Welcome to #TransTuesday! This is a revision and update of a past thread because it seems current events demand it. It keeps coming up again and again, and it’s literally a non-issue. So let’s talk about TRANS PEOPLE IN SPORTS.
Initially I debated whether to even cover this topic, as I’ve not been personally involved in any organized sports since coming out and probably won’t have time for that in the foreseeable future (though I would if I could). But that hasn’t stopped society from going bananas about it.
Also weighing on the side of “maybe not worth talking about?” is that the entire issue is so cut and dry to me. But this isn’t about me, it’s about everyone reading and education and, well… the news once again sort of forced my hand and it seems people don’t know.
A quick Google for info on trans people and sports will turn up a whole host of articles. Lots of them about why we trans women, specifically, shouldn’t be allowed to compete with cis women.
There’s been a lot in the news recently, like this one about Emily Bridges (no relation) (that I KNOW OF…)
https://www.outsports.com/trans/2022/6/17/23172448/cycling-uci-transgender-regulations-bridges
And even more devastatingly, this one that effectively bans trans women from swimming events like world championships and the Olympics.
https://apnews.com/article/transgender-swimmers-new-rules-fina-world-governing-body-c17e99d3121fa964336458b57ae266f7
I’d like to quote a few key parts of it, like this: “…only permits swimmers who transitioned before age 12 to compete in women’s events.” You’ll see why I pulled this specific quote out in a few minutes.
“‘It’s what the scientists are saying, that if you transition after the start of puberty, you have an advantage, which is unfair,’ James Pearce, who is the spokesperson for FINA president Husain Al-Musallam, told The Associated Press.”
It’s NOT what scientists are saying at all, but you’ll also see why I pulled this section out in a minute. Because it’s not unfair at all, you disingenuous bigots. This is all such bullshit and it makes me so incredibly mad.
There’s a few reasons, as it’s garbage on multiple levels. I will unpack to show you why. And once you’ve read and understood… I honestly don’t see how anyone could have an issue with it. Well, there’s one reason. We’ll get there.
The biggest complaint is that trans women would have an “unfair advantage” in competing with cis women, because many of us went through male puberty and thus may (MAY!) have higher muscle density, be taller, etc.
So there’s two main reasons this is absolutely untrue. The first of which is if you do an ounce of digging, the people who don’t want trans people competing are the same people trying to take away access to puberty blockers for kids and teens.
They are safe and make no permanent changes and in many cases are life-saving. I talked about that in depth in TRANS KIDS AND THE INTAKE EXAM (hold on to this link, it’ll be important again later, too).
Now if your assertion is that going through male puberty gives trans women an unfair advantage (again, it doesn’t, and that’s BULLSHIT but we’ll get there)… would you not WANT trans kids to have access to care early on that would block said puberty? The kids certainly would!
And yet that doesn’t happen. At all. Just like people yelling the loudest about being “pro-life” weirdly don’t have any interest in increasing access to birth control and sex education. Huh. Why? SUCH A MYSTERY. 🤔
If you WERE truly only concerned about trans women who’d gone through male puberty, you’d be the loudest advocate for life-saving care and puberty blockers for trans kids. But you’re NOT, are you? Does that strike you as odd? It’s so convenient for them!
In an ideal world, every trans kid would be in a supportive, loving home and would have access to the care they need. But of course we don’t live in that world, do we? And even if we DID, some people still won’t discover they’re trans until adulthood. That’s how it goes.
Everyone is different, we all figure it out in different ways and at different times. So what of we who transition as adults? What of trans women like me who went through male puberty and thus have those “advantages” that make competing with cis women “unfair”?
Well! A lot of those “advantages” disappear once you go on hormone replacement therapy. For trans women, testosterone is lowered and/or blocked and estrogen is introduced. Guess what one of the biggest effects of that is?
LOSS OF MUSCLE MASS. I haven’t even been on HRT two years and I already struggle to open jars of jelly for my PB&J that previously never gave me issues. I still do all my push ups before runs, but it’s a struggle to do the same amount that I breezed through before.
