Not just any swimming, but some amateur or extracurricular school event!
TERFs when I win a game of Battleship:
😂🤣😂
Everyone knows transitioning makes you clairvoyant, you damn cheat!
The ones that earn you grants and scholarships? The ones that can get you admission to good schools? Those ones that can help break a cycle of poverty that existed in your family for generations? Those meaningless old things!
Removed by mod
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.
Removed by mod
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.
Removed by mod
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.
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!”
alongside with giving the real woman
if that trans man woman
Oh, just go fuck all the way off, bigot.
deleted by creator
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.
If we’re considering testosterone to be a PED, perhaps we should ban everyone from sports…
On a more serious note: why not advocate for putting people into “testosterone-level groups”, similar to how boxing, etc, do it with weight classes? Rather than just excluding trans women from competing.
I also feel I have to ask: how do you feel about your niece losing in competitions to cis women who have biological advantages, such as higher (natural) testosterone levels, longer limbs, bigger hands, smaller busts, etc?
There is more to it than just “current testosterone levels” because (like you mention in your question at the end) biological birth sex as a male would likely afford the person with a larger frame, muscles/skeletal structure, bigger hands, longer legs, etc.
And to answer your question: no I wouldn’t have a problem with cis women competing with each other. Obviously, natural differences exist and set people apart. But sport and competition is predicated on a foundation of fair play, personal excellence, and mutual respect among participants.
Any artificial advantage or thumb on the scale, for whatever reason, undermines the integrity of the competition, devalues the effort of athletes, and erodes the spirit of the game.
Naturally occurring differences like extra testosterone, height, or flexibility might be advantages but they aren’t unfair because they are inherent to the individual’s unique physiology and not externally imposed or artificially enhanced. That’s the line we’ve drawn for sport and competition for centuries.
So no, that wouldn’t bother me at all.
So there is no problem then, since by your own word naturally occurring differences aren’t unfair. Trans women who transition even put themselves at a disadvantage compared to pretransition.
Oh and trans women are real women, just like any other woman. They are not second class women, or “kinda women but really not”, they are 100% women. Same goes for trans men. And the whole “biologically male/female” strawmen has never been true but still evolved into this transphobic talking point to justify hate.
Biology isn’t a pseudoscience, if that’s what you meant by “biologically male/female strawmen.”
and trans women are not biologically female. that’s not hatred. they are physically different. two different sexes. that’s not insignificant no matter how much you want to ignore it.
bodies of different sexes are different.
“Biologically male/female” is a strawman? Huh?
This whole argument is so fringe and inconsequential it should really be handled by the board running the organized sport and not a matter of national debate. If the organization clearly states the rules they use to determine to who can compete and you agree to those rules when you sign up then there is no argument.
Just a note, there’s some studies that have shown that a massive proportion of high tier female athletes actually have chromeosone issues that would put them into the intersex category.
Shh, stop. They need their false narrative
My niece is a competitive swimmer. If a trans woman kept her from winning the competitions she’s trained so hard for, getting up at 4am for practice, spending weekends training or at meets, etc, thats absolute horse shit.
So if that trans woman also worked hard, got up at 4am for practice, and also spent weekends training and going to meets, she doesn’t deserve to win after her own hard work?
Not at all in the women’s league, no.
Men have a biological advantage in sports, there’s no way around it. It’s a fact
Does she deserve to win solely because she has the skeleton structure and muscle mass of a biological male from birth.
Is a cis male allowed to compete as a male if he takes the same drugs for 6 months? a year? ahead of the competition?
Honestly, it should be up to whoever is organizing the event.
If you have a problem with how the hosts run their competition, withdraw and/or make your own.
Really depends. For people that never went through puberty of their birth sex there’s effectively no difference in terms of strength.
After adulthood it’s definitely debatable, after a few years of treatment physical capabilities mostly align but not entirely, and while unlikely it would kinda suck for the rest if someone did win olympic gold bc of anatomy differences or something (plus countries with a history of cheating potentially could abuse it by sending an athlete that is not actually on HRT). I also don’t think the ability to compete in high level sports is anywhere near a fundamental human right.
However it would also suck for the transwoman in question having to choose between high level competition in the sport they likely poured their life into and transitioning (as there is no way a transwoman on HRT could ever compete at the highest level vs males in sports unless it’s something where cis women can, too).
Personally I’d argue for pro sports requiring proof of consistent HRT for x amount of time (based on studies of at what point physical capabilitues are equal for the vast majority) should be sufficient. If against all odds we end up with a disproportionate amount of transwomen winning competitions (we won’t) rules could still be changed.
