Physical sport competition shouldn’t be separated by n number of genders, but by weight class.
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Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
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Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#12Physical sport competition shouldn’t be separated by n number of genders, but by weight class.
It will be interesting if it goes this route, e.g. title IV like regulations that end up destroying women’s sports and replacing it with human flesh weights.
Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#13Physical sport competition shouldn’t be separated by n number of genders, but by weight class.
Olympic weightlifting is already split into relatively thin weight brackets. I think the issue is that, pound for pound, men tend to be stronger than women In the 76-81kg womens bracket current record total (snatch + cnj) is 278kg. In the 73-81kg mens bracket the record total is 363kg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_weightlifting#Weight_c... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_Olymp...
Men have a huge advantage in power and speed over women of the same weight; this is uncontroversial. This is not affected by reducing blood testosterone.
Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#14Physical sport competition shouldn’t be separated by n number of genders, but by weight class.
Olympic weightlifting is already split into relatively thin weight brackets. I think the issue is that, pound for pound, men tend to be stronger than women In the 76-81kg womens bracket current record total (snatch + cnj) is 278kg. In the 73-81kg mens bracket the record total is 363kg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_weightlifting#Weight_c... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_Olymp...
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Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#15Physical sport competition shouldn’t be separated by n number of genders, but by weight class.
What happens when physical sport competition results tend to favor 1 of the n number of genders? When it comes to powerlifting, I would bet on current or former members of one particular gender.
That's the problem that division into genders is supposed to address. Currently we have n = 2. Results favoring one of the two genders is addressed by having separate categories with separate results: women's records, men's records.
Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#16I feel like with this issue at some point we are bound to reach a breaking point. It's just a question of how far along things will go before we get there. People are more and more open about being transgender and there is more and more support for transgender individuals having the chance to live life as their correct gender. This is a great thing!
However, it presents a huge problem for women's athletics, particularly in sports where strength differences are a large determiner of performance differences. If, as it is said in some circles, a full .5% of the human population is transgender, we are going to continue to see huge increases in openly transgender people competing in sport. In sports where long term exposure to male hormones enhance performance, it's hard to see how life-long XX bodies will be able to compete. Which seems like a bad outcome since the whole point of the existence of women's sport is to allow women to have space to compete without facing insurmountable built-in disadvantages.
It may take a couple more decades but I don't see a stable equilibrium where MTF athletes are competing with cis-women in high level sport, especially if they made their transition during adulthood.
I would be fascinated to hear about different models for how this plays out. I've read the occasional news article about it but I'm not really very familiar with the thinking on the other side of this issue, particularly when it comes to the physical advantages trans women have over cis women in sport.
Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
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Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#18What is the argument in favor of allowing transgenders to compete in female sports? Does anyone actually defend this decision?
Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#19Physical sport competition shouldn’t be separated by n number of genders, but by weight class.
As long as you're fine with excluding people who were born with the physical characteristics historically associated with the word "woman" from all sports, that will work. I don't think that can be the woke position, though.
Women's sports are generally a carve-out. Women can't compete with men in most sports. Because of that, I don't think that women should be excluded from men's sports. "Men's sports" are just sports, and shouldn't be restrictive. Women's sports are a subset of sports where men have been excluded in order to give women a chance. If a woman is good enough to compete in "men's sports" she should (if she wants.) The opposite is not true. This is not a symmetrical situation. If transwomen are allowed to compete in women's sports, they will dominate women's sports.
Re: Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard's Olympic place
#20I think sports categories should be chromosome strings.
"XX division", "XY world record". "XXY 400 m finals", "XYY long jump trials", ...
Gender identity doesn't factor into it at all; the words "man", "woman" should not be used.
Problem solved; you don't get to wedge yourself into competition with XX persons if you're XY.