#it’s so UNFAIR when trans women compete in sports :((

[chaserofstarsandtheabyss]

Mother stop calling me your “biological daughter” challenge and using that to explain why you’re so upset at trans women competing in sports (impossible)

[parsleypesto]

awwwwww u guys care so much about women in sport! i can tell by the way you waste so much time deciding to ban trans women. like the .0001% of athletes :) even tho it doesn’t seem necessary at all :) oh hey!! i just had an idea. how about instead of that, u work out how to pay female athletes enough that they can fully dedicate themselves to training to show that ur really keen on “protecting the female category” x

[spacelazarwolf]

“they don’t care that there are athletes who are trans men, just trans women!!!!!!!!!!!”

they tell us we’re cheating and shouldn’t be allowed to compete either bc taking testosterone gives us an “unfair advantage.” and sometimes when cis men find out a trans man is on their sports team they beat the ever living fuck out of him. so. yeah. they do care.

[female-malice]

Did you know that estrogen weakens the muscles and makes them exactly like a cis woman's? Did you know trans men on T are put in women's leagues still, when the T causes muscles to grow?

As a trans man, educate yourself.

Did you know that estrogen weakens the muscles and makes them exactly like a cis woman's?

When you say "estrogen weakens muscles and makes them exactly like a cis woman" you are regurgitating extreme misogyny. Women are not weakened men. We are not made out of Adam's rib.

When males take estrogen, that does not weaken male muscle mass. Trans-identified males take other medications to suppress testosterone. That has nothing to do with estrogen. Estrogen does not suppress muscle growth at all.

You are thinking like a misogynist. You think estrogen=women and women=weak so estrogen weakens muscles. That's anti-scientific. You understand that right? That's just bigotry. Stop thinking like a misogynist. Stop thinking testosterone=good and estrogen=bad. Take some time to learn about how natural female hormones strengthen and fortify the female body. Educate yourself.

Did you know trans men on T are put in women's leagues still, when the T causes muscles to grow?

There are zero female athletes on testosterone competing in professional women's sports. Testosterone is a banned substance. Gaining an unfair advantage through testosterone doping results in a lifetime ban from professional competition.

Athletes who use cough medicine and heart medication to manipulate their stamina and recovery do not receive lifetime bans. They receive temporary bans because the effects of their doping are temporary.

Testosterone is a lifetime ban because the long-term effects of testosterone are permanent. These decisions by WADA are backed up by thousands and thousands of studies. The science is indisputable. Athletes who engage in testosterone doping permanently exclude themselves from sports. And artificially suppressing testosterone in male athletes does not negate the effects of male puberty.

Women's sports competition is for female athletes regardless of how they identify. Men's sports competition is for male athletes regardless of how they identify. Open sports competition is for everybody regardless of how they identify. Everyone is included as long as they're not doping.

Testosterone suppression might temporarily cause a male athlete to lose their competitive edge against other male athletes. However, it is not female athlete's responsibility to include male athletes who lose their competitive edge. A female athlete is not a male athlete that takes testosterone suppressing medication. A female athlete is a female athlete. Taking medications and cross-sex hormones does not turn males into females. And it does not turn females into males.

Tinkering with your body and hormones is a voluntary activity. When you make a choice, you live with the consequences.

Many people interested in body building use banned substances to change their body. They do this knowing it will bar them from competing in sports. They're okay with this. They don't go around protesting. They don't go around clamoring for inclusion in sports. They make their choice to exclude themselves from fair sports competition and they're fine with it.

Your body modifications are your own choice. Your body modifications are your own responsibility. When those modifications ban you from competitive sports or dull your competitive edge, that's your consequence to deal with.

[coochiequeens]

Considering that women critical of self id in women’s sports are threatened and harassed Yes we do need more men to stand up do this. TRAs know the difference between men and women when it comes to who they can intimidate.

A male powerlifting coach self-identified into the women’s category and broke the Alberta women’s bench press record in an apparent effort to protest gender self-identification policies in sport.

Avi Silverberg, a powerlifting coach who has worked with Team Canada, self-identified as a woman last week to participate in the women’s category at the Heroes Classic Powerlifting Meet held in Lethbridge, Alberta. Silverberg was attempting to highlight the unfair advantage males have when competing in women’s athletics. In participating in the Saturday event, Silverberg unofficially broke the Alberta women’s bench press record for the 84+ kilograms category.

The Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU) announced a gender self-identification policy earlier this year, explicitly allowing any males to participate in women’s competitions on the basis of “gender” alone.

In February, the CPU’s “Trans Inclusion Policy,” was released, containing an explicit statement that the CPU supported allowing transgender powerlifters to participate in the sex category of their choosing based on a guidance from the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES).

“Based on this background and available evidence, the Expert Working Group felt that trans athletes should be able to participate in the gender with which they identify, regardless of whether or not they have undergone hormone therapy,” the document reads, deferring to the “inclusivity in sport” guidance from the CCES.

The official women’s bench press title holder in the 84+ kilograms category is Anne Andres, a trans-identified male. Andres was in the front row and witnessed Silverberg’s demonstration at the Heroes Classic Powerlifting Meet.

Andres is a biological male athlete who identifies as a “woman” and regularly participates in female weightlifting competitions. Andres has won eight out of nine competitions he has entered in the women’s category, and is listed as a female on the Open Powerlifting rankings site.

In February, just prior to the CPU’s announcement of a gender self-identification policy, Andres gained significant notoriety after sharing a video of himself appearing to mock female athletes, asking why female powerlifters were “so bad” at bench press.

