safe spaces so we don't have to look at them or be ogled by their owners, and we should be getting on like a house on fire.
@davecrossx
If you allow people of the male sex to enter female single-sex spaces, you have indeed eradicated said space, because it is no longer single-sex. What part of single-sex is unclear to you?
@PNW_Dude_18
Am I the only one seeing a group of people trying to watch (or ruin if you look at that last image) a professional baseball game without paying for it?
@MAMelby
@trixymalixy
@helenstaniland
I'm not demanding anyone have surgery, but IF your gender dysphoria is to the degree that you just HAVE to be in women's safe spaces in order to feel validated, the LEAST you can do is make sure you don't have male genitalia. Don't make your issues women's problems.
@MAMelby
@trixymalixy
@helenstaniland
If their gender dysphoria is not to the degree where they're willing to go through SRS, I see no reason to put their needs above those of women to be honest.
@festinagirl
@Seinneann
@helenstaniland
Oh, I've done my research all right. The female sports category exists to provide safe, fair, and equal sports opportunities to female athletes. The differences between male and female world records is 10-50% after all; more than between adult and teenage world records.