I have to work TWICE AS HARD to get close to the same results I got before. And that only goes for strength training! On my runs I’m REGULARLY ninety seconds per mile slower, often even slower than that.
I just CANNOT get close to my pre-transition times. In fact, nearly two years into hormone replacement therapy, I’m still progressively getting S L O W E R. And there’s nothing I can do about it! I’m not trying or pushing any less than before. I just CANNOT DO IT like I used to.
Even so, I’m still pretty buff, and I’m still 6’ ½” (don’t take that half away from me, let me cling to my tall person ledge as long as I can). Guess what the average height of the CIS WOMEN in the WNBA is? SIX DAMNED FEET.
Cis women can be tall! They can also be buff. I mean have you watched the Olympics, oh… EVER? Let me remind you of (CIS!) lady weightlifters. (I’m swooning over their biceps. You will be too, if you know what’s good for you.)
How many short men and women play in the NBA and WNBA? What happens to short people who LOVE basketball and playing professionally is their dream? Don’t tall cis people have an “unfair” advantage just because they’re tall? DON’T THEY? 🤔🤔
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/want-to-be-a-pro-basketball-player-thats-a-tall-order/2015/10/28/52c1ce40-78ff-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html
What about someone who loves football and wants to be a lineman, but isn’t a 300+ pound tank of a person? What if someone IS a 300+ pound tank of a person but wants to be a wide receiver?
Don’t people whose bodies just happen to be best built for those positions have an “unfair” advantage? And yet where are the multitude of voices decrying the way that all of professional sports works? WHERE?
My favorite example is Michael Phelps, one of the most dominant swimmers of all time. In his prime he was nearly unbeatable. Do you know WHY that is? HIS BODY PRODUCES HALF THE LACTIC ACID AS AN AVERAGE PERSON.
Lactic acid is what makes your muscles tired. By producing less, he can swim longer and faster without tiring as much. YET ABSOLUTELY NO ONE EVER SAID HE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO COMPETE WITH OTHER CIS MEN BECAUSE HIS GENETICS GAVE HIM AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE.
Where was the “fairness” outrage? The article after article of hand-wringing, concern-trolling, “but but but the genetic advantages are unfair” whining? WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?
Oh, and it’s not just the lactic acid. His ENTIRE BODY just grew to be the perfect swimming machine.
https://www.biography.com/news/michael-phelp-perfect-body-swimming
And still no one said… wait, MY body can’t do what his body does, he shouldn’t be allowed to compete with the rest of the men who aren’t like that.
IT’S ALMOST AS IF THOSE WHO ARE GENETICALLY PREDISPOSED TO BE GOOD AT A SPORT ARE THE PEOPLE WHO EXCEL AT SAID SPORT AND CAN COMPETE AT AN ELITE LEVEL, AND THAT’S LITERALLY HOW ALL OF PRO SPORTS OPERAAAAAATES??
Yes, you have to put in the work and the training and the effort, but all of that will still only get you to a certain point. You can be an astonishingly good basketball player and be 5’ tall, and even then you’d have a hell of a time making it into the NBA.
The entire “unfair advantage” argument holds absolutely zero water, even IF trans women DID have an unfair advantage. In many cases we don’t have an advantage anyway, and if we do, it’s certainly not more than any other cis women genetically predisposed for a sport may have.
Some cis women have elevated levels of testosterone naturally, just because we’re all different and our bodies are amazing and unique and strange. Should they not be allowed to compete now?
If you think that’s not happening, that than even CIS women are now being told they have to change their hormones just because their body produces more of one of them through no fault of their own, Caster Semenya would like to have a word with you.
https://theconversation.com/ten-ethical-flaws-in-the-caster-semenya-decision-on-intersex-in-sport-116448
Why not do a test anyway? I mean that’s bigoted, but if you gotta ask… the Olympics decided to do chromosomal tests in 1996 and y’know what they found? EIGHT *CIS* WOMEN HAD A Y CHROMOSOME! The test was never done again. Imagine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/magazine/the-humiliating-practice-of-sex-testing-female-athletes.html#:~:text=At%20the%20Atlanta%20Games%20in,use%20the%20testosterone%20they%20made.