In the video, Andres is seen sitting on a bench in a gym, leaning towards the camera in a casual manner and speaking directly into it. 

“We all know that I’m a tranny freak,” Andres jokes about himself before going on to state: “… I mean, standard bench in power lifting competition for women, I don’t understand why it’s so bad.”

Riley Gaines, a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s forum and an accomplished All American swimmer, shared a clip from the viral video on her Twitter in February, captioning it: “Anne Andres (male who identifies and competes as a woman) doesn’t understand why female powerlifters are so ‘bad’ at bench press… well idk Anne, but maybe it’s because you have 20 times more testosterone than them. Just a thought…” 

ICONS Women, a campaign group dedicated to defending the rights of female athletes to single-sex sport, was first to post the clip of Silverberg at the Heroes Classic Powerlifting Meet on Monday, drawing attention to his act of defiance.

Speaking to Reduxx, ICONS Women noted that Silverberg’s demonstration provided insight into the end result of gender self-identification policies in sport.

“What Avi so obviously points out is that policies allowing men access to women’s sports completely remove any integrity in women’s competitions,” the organization said. 

“It doesn’t matter how Avi expresses himself or perceives himself. He clearly does not belong in women’s sport, and neither does any other male regardless of their motivation for wanting to participate.”

While some were confused by the display, others praised Silverberg’s ironic application of the CPU’s “Transgender Policy.”

“I can’t get enough of this guy, Avi for prime minister. It takes real balls to do this. I said this all along, any man can change their documents to say they are a woman then go in and take records. Finally someone did it for the women and proved policy is a disgrace,” one Twitter user wrote in response.

Many echoed the sentiment, calling for more male athletes to do the same.

Women’s athletic competitions have become a major issue in the debate on gender ideology and its impact on women.

The issue mounted in public attention after a trans-identified male swimmer, Lia Thomas, began breaking women’s records and winning medals intended for female athletes in 2021. Since then, there have been several instances of trans-identified male athletes taking the podium in women’s sporting events.

Amidst growing pushback, the World Athletics recently announced they would be prohibiting transgender athletes who have undergone “male puberty” from competing in women’s world ranking competitions. During a press conference last week, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe cited scientific consideration and fairness for female athletes, stating he and the organization “believe the integrity of female category in athletics is paramount.”

By Yuliah Alma

Yuliah is a junior researcher and journalist at Reduxx. She is a passionate advocate for women's rights and child safeguarding. Yuliah lives on the American east coast, and is an avid reader and book collector.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Hi! Absolutely loved the last chapter of LDV!

I just wanted to ask for a few recommendations, mostly about trans people in sports competitions and events like the Olympics

You see, where I'm from, it's still a pretty "controversial" debate. People think trans people shouldn't be in sports because "they got an unfair place" let it be an advantage or disadvantage.

I know most of the people that say that, don't really care about trans people, they only care about excluding them.

But others are ignorant. Myself included. And I'd like to educate myself more about it, about the rights of trans people and how they are constantly discriminated (it can also be in other places, not only sports. God knows people like to turn a blind eye on that too) because I'll like to point out the discrimination and unfairness of all this, but I don't have enough knowledge to give a solid argument

Even with my friends, they agree with those people sometimes. And I know they don't do it out of cruelty rather than ignorance, but I would like to call them out and make them see the reality, not just what transphobic and misogynistic people tell them

Sooo, do you perhaps have some research or books about it? Anything is welcome! I've been wanting to ask this for so long, but I don't know why I just never got around to do it.

Thanks <3

Oh, I’m so glad you asked about this. The reason why I include these topics and information in my fics is to make people think and to encourage more conversations like this! Good on you for wanting to know more! 

The first thing is that each country (and its governing sports body) has its own regulations about including trans people in sports. But two common things across most countries are - a) it primarily affects trans women. They are the ones who are scrutinized and subjected to examinations and then banned from the sport. b) the main ‘test’ used to eliminate trans woman from sports (mainly athletics) is their testosterone level. Each country (and even the Olympics committee responsible for this) has a bar/standard for the acceptable testesterone level for female athletes for various sports and if you have more than this, you can’t compete in it. 

Now while the above might sound fair to many, the things to consider here are that 1) the limit they’ve set is concerningly low. This means that some cis women (like those who have PCOS or any other hormonal condition) might even be cut off because of this strategy to eliminate trans women from various sports. 

Some countries/states on the other hand, like certain states in America (As we’ll see in LDV) outright ban trans people from participating in certain sports. This includes Idaho, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama etc. At least 20 of them, if I’m not wrong. It’s the same in my country. In many countries too. 

You are so right to point out that a lot of people would actually prefer trans women out of sports because they think trans women take up spaces that are meant for (cis) women. But if you really think about this, this whole “trans women are trying to take your place” argument was created to distract us from the real barrier to women’s sports - which is the patriarchy (this is a whole other topic and I can rant all day). But pitting cis women against trans women for the sake of ‘fairness’ is truly awful, but we do see it happen a lot - mostly out of ignorance, not malice. 

I did however bring intersex into the conversation - because the experience of intersex athletes are so different from that of trans athletes. Some intersex people don’t even know they are intersex, and then they suddenly find out about it when they are put in situations like this where their participation in a sport is banned/eliminated because of their testosterone level. The people who are usually targeted are masculine-looking and extremely well-performing athletes in women’s sports. If you fall into this category, then you might be asked to do a testosterone test (just because!) and then you might be eliminated from the sport. 

