Long story short I have PCOS apparently. That means high testosterone. Why am I sharing this? I just think it's fucking shitty that I as an AFAB person can get feminizing hormone therapy after as little as a blood test, but if I was a trans woman or man, or if I wanted hormone therapy to affirm my being non-binary, I would most likely have to jump through all sorts of hoops.
Anyway maybe I'm just pissy because going to the doctor always reminds me that most people see me as a just a butch woman. Feeling shitty and dysphoric.
All this to say that I don't think the estrogen is an inhibitor to strength development per se (flip side of that being that strength is a masculine trait which I reject, but seems to be societally ingrained), although it would affect body composition, the neural pathways are much more important. Like if you look at the powerlifting record holders for women many are very femme. There's a Canadian 12 year old girl that just c+j 110 at a bodyweight of 60 lol
That's amazing! Almost double body weight is insane for a c+j if I remember what my former strength coach said, and he was talking to college athletes! Not a 12 year old!
And yeah, more women are lifting heavy and I love it, we're taking back our spot in the weight room which is great, but also the myth of male superiority in athletics is getting closer and closer to being busted. T does give a natural advantage but there also so many other natural and unnatural advantages to be had and taken advantage of. I've always been of the opinion that people should just play sports with those they enjoy playing with, whether because they're all similar in ability, or of completely different abilities but just enjoy playing together and appreciating each others strengths and efforts. Maybe I'm biased because when I used to do a lot of sports, my favorite experiences were always when it was mixed instead of segregated by gender. When I was biking, and my club would just do mixed rides and we'd pick which group we'd be in based on target average speed: unlimited, 30km/h, 25km/h, and <20km/h (no drop, aka the average speed of the group is the speed the slowest rider wants to do) and it was a really wonderful experience. And among the top 5 fastest riders in the club I think 2 or 3 were women.