At an amateur level it makes very little sense to restrict transfems, the difference isn’t great after a while on HRT and so much of the point of amateur sports is usually on a social level that if you restrict transpeople from playing/competing with their own gender, you will often remove a large reason for wanting to do that sport in the first place.
Are trans women keeping her from winning competitions? Last I heard they aren’t dominating anything.
getting up at 4am for practice, spending weekends training or at meets, etc
Nice job on the appeal to emotion too. It isn’t like trans people still have to put in the work to do well and have their own challenges to overcome. They have to compensate greatly.
To be clear about my opinion on trans people in sports (because we always ignore transmen here), I am waiting for sports and exercise scientists to do more research and make more conclusions. The science is too nebulous on it. Women’s medicine is centuries behind, and trans medicine even further.
1 out of how many? Should we discount feats of atheletes like Lebron James or Michael Phelps?
And to be clear once again, I want more information and data and science behind this. Is this win an anomaly? Due to some biological advantage Thomas has? Is it because they were born male or is there something else? What is the overall data looking for competition?
And once again we’re talking about high level competition which needs it’s own set of rules. For lower division or tiers I don’t think it matters that much.
Is there a point you’re trying to make with that link?
Did you not read the comment i replied to?
Are trans women keeping her from winning competitions? Last I heard they aren’t dominating anything.
trans people are only allowed to participate if they lose
Nice strawman. I’m not sure what the best solution is, but burying our heads in the sand isn’t it.
Lia had a very close win in a meet where she mostly placed in the middle of the pack. She wasn’t dominating the meet. Using her well deserved win as an example of “dominating women’s sports” is at the very least extremely disingenuous and amounts to exactly what I identified as the thrust of the example for your argument.
Man, I wish we lived in a world where everyone could celebrate with Lia and her struggles weren’t trivialized by an adolescent understanding of the world instigated by toxic conservative ideology.
Brave to transition. Brave to compete. Brave to win despite no one wanting her to.
As someone who is constantly cast as the underdog, who has to overcome that narrative, Lias story is my story and I’m happy for her.
I’m not attacking her or trivializing her athletic abilities. But pretending that she doesn’t have an unfair advantage over her competition isn’t a good solution to the problem. Sports are separated by gender for good reason. Lia transitioned later in life after she went through male puberty.
Women’s sports are important and must be protected.
From the article:
She beat her closest competitor by more than a second, but never finished better than fifth in her two remaining contests.
So she won one competition and got middle of the pack on the rest.
How is this a problem?
The problem is she’s trans. The most important thing to these people is trans people should be treated as lesser woman. If the Michael Jordan of womans swimming showed up and started crushing all the competition because of a biological advantage they would have no problem. Even if genetically she was intersex as long as she was born with a vigina she would be “playing fair.” There is nothing fair about the genetic lottery and competition isn’t about beating every other competitor. At the end of the day these people can’t let go of, “not getting the trophy” and that’s thier biggest issue.
I don’t think people care in friendly matches, but people forget how many young girls’ lives are impacted through scholarships or grants given through high school sports. When these competitions can change the course of your life, perceived fairness becomes much more important, not just for the athletes but their families as well.
My experience has been that even suggesting that someone might not be a hateful monster for questioning trans involvement in competitive sports, gets you banned from communities, and labeled a transphobe on Lemmy.
deleted by creator
When climbing started to become a televised sport, they changed the entire format to support televised timings. When they have athletes who are way taller or way shorter, the routes etter needs to take that into account for the setting for the comp.
Honestly, I think the sports and or rulesets could take a pass and see if there’s anything they can do to find a middle ground that can suit trans-athletes and cis-gendered athletes more equally.
That’s said - I’m not very competitive of me, so my opinions Wil always be biased. While I think competitions push the sports I also have seen firsthand the toxicity and negativity high level sports bring. So basically, I think inclusivity and sportsmanship is more important that integrity of the competitive nature.
I’ve heard the same argument from ‘whataboutist’ rightoids from Reddit when they started bitching about Lia Thomas and people blaming Katey Ledecky, a cis woman, for being trans. Also, this same group loves to bitch about Fallon Fox forget about Patricio Manuel, complain about Nyla Rose and twist the story about Mack Beggs.
If your niece loses then maybe you should teach her to lose gratefully rather than just jumping to blame someone else for her shortcomings no matter their gender, height, weight, natural talents, hormone levels, zodiac sign, etceteraI don’t know any of those names except Katey ledecky.