But wait. It gets worse. We’ve had actual cases where intersex athletes have had forced surgeries performed on them under the guise of allowing them to perform in the sporting event. Can you believe this is an actual thing that is happening and people aren’t talking about it? Some famous case studies you can read/watch about is Caster Semanya (which is very recent and literally ongoing). 

I didn’t know much about this either (I learned about it in my sexuality class) and decided to include it in LDV because it seemed so fitting. But I’m glad you want to know more. 

Here are some quick resources. I’m sharing both reading and watchable materials depending on your learning preference. 

VIDEOS:

A great!!! video about understanding trans people in sports - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fb48tivB-0

Intersex people and their olympic experiences - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rAHqh9OghY AND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWP6OuifFOw

READING MATERIALS: 

A good introductory article that has some research too

A case study about intersex people and the olympics

https://www.katrinakarkazis.com/testosterone-an-unauthorized-biography (Definitely read Katrina’s work!)

I hope this is helpful. Keep looking for answers and ask good questions! 

[lift-heavy-be-gay]

Let's talk about transgender athletes

this is gonna be a long rant so I'm just gonna put a cut down below. dni if you're a terf or just wanna cause problems.

So, recently in class we were discussing different drugs used illegally and legally in sports and eventually the topic of transgender athletes came up (because of course). However, my professor handled it really well and as a trans athlete (pre transition), I just wanna talk about my feelings on the matter.

Keep in mind that this is my opinion, but I have been studying this in uni and may have more of an insight on how testosterone and estrogen actually affect the body. Anyway, there are two main points I wanna make.

As an afab athlete myself, I compete in a mostly strength based sport (though some technique and skill is necessary). However, I could not even begin to think about competing with my amab counterparts. It would put me at an unfair disadvantage and them an unfair advantage.

The first being that—depending on the time you began taking hormones/how long you've been taking hormones—you most likely won't be able to compete in high level competitions like the olympics. I know that people are going to be upset at this, but please listen. If you began taking hormones around the age you would begin puberty, then by the time you're an adult still presumably taking said hormones, then your levels would most likely be that of a cis person. However, if you're taking hormones after puberty, then the testosterone difference between amab and afab people is *staggering*. This article states that amab people generate 15x more testosterone than afab people. Even if they begin taking hrt, it takes YEARS to even begin to see a significant difference.

But

(and this leads to my second point)

There are numerous advantages and disadvantages for cis people in sports. Whether it be financial status, family history, access to training, facilities, or injury prevention/rehabilitation. If kid A is from a long line of well-off basketball players and has the resources to compete, then he definitely has an advantage over kid B who is from the middle of nowhere with no support and even worse facilities. Fact of the matter is, cis people are unevenly matched up against each other all the time. There are a hundred and one different ways that they may have an advantage or disadvantage over each other. Why is it different for transgender athletes? Scratch that. Why is it different between genders at all?

What I'm trying to say is that, I've met plenty afab people who are stronger than amab guys. I really don't think gender matters that much in a lot of sports. I believe we should start separating athletes based on weight rather than gender. (Of course, that's just my opinion.)

It's just that whenever I hear the topic about transgender athletes in sports, it's always about trans women. It's about how it's "not fair" and they are "doing it on purpose to get an easy win" and a bunch of other excuses to try and justify not letting them play. Surprisingly, I don't often (if at all) hear the same argument about trans men. On the surface, a lot of these debates about trans athletes is good ole' transphobia. But if you look deeper, it's really just misogyny. Most people don't even care about the sport, they just want another avenue to oppress a group of people.

Basically, the situation is not as black and white as most would like to believe, and there's a lot of nuance involved when trying to understand this topic. It's unfortunate that many trans athletes have to even deal with this extra bs in order to compete.

anyway, end of rant. thanks for reading if you made it this far. there's definitely more I could say on this, but these are the main points I wanted to make.

tldr: while there are inherent biological differences between amab and afab people, that doesn't excuse excluding trans athletes from being able to compete

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

Trans women do not have an unfair advantage in sports and this claim often harms intersex women and Black women.

This post is for @loneranger0369 whose been following this blog way too long to be this ignorant.

Trans people have been allowed to compete in the Olympics since 2004 (as long as they've been on hormone replacement for more than a year and their hormones aren't above a certain level).

Only one trans woman has won since this new rule. If trans women such an advantage, wouldn't more of them be winning?

The ACLU has more information and studies proving trans women don't have an advantage

Bills barring trans women from sports more frequently harm cisgendered women that have an undiagnosed intersex condition.

More specifically. Rules that bar trans women from sports more frequently harm Black women in sports as they're more frequently accused of being trans due to the hypermasculinization of Black women

Cis women that have health conditions that cause higher testosterone but are otherwise healthy are often forced to take drugs that come with a slew of health risks just to lower their natural testosterone so they can compete.

And it's not about unfair advantages. You want to talk about unfair advantages. Michael Phelps has a slew of them in his natural body.

Usain Bolt does too

We gonna shorten Usain Bolt's legs and give Michael Phelps joint tightening surgery because they have an unfair advantage? I think you'll find most Olympic record setters have what you call an "unfair advantage"

(I'll address your next point about trans kids being confused later today. I'm busy today.)

-fae

[19-bellwether]

The flaw in the argument against trans people in sports is that sports are already dominated by 'biological advantages.' The idea of generally equal competitors succeeding on skill alone is a fantasy. Look at our most widely decorated olympians. Usain Bolt did not become the fastest man on the planet by training hard, he started training because he was already biologically inclined to it. Michael Phelps isn't built with long arms and hyper-flexible chest joints because he swam every day, he started swimming because his body happened to be built to reward it.

