this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
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You realize that most trans women undergoing HRT have less testosterone in their systems than many of their cisgender competitors, right? Women naturally have some testosterone in their body; if they have PCOS, then they have a lot (in comparison to other cis women). Trans women on HRT take medicine to block testosterone, so while their body might generate the most of all, the amount bioavailable to them after the medicine neutralizes it is less than non-PCOS cis women have. If the sports debate was about testosterone providing an unfair advantage, then we would ban cis women with PCOS from competing, but we don't.
In the case of teenagers, it's even simpler - contrary to propaganda, very very few doctors are willing to put a minor on HRT. Instead, they simply give them puberty blockers to delay the onset of puberty until they're over 18 and can decide for themselves whether to go on HRT or not. So, a 17yo trans girl is developmentally equivalent to a 10yo boy - her muscles are massively under developed compared to any of her cis competitors.
So whether adult or teen, a trans woman winning at sports is not someone with an unfair advantage; rather, it's someone with a massive disadvantage managing to win despite her handicap.
It's not a problem because it's not happening to any meaningful degree. Trans women continue to be under, not overrepresented in high end sports, because there isn't a meaningful advantage after a couple of years of HRT. Please provide examples of this problem you claim exists.
Riley Gaines, who tied for fifth behind a number of cis women? Yeah, she looked at her future in sport and decided that grifting was easier and would pay better.
Taylor Silverman, the skateboarder? You want to tell me about the super secret male advantage she lost to? I'm not seeing it. Are you going to claim that banning trans women from chess was reasonable too?
People who are speaking up about this are bigots and sore losers. Trans women don't win disproportionately, there's no meaningful advantage, and all anyone ever has are anecdotes, almost all of which fail to check out to any meaningful degree. Riley Gaines didn't even go down a slot so what the fuck do you want here? Trans women don't get to compete, regardless of fairness? Because if so, say it with your fuckin chest. Don't try to pretend it's about fairness.
When the punishment for expressing yourself on the matter is immediate aggression, and being labeled a bigot and transphobe, possibly getting kicked out of school and losing everything you've worked towards up to this point, we can't rely on women coming forward.
You know.... like the same circumstances women face standing up for themselves in every other aspect of their lives.
Which is, of course, why randomized anonymous surveys with large sample sizes show that this is actually a thing for a large number of women who are just too terrified to speak up oh no they don't, damn. Kind of cuts the legs out from under that sort of "silent majority" argument, which is almost always used to advertise the views of the noisy minority.
Shut up, TERF.
Living in a land of make-believe. Imagined enemies everywhere. It must be exhausting.
This stuff has obviously been in the news, we're talking about it right now.
https://youtu.be/-Fb48tivB-0?si=mz-rJsvyaYunZNot
Your second link didn't load for me. Your first was a propaganda network with a woman complaining about a trans girl being beaten by two cis girls. Ki d of seems like the girl in fourth should have been practicing harder like the girls in first and second did. Your news sources are lying, shading the truth, and using loaded language, to make and keep you angry so you don't make good decisions in life, and you should consider getting new sources.
It's "been in the news" because it's an alt right "wedge issue". There is nothing meaningful here other than to advance hateful ideology to rubes, both siders, and those looking to be anti trans with plausibility
"Look! An instance! It must be happening everywhere all the time because I can point to a time it kinda happened but not really!"
Oh, just go fuck all the way off, bigot.
Funny how it always comes out once you ask a few questions.
Dude, no matter how you feel, that was some ignorant ass language from LemmyKnowsBest lol.
"Real woman", "trans man woman".
Obviously, someone who doesn't know the first thing about trans people holding strong opinions about trans people.
That's a big ol fat yikes from me.
Is current testosterone the only consideration? Or could having higher testosterone earlier, even though you’re on par with peers now, give you a musculoskeletal advantage?
Bro I'm weak as shit after 1.5 years on HRT. All the musculoskeletal advantage I have is kinda wide shoulders for a girl.
It was genuinely funny how i couldn't do pushups or open jars easily anymore.
That’s not a useless anecdote but I was looking more for data on this, if it exists.
I’d also have questions about your ability to build muscle as compared to someone who was assigned female at birth.
As an aside, this is very much outside my area of expertise and if I’ve used the wrong terms during this discussion I’m open to being corrected.
There are some published studies but I won't link them because they are very specific. They tracked thigh or quad muscles specifically. Feel free to look them up though.
Building muscle is a lot more difficult for me. You could politely ask any trans people if you have more questions about transitioning.
Also don't worry about saying the wrong thing, you're all good.
You have one of the longer comments under this post -
Are you familiar with the lifter from this comment? Hoping for an educated debate, as it’s outside my knowledge area.