this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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The staggering number of medals female athletes lost to trans opponents revealed in explosive UN report (nypost.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to transgender rivals competing against them in women’s sporting categories, an eye-opening United Nations report has revealed.

The study — titled “Violence against women and girls in sports” — stated that more than 600 female athletes have been bested at various events by competitors who were born male.

“According to information received, by 30 March 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports,” the report said.

“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males.”

The wide-ranging report, compiled by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, was presented to the UN General Assembly earlier this month.

The paper didn’t elaborate on at what sporting events the medals were won, or over what time frame.

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[–] GottaKnowYourCHKN 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

So no time frame, context, just loose "Look! Trans women are terrible and BEATING AND DESTROYING your precious cis-women! 900 times!"

This post is just trying to farm some hate against trans folks, get some edgy traction, and spew hate. Bet you OP is either a bot or a cis-dude who also never would watch women's sports because he thinks women are weak.

Edit: How many total medals have women won? This is probably like saying out of 1,000,000-- 900 trans women won.

Can we just focus on other shit? Jesus. And it's only ever trans women. Never see people getting this upset over trans men.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Down vote and move on if u don't like the post or block the community. Don't twist the post into something it's not.

[–] GottaKnowYourCHKN 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Uh huh, yeah sure. What is it about then? Are you going to advocate for safer spaces for trans women to compete and play sports with other women? Advocate for non-gendered sports? Pointing out how skewed a lot of these articles are, only written to create friction and nourish hate against a marginalized group that already have enough hate to deal with?

Have you even been personally impacted by a trans woman beating you for the top medal in a sport? Or do you just daydream about it? Or do you have like a trans woman in your CrossFit gym and you're bitter that she's stronger than you?

What is the point of the post then? We're given a "problem," how do you feel like we should "fix" it?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I think it is just an unavoidable fact that growing up with testosterone in your body fundamentally changes your skeletal structure and musculature, and that is why such an extreme minority in society is able to quickly begin dominating women's sports and why you also have not heard any stories of transmen dominating men's sports. It appears to also be the case that since biological men & women process testosterone differently, the baseline levels of testosterone that transwomen on HRT may still produce or receive (I am not sure how this works) will also be received differently.

Some problems cannot be fixed, right: a transwoman now does not have the same level of testosterone as men, and that means the transwoman's training is greatly impacted. The ability to generate new muscle in the training season will be less... Yet, they also have unfair advantages when competing against women.

It is basically unfixable other than having transwoman specific categories or simply creating open leagues or leagues in which all participants accept these realities... This is not that problematic for non-contact sports, but can be deeply problematic if we are talking about women's rugby or something.

And... when it comes to competition at high levels, it is far more complicated simply because there is more emphasis on who is the fastest woman/man? Who is the strongest woman/man? Which nation has the best women's basketball team..?, etc., and people prefer a more narrow definition of this.

So, what can we do?

Let me end it by saying...

  • Lesbians are probably over-represented in most women's sports at the top levels (I have heard informal estimates of around a quarter of WNBA players being lesbians and this generally checks out)
  • Women who are unfairly subjected to body image issues are disproprotionately top tier athletes
  • Lesbians & women who experience discrimination and unfair characterization as overly masculine or ugly due to their size or musculature are statistically the greatest victims of transwomen in sport...

This is not to say "Transwomen are villains!"

This is to point out that a very vulnerable community is also negatively impacted by this...

I can't help but think of a few girls in my high school who were tall, athletic, and masculine. I can't help but think of my aunt who was a jock... They have faced a lot of name calling and criticism, and have often felt inadequate for many men as women, as losers... Athletics was the one area they brought great credit on themselves, their schools, their families, their nations, even...

Women athletes have often been rebels and nonconformists facing an uphill battle... There's something special about that, which makes it more painful for people to see them displaced...

This is not meant to say, "Oh, fuck you guys," but rather to outline what I think is a real issue.

I apologize for not responding earlier in the week - I have been busy

[–] GottaKnowYourCHKN 2 points 2 weeks ago

To be fair, your antidotal evidence about your friends and family don't actually reflect reality. This isn't about "lesbians" feeling safe. Queer women still actually get a lot of pushback just for being gay. The lesbians that get LESS are the white and typically femme ones. The ones who aren't white or have more muscle get called men. Even the straight ones do. Serena Williams. Illona Maher.