So when Becky the highschooler hits six feet tall by age fifteen, she's praised and told she should try basketball. Her uncommon deviance from the average is seen as an opportunity. But when Sarah the trans girl wants to compete - even if she's shorter and slower than Becky - she's accused of having an unfair advantage over her fellow women. The argument for fairness does not work because fairness in sports does not exist in the first place.

This double standard further falls apart when you stop thinking of trans people as hypotheticals. Few people actually believe that any random person can become a successful athlete. Odds are, no matter how much you train, you would not be able to match the top competitors that have an actual biological advantage via the genetic lottery. Trans people are the same way: we come in just as many different body types as cis people. For every trans woman that's built perfectly for basketball, there are thousands more who would be average at best. That's no different than cis women. On top of that, hormone transitioning brings trans people's physical ability close to a cis person's of the same gender.

When a trans woman athlete loses nineteen games in the woman's division, no one says a word. But when she wins one, everyone starts questioning if it's unfair. The biological advantage myth is based on nothing but transphobic double standards and it's irritating how common it is even among self-described cis allies.

[womenvoices]

Why Trans Women Should Not Partake in Women’s Sports

Women’s sports were created for women, but gender ideology is threatening this. Transgender women in women’s sports have become a topic of controversy in recent years. While the motive to include transgender women in women’s sports is to create an inclusive environment, allowing transgender women to partake in women’s sports leagues is harmful to female athletes because of certain biological advantages, it discourages and discredits female athletes and women’s sports, and puts female athletes in unsafe situations.

Transgender women should not compete in women’s sports because of their biological advantages. Males have biological advantages over females that aid in their sports performance. Testosterone levels in men are about fifteen times higher than in females which contributes to numerous advantages including a 40% upper body strength difference, 83% difference in force, a maximal pulmonary ventilation difference of 48%, and more (Hilton et al. 202). Given these sex differences, the average man possesses an upperhand in sports that the average woman does not. This does not mean women are inferior to men, it just means that the sexes are different, so to ensure fair competition, sports are often separated by gender. Contrary to what many people believe, taking estrogen has little to no impact on these statistics meaning that even a transgender woman on estrogen still retains that biological male advantage. Hormone replacement therapy has no effect on a person’s height or skeletal structure meaning that, especially in sports where a person’s size is a key factor in how they perform (volleyball, basketball, etc.) a transgender woman, now matter how long their testosterone has been suppressed, still has this advantage over women (Hilton et al. 205). Studies have been done which prove that testosterone suppression does decrease muscle size; however, only by a small percentage, so their muscle size still does not match typical female levels (Hilton, et al. 205). Therefore, transgender women, even with decreased testosterone still have the biological male advantages making it unfair for female athletes when transgender women are permitted to compete with them. 

Transgender women should not compete in women’s sports because it discourages and discredits female athletes and the integrity of women’s sports. Many transgender woman athletes that have been able to compete against women have dominated the competition because of aforementioned advantages. The vast majority of the time, the average male will beat the average female in physical contests, which is why sports are separated by sex in the first place; it’s to ensure fairness. Therefore, allowing a transgender woman to compete with women defeats the whole purpose of women’s sports. Many women have simply come out about their experiences with competing against transgender women and received backlash for it, not only discouraging them within their sport, but discouraging them from speaking out as well. The Independent Women’s Forum is a non-profit organization that fights for fairness in women’s sports. On their website, they have many accounts of women who experienced this unfairness first hand. For example, Paula Scanlan, a member of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team was forced to be on a team with transgender woman, Lia Thomas if she wanted to continue swimming there. Scanlan says that she has seen female athletes lose their spots on rosters and podiums to transgenders, that her teammates thought it was unfair as well, but did not want to speak out, and that she, herself got scrutinized when she spoke out (Mew). Paula Scanlan is just one example of many women that have gone through the same thing. These women are pushed aside in their own sports, oftentimes scared to speak up, and the ones that do speak up have their experiences discredited, minimalized, and shamed. Hence, transgender women should never be allowed to compete in women’s sports in order to prevent women from having to experience this. 

Transgender women should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports because it risks the safety of female athletes on and off the playing field. Sandra Miles (a pseudonym) also told her story to Independent Women’s Forum and says that a transgender woman who was permitted to play on the recreational hockey team she coaches under New York law plays very aggressively, making it dangerous for the women to practice and play. Miles also said that her players are afraid of the trans woman’s aggressive behavior (McClure). Miles also shared that the trans athlete uses the same locker rooms as the other players which results in a lot of uncomfortable situations. Miles said the trans athlete would have conversations in the locker room with the women while their erect penis was out and facing them which made many of these women uncomfortable (McClure). Paula Scanlan also mentioned that her teammate, Lia Thomas was permitted to use to the same locker room as the rest of the team which oftentimes made Scanlan feel unsafe as she was being forced to change in the same locker room as a biological male if she wanted to stay on the team (Mew). Allowing biological men who identify as women to participate in women’s sports put female athletes in danger because of unfair biological advantages that they cannot compete with and allowing biological men to change with female athletes puts female athletes at a high risk for assault, harassment, and an uncomfortable environment.