My niece is a great sport and competes mostly against herself and works on beating her times. I don’t even know how she’d feel about something like that. She’s a great kid and she’d probably grin and bear it.
But I think it’d be horse shit if she had to. We separated men and women’s sports for a reason. We dont let 20 year olds compete in little league. We don’t let Olympians use performance enhancing drugs. Competition and sport needs some bounds for fair play.
Ensuring a level playing field is crucial, acknowledging natural talents and physical differences, while drawing a line at artificial or external enhancements that could skew competition. It’s about maintaining the spirit of fairness and respect in sport, so everyone has the opportunity to compete and excel based on their natural abilities and dedication.
Should we just abolish women’s sport then and have only open competition?
I play women’s sports and we’re fine. Thanks.
At an elite level? Where it’s your source of income? Where you stand to inspire young girls?
If women’s sport is opened to biological males, it is only a matter of time until the top level is entirely dominated by biological males. In most physical sports college men regularly beat women’s world records. It’s just simply not fair.
Yes.
I work like other people.
Coaching and community events.
It’s like you don’t see women who happen to be trans as women.
Maybe your elementary school understanding of this isn’t the best.
Ah yes, being male means that you are always better at all sports than female sportspeople. The mark of maleness is so strong that even after you are no longer male, the maleness lingers and makes you powerful enough to have an unfair advantage and beat all the women. /s
No transperson kept your niece from winning, did they? It’s a boogeyman waved before you to justify making people feel excluded from society because they challenge gender norms.
If a transwoman ever beats my daughter at sport…I’ll be proud of the team for being inclusive. If a transwoman outperforms my daughter and obtains a scholarship ahead of her…I’ll ask why scholarships have to pay for her education.
Society is at fault here, not transwomen.
That’s easy. We just declare “woman” has no solid meaning, it is just whoever says they are a woman. Then we will declare there are zero biological differences between the sexes, some women are just stronger than you. Get gud, scrub. Go against any of these declarations, you are the bigot.
So this is what the deep end looks like.
deleted by creator
This is the weakest of the arguments for trans rights. There’s a reason they want everyone to focus on it.
We shouldn’t be allowing them to frame the conversation around the one area where identifying as whatever you want actually affects other people.
that sports argument is so disingenous, “newspaper” headlines were screaming about a woman who finished a marathon at 14000th place in common bracket and 6000th in female only bracket
deleted by creator
as a side effect they’ll have that unfair advantage
Most trans women have no such thing and in the rare case they do people treat them as if they are cheaters. Cheating implies malicious intent.
deleted by creator
Most trans women aren’t in competitive sports. The conversation isn’t about MOST trans women. It’s a trans strawman people use to call others bigots when they want to look like they have statistics on their side.
It actually doesn’t. Studies show that trans women perform on par with cis women in athletics. This wishy-washy attitude essentially amounts to “you can only participate if you lose”
i think the controversy really started when Fallon Fox started breaking people’s skulls in MMA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallon_Fox
the one area where identifying as whatever you want actually affects other people.
Except, it doesn’t, so you’re literally taking the bigots’ side here.
Then let’s stop dividing all sports by sex or gender and see how it all shakes out.
No dramatic change is needed. Athletic boards need to provide guidance on who will be accepted to compete and athletes will have to decide if they can abide by those rules. Many of us chose not to compete, it’s no sin.
They’re right. Calling them “bigots” just proves you’re a bigot
The Onion has been on a hot streak lately.
Edit: from May but still true lol
These people also never consider that they’re measuring the wrong thing. If they’re taking the position that the effects of testosterone from birth in trans M-to-F kids gives them an unfair advantage due to bone density and muscle mass, then they’re failing to take into account that there are a number of natural health conditions that produce elevated testosterone levels in women as well.
I’m not saying this to be funny, but women with stubble especially around the chin often have elevated T levels, often due to PCOS. There truly are some women who are “built like a man” and they’re not trans - at least certainly not in the way we use the term today. They’re natural, their bodies just work differently.
Banning trans kids isn’t going to level the playing field in the way they say they want to. Measuring things that testosterone affects like bone density would.
Yep. T level testing was a popular trans exclusionary test until the transphobes learned that there’s significant overlap in t levels between trans women and cis women.
Most sports are dominated by people with genetic gifts. But having a little extra testosterone from a genetic quirk is a completely different thing than having extra testosterone because you were born with testes.
Yet the end result is the same, an advantage over those that don’t have it. Why is one fair and one unfair?
Sport is arbitrary rules we decide. Some trans athletes are going to be better at some sports, not because of their trans status but because they work hard and train lots. It is just as unfair to exclude them in case another trans athlete has a genetic advantage, that most research says they don’t have.