What about cis ladies who have broad shoulders or strong jawlines? Who don’t shave their legs? Where the hell do you draw the line? Who gets to do the policing? If you want to say “no uterus, no women’s sports,” then what about ladies who’ve had hysterectomies?
It’s the exact same as the bathroom issue, which I talked a bit about in the trans tuesday on CIS PRIVILEGE.
So saying trans athletes are an issue, when none of those other things are, basically says you think trans people are transitioning just to compete as a different gender to MAYBE have a chance at that “unfair advantage”. The unmitigated gall it takes to even THINK that…
You’re saying someone would upend their lives, live in a society where many people hate you for existing, where medical care can be difficult or impossible to find and you face discrimination at every turn… just to maybe win some sports against cis women?
GET. THE. ENTIRE. FUCK. OUT. OF. HERE. YOU. GAS. STATION. HOT. DOGS.
You’re saying you know more than we do about who we really are. You’re saying you don’t see us as WOMEN. You’re saying you know more than our doctors and therapists and professionals trained in this, who affirm we are who we say we are.
Do you remember what I had to go through to “prove” I’m transgender (go back to that TRANS KIDS AND THE INTAKE EXAM trans tuesday)? And people are doing this en masse to trained professionals? To cheat? At SPORTS??
Am I saying nobody would ever cheat? Of course not. But doping has been an issue in sports since sports have existed. Yet nobody said cis men and women should be banned from sports because some of them abuse steroids, which actually DOES give them an unfair advantage. So weird!
People say if trans women are allowed to compete with cis women, we’d be dominant in everything and cis women would never have a shot. So… where is it? Where are the trans women dominating sports?
Because you can’t clock all of us as trans. Again, how do you even make that determination and who gets to? It’s sexist patriarchal bullshit. Trans women HAVE competed with women, and if we were dominating in any sport you’d fucking know it already!
TRANS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO OPENLY COMPETE IN THE OLYMPICS SINCE 2004. How many of them have medaled?
O
N
E
…as part of the Candian women’s soccer team!
https://mashable.com/article/first-trans-athlete-medal-olympics-quinn-canadian-soccer
Hmm, let’s see what an elite cis woman athlete has to say about all this. Megan Rapinoe, what are your thoughts?
https://time.com/6188583/megan-rapinoe-equal-pay-title-ix-transgender-sports-bans
Here’s the salient bits:
“Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title. I’m sorry, it’s just not happening.”
“So we need to start from inclusion, period. And as things arise, I have confidence that we can figure it out. But we can’t start at the opposite. That is cruel. And frankly, it’s just disgusting.”
“So, we need to really kind of take a step back and get a grip on what we’re really talking about here because people’s lives are at risk. Kids’ lives are at risk with the rates of suicide, the rates of depression and negative mental health and drug abuse.”
“We’re putting everything through ‘God forbid a trans person be successful in sports.’ Get a grip on reality and take a step back.”
Okay so what’s the reason for all this? Well friends you know as well as I do that it’s TRANSPHOBIA, because it literally can’t be anything else! For every reason I’ve already laid out for you.
They’re not making it a secret who’s behind this, and the bigotry is pretty clear.
https://twitter.com/ErinInTheMorn/status/1539257614378405891
This is just another in a long line of new rules and regulations and legislation trying to eliminate trans people from public life. Can’t swim if you transitioned as an adult, state won’t allow you to transition as a kid, then you’re legally barred from public bathrooms and your healthcare.
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1539250967979470848
We and our doctors know who we are better than you do. And none of us would choose to go through the UNENDING BULLSHIT the world continually throws at us just so we can beat you in a race… which we’re not even doing anyway.
Recognize this for the hatred it is, and understand that there’s literally nothing more to keeping trans people out of sports than unrepenting, unending bigotry for people who are different and throw the entire cis binary status quo into question.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
tillysbridges@gmail.com