In conclusion, while many argue that trans women should be allowed to partake in women’s sports so that they feel included, the fairness, integrity, and safety of women’s sports should always triumph over the need to feel included for transgender women.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Works Cited

Hilton, Emma., Lundberg, Tommy. “Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage.” Sports Medicine.51 (2020): 199-214. 1 May 2024

Mew, Andrea. “From Athletics to Activism, Paula Scanlan Isn’t Afraid to Rock the Boat.” Independent Women’s Forum, https://www.iwf.org/female-athlete-stories/paula-scanlan/. Accessed 2 May 2024

McClure, Ashley. “Male Players on Women’s Teams Have “All the Rights” –And This Coach’s Hands Are Tied.” Independent Women’s Forum, https://www.iwf.org/female-athlete-stories/sandra-miles/. Accessed 2 May 2024

[forsetti]

On Personal Identity: It's Complex And Personal

Once gay marriage was upheld by SCOTUS, the right needed a new, under-represented group to attack in order to placate their base’s lust to make themselves feel superior and punish those they deem inferior.

It took a few years for conservatives to really hone in on who to attack. Finally, their broken moral compass led them right to the transgender community. To the right, transgender individuals have the ick factor of gay people on steroids, and since there are a lot fewer of them, the pushback would be minimal. Many people know someone in their family, someone they love, a close friend, or who is gay. This isn’t true of the trans community. If you are a morally vacuous bully, the farther down you can punch, the better.

Think about this strategy for a moment. The right tried desperately to make gay people their scapegoats for all that was wrong with America, and they lost. They lost big. They got bitch-slapped by Will and Grace, Ellen, and thousands of other examples that gay Americans are as normal, if not more so, than their Bible-thumping neighbors. Instead of learning even the most basic lesson from their loss, the right decided the best thing to do was punch down even farther on the social and cultural ladder. This right here should tell you everything you need to know about modern-day conservatism. As Adam Sewer poignantly stated in The Atlantic about the right, “cruelty is the point.” When it comes to people who identify as transgender, the only question that really matters is, “So fucking what?” Here is where I want to acknowledge that I am not completely aware of the terminology when it comes to people who identify as transgender. I’m trying to learn. If I misidentify or make a mistake in verbiage, I apologize in advance.

What difference does it make to Aunt Freedom and Uncle Tight Ass if anyone, especially people they don’t know and will never encounter, identify as transgender? The answer is, “Not a God damn thing!” There are side arguments about how respecting which pronouns someone wants to be referred to by is an affront to God, the Founding Fathers, and Strunk & White, but they are 100% bullshit. The argument, “Boys/men competing against girls/women is unfair" is specious and nonsensical as “it goes against nature." Especially since almost all of these arguments come from people who haven’t given a damn about women’s sports and/or who have spent years speaking about them derisively. The only time they’ve given a single thought to women’s sports is when they can use them to prop up their bullshit worldview and punch down.

Personal identity isn’t black-and-white. It isn’t something that is defined by others. If it was, then it wouldn’t be called “personal identity."

I have no idea what it is like to identify as part of the LBBTQIA community. I do have an understanding of what it is like to not feel comfortable in your own skin and not be accepted, and this understanding alone makes my heart break for the way the LGBTQIA community is viewed and treated for either being comfortable with who they are or for trying to be. I grew up in a very small town in a very sparsely populated county in rural Idaho. Anyone on the outside looking in would assume I fit in perfectly. I was a white, Christian, straight male in a society that was 99.999% run and dominated by white, Christian, straight males. Hell, I came from an upper-middle-class family, and my father held a prominent position in the community and the local church. You couldn’t script a more perfect character to play the lead part in “Fits Right The Fuck In.” However, never, not once, did I ever feel like I fit in. Who I am, how I feel about myself, and who I know I was (not wanted to be but was) never fit the role I was “born to" and “written for me.” I wanted to fit in. I tried to fit in. I did everything I possibly could to fit in. All of this led to anger and frustration. When I was growing up, this anger and frustration were mostly directed at the community in which I lived because I blamed them for not fitting in. While they were a big part of the problem, I was just as culpable. I was trying to be someone I wasn’t.

It took a number of years for me to truly realize not only that I was part of the problem of trying to fit into something or somewhere to which I didn’t belong, but also that I needed to begin to discover who I was or am. While I was going to college at Utah State University, I got glimpses of this, but that was even closer to being realized because Logan, Utah, was only an hour away from my hometown and only slightly less regressive and repressive.

It wasn’t until I attended graduate school at Michigan State University that I really started to be me. I’m pretty sure this is why I feel such a strong bond to East Lansing, where I still live, going on year thirty-eight of a five-year plan. Even through all of this, I still don’t really feel comfortable in my own skin. I never really feel like I belong in just about any social situation. I’m not sure if these feelings are remnants of past experiences and conditioning; there are still parts of me that haven’t been realized, or something else. What I do know is that these sixty-plus years of feeling lost, not fitting in, and not being myself have not been kind to my psyche. I cannot even begin to imagine how someone in the LGBTQIA community must feel because they have all the things I’ve felt at much higher levels and so many more pressures, abuses, and ridicule to the nth degree. Whenever I’m in a group situation where they ask everybody to identify themselves and say a little bit about themselves when it is my turn, I give the boilerplate answer but finish with, “Something most people don’t know about me is that on the weekends, I dance under the name “Raven.”” I say this as a joke, but there is an underlying, not true, but possible truth to it. I’ve always leaned more toward the cultural definition of “feminine.” Almost all of my friends throughout my life have been women. I feel at home around women. I’ve always preferred to have longer hair. In a group of men, I have absolutely never felt I fit in. There is a rooster inside of me. It took me a while to understand this, but it is absolutely true.