People don't give a fuck about the WNBA. It's majority black women who are in the league. They all get called men anyway, and then people will also turn around and bash it because it's women's sports.

We also don't seem to make a big deal about trans men in sports. For some reason, it's only women we care about. If women were weaker, how would the trans boxer Patricio Manuel defeat so many cis men? He's a trans man, so shouldn't be constantly be losing?

Why not have categories based off merit? Have specific metrics for a specific sports that actually don't have to do with gender, but ability.

This whole "women are suffering" is just a tool to create trans panic. Women produce testosterone. Some more than some cis men out there.

[–] GottaKnowYourCHKN 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

E: Hah! You're fine. It's night where I am so you actually caught me when I was online. Don't ever apologize for just not responding to a comment. Life is way more important than some random (i.e: me) on a forum.

I totally understand what you're saying, but I think it's far more complicated. None of this rhetoric is about protecting women. The root of it is homophobia, pure and simple. The only reason people are talking about it is because it's now a new "political platform" you can rile people up with.

Trans women haven't taken over women's sports. There are no trans women who are playing in the WNBA or NWSL. There are NB folks playing, but as far as I know only one identifies as Non-Binary. Even the Olympics doesn't really have trans women competing and "dominating."

Edit: You're probably not a bad person, you don't seem to be some extremist. It's just instead of acknowledging that the "trans women in sports" thing isn't actually a widespread problem-- it's made into this moral dilemma, as if trans women are only okay if they keep to themselves, don't try and better themselves, don't pursue hobbies and interest (keep in mind, a SMALLLLLLLL fraction of women are even good enough to go pro), then they deserve to exist.

How many trans women have you seen play at the WNBA games you watch/go to?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Thanks for the posts - I have read what you have written and am considering it all, and I feel like I am still forming some of my opinions on this. I am going to cover the issue again if I see anything pertinent...

BTW I do tend to post articles from a variety of sources, and I very routinely get yelled at for postign "Russian propaganda" about the Ukraine war in spite of the fact that I have also posted things from transparently pro-Ukraine sources as well, and I will post crime stories that show Ministers, Priests, and Cops as the predators that they are when it is appropriate, but I also share relevant news about crime done by mirants - though this is the minority, I share crime stories of all types all the time...

Point being... If I do end up sharing something you think is inflammatory and upsetting, it is because I treat this website & the Fediverse as a place for archiving information & generating discussion, right, so I am not hoping to attack trans people or anything.

Nonetheless, bring the passion & fire to any future posts about this, lol, because it is enjoyable and you are well spoken.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

If you look at my posting history in the Sports section, you'll see that I posted very frequently about the WNBA season because I do watch and follow the WNBA... I've been very excited about the fact that Caitlin Clark & Angel Reese are going to be such superstars advancing the game to the next level and making it highly marketable. I also closely followed Rhonda Rousey and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, but only recently am I coming back to MMA as something I actively follow and so I am not that familiar with the current women's fighters (as I have also lost familiarity with all but the most standout men's fighters that are unavoidably given more attention than women fighters).

Women's sports are great... And, just like lower tier soccer, college football, etc., athletes with less physicality than the superstar elites are playing a kind of different game with different possibilities, different limitations, different opportunities...

It creates different strategies, different tactics, different approaches...

Our local soccer leagues are nothing in comparison to the EPl or La Liga - our best players all get poached to go to leagues that are higher paying... But I still attended religiously when I had more free time, and was lucky to see them win two championships in person... The fact taht "This is not the EPL!" bothers some people, and they never show up or care about our local league, but this is a garbage attitude of garbage people...

Which is also exactly why people who think that since women cannot compete with men in basketball their league is not worth paying attention to. It's the attitude of people who do not love the sport for what it is...

Real sports fans find themselves distracted and ready to stop and watch when they see schoolkids playing, just the sight of 10 year olds kicking around a ball is enough for them to want to see what happens... Because it is the sport itself that matters.

Long rant, I know, but I dislike being accused of this...