Do you have evidence that a cis woman with high testosterone remotely experiences the amount of testosterone produced by testes?
Sure https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7159262/
Also that trans athletes don’t have an advantage after starting hormone therapy. https://www.cces.ca/sites/default/files/content/docs/pdf/transgenderwomenathletesandelitesport-ascientificreview-e-final.pdf
Although there are other studies which show an advantage for running (not at elite level)
Why?
We know things are different because of the way that they are.
It is one thing to have a quirk of the same organs, it’s another to be born with a different organ that effectively produces performance enhancing hormones.
But fine, then ban cis-women with unnaturally high testosterone.
deleted by creator
Atypical of the vast majority
deleted by creator
The definition is literally “not being in accordance with nature or consistent with a normal course of events”. How is that a redefinition?
You said it sarcastically, but doesn’t that truly address the situation that you and others believe is occurring, in a non-discriminatory way?
Not to mention the bigotry, the prejudice, the psychological trauma of existing in a world where people call you evil and an abomination and a cheat for merely wanting to play sports.
Aha, wait until she takes up chess, darts, and competitive crocheting… RIP cis women :'(
Pick your battles, people. Insisting that trans women be allowed to compete in women’s sports is just not a winning argument, even among people that might be willing to otherwise oppose other trans restrictions. All it does in reinforce anti-trans attitudes.
This isn’t some invented fiction. Here is a trans powerlifter that just came in and started shattering records.
Odd, here’s women’s records and the weightlifter in question isn’t on this list: https://www.openpowerlifting.org/records/women So what are you really trying to say?
August 17th, 2023.
Anne Andres, a transgender powerlifter, competed in the women’s division of the 2023 CPU Western Canadian Championship and set multiple National and and Unofficial World Records.
Anne Andres Full Performance Squat: 212.5 kilograms (468.5 pounds) — +84KG Women’s Canadian Record Bench Press: 132.5 kilograms (292.1 pounds) — +84KG Women’s Canadian Record Deadlift: 252.5 kilograms (556.7 pounds) — +84KG Women’s Canadian Record & Unofficial ATWR Total: 597.5 kilograms (1,317.3 pounds) — +84KG Women’s Canadian Record & Unofficial ATWR
This is a very unique article. How did you come about reading it?
I recall reading about it, so I googled some details I recalled for a link to share.
It isn’t the only case. There is also Lia Thomas, an NCAA swimmer.
Oh, wow. The swimmer that Katey Ledecky beat and transphobes started blaming her, a cis woman, for being trans?
Let’s just leave behind some human beings from being allowed to participate in life, why even let them be in society at all, maybe they should be sent away for the convenience of picking political battles
How is sports the only aspect of life? And even then, they are not blocked from participating, as they can complete with other cis-men in those divisions. It’s interesting, trans men don’t have this issue because they simply can’t compete with cis men. I guess they don’t get to participate in life by your definition?
Having a featherweight division in boxing helps, but there is no issue because there is no advantage. But, again, trans men that can compete with cis men are rare, although not nonexistent.
Why do you think sports is the only aspect of life? You’re the only one that’s said those words
I say, no trans woman in women’s sports you say
Let’s just leave behind some human beings from being allowed to participate in life
You made that jump
I say, no trans woman in women’s sports you say
Let’s just leave behind some human beings from being allowed to participate in life
You made that jump
Sometimes you make a decision in life that affects your future in a meaningful way. Becoming a trans is one of those things. Sadly there’s no good solution to the problem it causes in sports right now so the only possible answer is to not have them in the competition.
They are not saying to leave them behind, and comparing this to not participating in life is an unfair exaggeration. The situation is far too complicated for that. It’s not just about politics here, there’s other people involved that would be put at a disadvantage, others that would abuse the situation to gain money, etc.
And yes, I’m well aware of the injustice being done to trans people on every possible level, and that needs to change, this battle itself though is just not the same.
*Edit: I’m reading further down that this “problem” it causes might not be as big as I heard it was in the media. So take this comment with that in mind if you will. It only proves the complexity of the issue though.
Except there is no choice involved. Its not “becoming trans” anymore than its “becoming tall” or “becoming gay”. Those are all things you are born with. Now a trans person may choose to medically transition or not; they are still trans either way. “Trans” and “cis” are adjectives and both are things you are born with regardless of what you do about it.
Of course that’s not what I mean. You’re missing the entire point of my post because of the way I describe the moment of the procedure itself.