Not being who you truly feel you are and are supposed to be is a horrible feeling. Why on earth would anyone deny this to someone else? Why would anyone go out of their way to punish and/or ridicule people, either trying to discover this for themselves or for fully realizing it? All the answers I’ve seen given to justify these behaviors are specious at best and batshit crazy at worst. Don’t give me some bullshit argument and try and substitute it for an argument against the transgender community - What if someone identifies as a serial killer or child molester? Are we supposed to be okay with that?” Sell crazy somewhere else.  The transgender community harms society. No one is being harmed by someone from the LGBTQIA community being true to how they feel about themselves. No one is being harmed by honoring which pronouns someone wants to be referred to by. NO ONE. Every single argument or example you can make that tries to say otherwise is 100% rectally extracted. The vast majority of pedophiles who are grooming children are Christian youth pastors, the clergy, and members of your local police force, not the LGBTQIA community.

Pronouns: We're having a hissy-fit over pronouns? How dumb is that? A lot of people I know don’t use their given names. My maternal grandfather went by his middle name his whole life. One of my brothers has gone by three different names over the years. How did this affect my life? I’m sure I probably referred to my brother by an outdated name once or twice, only to be corrected, and then I moved the fuck along. In other words, it didn’t affect my life one scintilla. If it did, then the only reason would have been that I was the problem. Pronouns: Part II: This isn’t about proper names. This is about “men” wanting to be referred to as “she/her/they.” This is social and linguistic chaos.” Is it? Is it, really? Do you need the world to be so black and white and so perfectly defined that any ambiguity or things that go against your preconceived norms are automatically labeled “bad” or "dangerous"? The world is a very, very, very complex place. I understand the desire to have it make sense on every single level, every time, all the time. However, that isn’t reality. That is, you want to force reality to fit your worldview. The world is always going to win that battle. You're not accepting its complexity doesn’t impact it at all. The only one who suffers in this situation is you. The world doesn’t give a fuck about your feelings, your beliefs, your preconceptions, what your mom and dad taught you, or what your preacher said last Sunday.

Attire: Does it matter what someone else wears? How does Bob, who now goes by Sarah, wearing makeup, a dress, and pumps impact your life? I'm pretty sure it doesn't, and if it does, you are the problem. Does this make you feel uncomfortable? So? I have a deep, visceral reaction to people eating cheesecake, cauliflower, and dozens of other foods. As repulsive as these things are to me, I’m not advocating for any laws against them. Their personal preference doesn’t really affect me in any meaningful way. Also, why is it so damn important to be able to perfectly identify someone by how they dress? Are men’s egos so fragile they can’t stand the thought of someone thinking they are a woman or being wrong when they hit on or catcall someone? (This is a rhetorical question because we all know the answer is a resounding "yes.") However, this isn’t the fault of the person wearing the clothes, no more than it is when a woman in a “skimpy” dress is raped. They aren’t the problem. They aren’t the cause of or responsible for the actions of others. Bathrooms: Since when do you see someone’s genitals in a bathroom unless you intentionally look at them? If a transgender woman walks into a women’s bathroom, there aren’t any urinals (because there are none). You aren’t seeing their plumbing unless you bust down a door and start poking around. If this happens, who is the “weirdo” here? I’m pretty sure it is you. I’m really not sure I understand the fear here. The Children—the go-to when all your other arguments have epically failed. “I don’t want some guy in a public restroom when my daughter is in there.” The question has to be asked again: “How do you know it is a “guy””? Do you feel up to everyone who goes into a women’s restroom whenever your daughter is in there? If you do, you should be arrested because you are a pervert. Transgender women aren’t using the ladies' room to hit on your daughters. They are using the ladies' room because, wait for it, they need to use the ladies' room. Why is it that there are no bathroom sexual assaults in countries where same-sex bathrooms are normal? I find it very odd that the people who worry the most about their daughters being molested in bathrooms by the LGBTQIA community have no worries in the world about them being around church leaders, the police, male family members, or neighbors—the people who are absolutely most likely to assault them. I’d happily have my daughter babysat by anyone I know in the LGBTQIA community over a youth pastor, scoutmaster, or self-professed Christian. The Children: Part II: How am I supposed to explain to my children about transgenders?” Easily. Be honest. Be straightforward. Answer whatever questions you can, and whenever you can’t, be honest about them too. Kids have an amazing ability to grasp complexity and be okay with ambiguity. What they can always sniff out are bullshit and hypocrisy.

Cultural conditioning is a big part of how/why we identify the way we do, but other things are at play. Genetics, experiences, and sometimes just an innate sense—you don’t belong to the group others have placed you in. I often ask myself, “What would my life be like if I felt more like Raven if that was the dominant side of who I am?” I honestly don’t know what the answer to this question will be. What I do know is the very existence of this question gives me a small understanding of the LGBTQIA community. It is quite possible that I will never really know who I am or feel comfortable in my own skin. If that is the outcome, so be it. No matter what happens, I never want someone else to feel this way, to any degree, and I will never know why anyone would not only not understand this but go out of their way to make the situation worse.

Being comfortable in your own skin isn't something an outsider can really understand or judge. Why is someone else's happiness anyone else's concern if it doesn't directly affect them? It doesn’t unless you stretch and bend the definition of 'directly' in ways that defy linguistics, logic, and ethics.