Also, what you are saying applies to the individual. For the government, and for things such as these sporting events, they will not ‘be’ female until they undergo their transformation.
you make a decision in life that affects your future in a meaningful way. Becoming a trans is one of those things.
Oh, people with body dysmorphia should just chose not to have body dysmorphia. Feels like I’ve heard this one before.
That is not at all what i am saying at all. That’s the second one on this topic to twist my words to fit what they think is the kind of person I am. If you want to read negatively you’ll find it everywhere.
Let me state the obvious here. People who are in this situation have to make some tough decisions. I know it sucks, I have friends who went through this and yet I can’t even begin to imagine how tough it gets first hand. It does drastically change their lives for the better, but it has consequences. They lose family, they lose friends, and in case of the subject at hand they might lose their job too.
That sucks, but for the vast majority it’s still worth it big time in order to be yourself.
As easy it would be if we never had to challenge any of the norms that society has decided.
Could you elaborate on what you mean by that as a response to my post?
Haven’t some particularly haenous talking heads on TV literally already said this? Perhaps not in directly declaratory language at someone, because that’s begging for a defamation suit, though I have absolutely heard Republican scum make this exact accusation in the general case several times against trans people.
Wow, the
phrenologistsrace realiststransphobes fell for this hard.This was one of the Onion’s more brilliant articles. Absolutely loved it. I showed it to someone who rants about trans girls in sports and they got quiet. The truly good Onion articles make the object of their satire instantly recognize the logical fallacies in their own argument and get uncomfortable.
The author of this article was laying in bed and thought, “AHA! I can set the internet on fire!”
I love it.
I used to have strong opinions about this, but then I realised that I’m not trans, I’m not female, I’m not an athlete, and to be completely honest, I couldn’t care less about women’s sports. And judging by the fact that a women’s premier league football ticket costs about £5 and the stadiums are mostly empty, most other people don’t care either. Certainly less than seem to care about the sanctity of women’s sports.
It’s probably going to be more complex than a blanket yes or no, and will involve individual sports bodies doing things on a case-by-case basis.
Unpopular opinion (on Lemmy and coming from a guy who doesn’t have an issue with trans people): Transpeople are people too and aren’t going to just go die in a ditch because the thought of losing to one makes you upset.
Who is suggesting they should die in a ditch?
I’m saying Trans women are woman and should be allowed to participate in sports.
Oh, is anyone saying they can’t?
… sort by top maybe.
Can you be more specific?
deleted by creator
Whoa bitch, you way literal.
deleted by creator
Bye troll
deleted by creator
Still waiting for you to be more specific about who said trans women shouldn’t be allowed to participate in sports.
If anyone is the troll here, it looks like you.
deleted by creator
Wait I thought people could be trans without medical treatments and counseling because gender identity is a construct and not reliant on one’s secondary or primary sex characteristics but rather reliant on their decision to identify with a gender they were not assigned at birth. Like I get it is the onion, but I thought people who think you have to have gender dysphoria or medically transition are called “transmedicalists,” and much like “terf” I’m fairly sure “transmedicalist” isn’t a compliment.
I’m not trans though so I could be wrong, but this is how it was clearly described to me by a nonbinary individual, a trans man, and a trans woman, all of whom I am friends with and one of whom I was dating at the time, so if I misunderstand so do they, I didn’t make it up myself.
It is true that you don’t need medical treatments and counseling to be trans. However, specifically within the context of gendered sports, the places that do allow trans athletes to compete with other members of their gender tend to require testing of hormone levels. When I’ve seen trans people talk about the sports issue, they’ve been fine with this, often using it as an argument why it’s OK for trans people to compete with cis people of the same gender. Most of the stories reactionaries are trying to scare people with are about trans kids who have undergone medical gender affirming care.
So, yeah, I think there’s some nuance lost here, but given that it’s satire with punchy writing, I don’t think it’s terf-level. But I’m cis and I’d be happy to be corrected.
Ah ok, that makes sense.
My point of view is that if it was just a decision for someone that’d be alright and should be supported nonetheless. That being said I’ve never met someone who is trans and claims it was a choice.
If it’s ‘just’ a construct then it is a fundamental one that occurs at a very young age and you can’t just simply change that, so it’s not really a choice. Like the trunk of a tree.
Also there are many reasons not to transition medically. There are many risks involved and requires considerable resources. For example getting facial hair removed can take 30 sessions, so even if it’s free it costs you a lot of time.
Imagine you woke up in the wrong body tomorrow. Sure, you want to go back to the right body, but you might be OK with it as long as the people around you just see you for who you are. This can be done with a social transition, some clothing and makeup.