[all-chickens-are-trans]

cn: sports, transmisogyny, sexism, bio-essentialism and other kinds of bullshit

for shitty reasons, i had to read a bit more about conservative stances on trans bans in sports and. wow. yeah i mean they really sucked me in with "we're so concerned for girls and women" and "sport is so competitive, so many young girls really don't stand a chance to get on a team against something they cannot physically beat no matter how hard they work"...

but when it comes down to it, it's just??? "women suck and we must protect their poor feelings from losing against superior men." And at the same time, not acknowledging trans people's realities at all. Saying that the fastest woman runner would still lose against Usain Bolt and therefore, trans women shouldn't compete in women's sports? bullshit argument.

and then a handful of trans women athletically excel in their field and all these people yell and scream like "look!! we were right all along, these ~~male bodied athletes have an unfair advantage due to their biological superiority!" as if they're not talking about sports, the thing that is built on biological advantages just as much, if not more than, training and skill. "hey this guy is too tall, he shouldn't be allowed to play basketball, that would be unfair to the short guys on my team! 🥺" ... "umm hey this guy's torso is too long and his feet are flipper-like, he shouldn't be allowed to compete in swimming, that'd be so unfair! 🥺" ... "helloooo who allowed this man to compete in sprints?? has no one checked slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibres in his legs?! that's such an unfair biological advantage! 🥺"

losing sucks. losing sucks especially if your chance at a prize or scholarship or something is linked to it. but going "boohoo i only won a silver medal and therefore, all trans people ever should be excluded from all sports"?? makes you nothing but a sore loser.

a lot of sports, the way we do them, are competitive. if you dislike that, you should maybe criticize sports and the way we do them, and not the people who excel at them.

[coochiequeens]

It's not often that I post about men in a positive light but applause to this guy.

By Reduxx Team June 18, 2024

The head track and field coach at a high school in Oregon has been fired after writing letters to state officials expressing his concerns about allowing biological males to compete with girls.

John Parks, who had been employed at Lake Oswego High School since January of last year, says his contract was terminated shortly after he began speaking out against trans-identified males self-identifying into female races.

Parks explains that he first wrote the Oregon Student Activities Association with his concerns just before the controversial May 18 state championships where a trans-identified male student participated with the girls.

The student, Aayden Gallagher, had been the source of much outcry after dominating a number of races in the qualifying matches leading up to the state championships. In April, Gallagher won multiple awards in Girls Varsity races, but he finally secured his place at state on May 9 when he took two gold medals at the Portland Interscholastic League meet.

Gallagher ultimately seized first place in the Girls Varsity 200m at the championships, and was booed upon taking the winner’s podium.

Following the championships, Parks wrote another letter, this time to Oregon Senator Rob Wagner.

In the letter, Parks argued that current Oregon law, which allows males to self-identify into women’s sports, was creating an unfair playing field for female athletes.

“The OSAA competition rules need to be aligned with what the rest of the world competes under,” Parks wrote to Senator Wagner, referring to the hormone testing and restrictions enforced by the International Olympic Committee and other sporting bodies.

“My proposal to encourage transgender participation is to offer an open division that is so named so it doesn’t identify or discriminate but offers an opportunity to participate,” he continued in his letter. Parks says he does not oppose transgender students playing in school sports, but that separate categories were needed to ensure fairness for girls.

He also noted that mixed-sex competitions were becoming an issue for the trans athletes as well, pointing out that Gallagher had been ‘booed’ by the crowd during the state championships.

“I want them to be able to participate where they’re not ‘booed,'” Parks said, speaking to local KATU. He says he is now in the process of appealing his termination.

“I’m going to fight now because I got wronged,” he told KATU. “I … am fighting for girls, I’m fighting for female sports, and I’m fighting that it be fair for everybody.”

[menalez]

https://www.tumblr.com/competentwoman/714142792908193792

thoughts?

leave it to TRAs to spew the most ice cold, ignorant takes without actually reading into what they criticise (beyond the header, of course)...

So for this cisgender woman with naturally high testosterone (and/or an intersex condition, I do not know her specific condition and it's honestly none of my business)

it takes one quick search to find out that yes, christine mboma is intersex. it also takes a quick search to find out that not every intersex athlete is impacted by these rules. the ones impacted are intersex women with XY chromosomes and testosterone levels above 3 nmol/L, and a list of specific intersex conditions.

has to be be forced to take the same testosterone suppressing medications that these same competitive regulatory committee said wasn't good enough to suppress trans women's testosterone to allow them to compete in women's sports.

its ironic the same people who pretend to care for intersex people are the same ones making false equivalences rooted in intersexism. yes, a literal male who decided to transition is not the same as an intersex woman with XY chromosomes. intersex conditions affecting those that are genetically male but assigned female affects the way their body reacts to testosterone. someone who had a normal male puberty vs an intersex woman whose body does not process testosterone normally and thus did not have a normal male puberty are obviously completely different things. these intersex women have female bodies and genitalia, their bodies developed this way because their body did not undergo the puberty that non-intersex males like trans women have.

If she has naturally high testosterone, similar to that that trans women experience in their lives pre-transition then wouldn't she have the same advantages that a trans woman supposedly inherently has and can not be corrected with said testosterone suppression?

no, because trans women did not simply have 'naturally high testosterone', they had testosterone within the male range, experienced male puberty, have male biology, and their bodies process testosterone the way any average male body would. intersex women can have high testosterone that still isnt within the male range, have female biology, and their body does not process testosterone the way any average male bodies would. for this reason, a male that transitioned after puberty and an intersex woman who simply has higher testosterone and XY chromosomes are not the same category. the intersexism in this post is off the charts

Like, no one should have to undergo forced medical treatment to be able to compete or to make it "fair" for their competition. Other athletes have all kinds of natural advantages, like Michael Phelps having an abnormal wingspan and larger lungs and heart. In fact, every high level athlete has some kind of physical advantage, that's how they're such high level athletes. You think the people they beat out for their spots just, what, didn't work as hard? Didn't grab those bootstraps tight enough? Fuck no.

this is such a false equivalence. yes, atheltes are already all outliers. in fact the regulations created already consider outliers bc the testosterone levels expected are way higher than that of the average woman. we can sit here debating all day over how actually athleticism in itself is unfair but at the end of the day, theres a reason the women's sports category was created and it was to include women who naturally are disadvantaged in terms of speed & strength when compared to men. arguing that there's no kind of unfairness and no one should have to undergo any kind of criteria to be able to compete is beyond ridiculous, as well as ignorant.

that said, i dont know if the regulations for intersex athletes have undergone thorough enough research and investigation and i think that world athletics needs to look deeper into that and see if making blanket categorical exclusions of intersex athletes isn't the wisest due to heterogeneity within those intersex conditions.

this person is clearly ignorant and doesn't know what they're talking about, at all, and they admitted to this from the beginning. and yet people blindly agreed w it lmao

[traceofexistence]

so youtube dropped some “trans women in sports” videos on my way, I watched one, it was well analyzed from a scientific point of view, but it only gave example of trans athletes who have won something against cis women, but I doubt it was intentional as the creator’s opinion is that competitive sports can never be truly fair as the genetic advantages of some people simply can not be controlled even in between cis people. over all a good video

then we go to the comments, and while there are plenty positive trans inclusive ones, the terfs are there to.

their talking points start with:

thousands of cases, of trans women breaking records and taking wins from  “reAL wAMeWn”

when you asked them to give you any example of those thousands, they of course move the goal posts and go on about

“but the athlete at 9th place would have taken the scholarship, or would qualify for the olympics, if the trans woman was not participating”

and you reply like a logical person, that the trans woman was 7th, or 6th or 4th, a mere top 10 athlete she didn’t break any records, her times/scores/weights/whateverthehell are similar to her cis opponents.

and they go

“but if she was playing in men’s sports she would be nobody!11!!” 

and you check your notes on a specific athlete to see that she had broken a record in the men’s division before her transition, then she stopped competing, until she was fully transitioned and in the regulation for trans athletes, and she won some local medals she lost some other locals, she didnt won a world title and she didnt break any record, so what the fuck you really talking about here?

“you are delusional, I have trans friends, I’m not transphobic”

then when they have nothing else to say, they go to another of their points, school sports

“but I was talking about school kids at 16 hormone replacement hasn’t kicked in yet!”

you have a perfect solution, puberty blockers

and they ignore all these points and they go back to elementary school biology of “males are stronger than females therefore unfair”  

we been knew that they dont give a fuck about facts at hand even if you slap them in the face with them.

then after that video and some back and fourths in the comments, youtube recommended another of those videos

now the one talking about the thing, is a cis white man, who is gay and a doctor and proclaims that he’s fully supportive of trans people, but the truth is the truth, and what he provides is a lengthy analysis of how male people are stronger than female people after puberty, and plays again and again that rich ass white girl who came 10th in a race and “lost” a scholarship she didnt need, to the 2 black trans girls who competed with her. and how it was so unfair for her.

he speaks of the “HRT reduces strength” for 30 seconds and dismisses it as not enough. shows pictures of some trans athletes that have made the news, but doesnt touch on their performances whatsoever. he doesnt touch at all on puberty blockers, which is probably the case with most if not all trans kids athletes these days. (where they have not been illegal that is)

now nobody ever reports on how many trans athletes are there really

a list on wiki shows less that 50 athletes

in tokyo olympics around 10k athletes participated, only ONE(1) was trans 

of course in local competitions the number becomes bigger, but it is still so insignificant that we are talking about a literal non existent problem

[radsplain]

if sex is NOT gender and they’re two completely different things, why is it a problem that sports (esp. elite competitive sports) remain separated by sex? why are y’all advocating so hard for trans-identified MALES to be allowed to play in women’s sports? if sex and gender are different, like you all say, there should be no issue with TIMs being barred from competing against actual women in sports. if gender is solely based on how you "identify" and not on your biology, then what is the problem with sports continuing to be sex-segregated?

i hear a lot of people respond to this topic like, “well, trans women lose muscle mass, strength, stamina, and just perform worse overall when they take estrogen and are therefore on more of a level playing field with cis women.” as if that’s not misogynistic and sexist at all.

women are not just the "weaker" version of men. women in competitive sports are strong, agile, and insanely dedicated to performing at their highest level of athleticism in order to shave fractions of seconds off their times. they're in peak physical shape and dedicate days, weeks, months, and even years to honing their craft in order to perform optimally in their respective competitive level for their sport.

so when men who take estrogen and performance-decreasing drugs to deliberately withhold their performance are allowed entry into women’s sports on that basis, it makes a complete mockery of women and everything elite sports stand for. competing in elite sports means pushing yourself to the limit, honing every single aspect of your life so that you can perform at maximal levels. and to have men given entry into women's sports on the basis that it's fair because these men are deliberately taking drugs that decrease their overall performance (and even so, not always by much), it spits in the face of these women everywhere. women who are giving their ALL to get to the level they're at competitively.

men are not women. they automatically gain an UNFAIR ADVANTAGE when allowed to play against women in our sports and it's not an "anti-equality feminist" take to say that. it's not degrading to say that men have a biological advantage that makes them the physically stronger sex. so when it comes to allowing men to compete against women in competitive sports, they gain an automatic advantage. and when there is a systemic, unfair advantage given to one sex and denied to the other (because newsflash, no TIF is demanding to play against men in their sports. wonder why.), that's sexism, plain and simple.