Local :reddit-logo: is bursting with them right now due to some college swimmer or something. So so so so many "I support trans people / think they deserve a place in society / have a trans friend BUT (transphobia)"
Seen someone talking about Micheal Phelps' natural biological advantages and that seems to shut them up, but other dunks would be appreciated
Apply any of the following questions as appropriate.
Who are your five favorite women athletes, and why do you admire these athletes?
How long have you been a fan of women’s collegiate swimming?
Since you care so much about promoting women’s sports, do you also support Megan Rapinoe and the rest of team USA’s fight for higher compensation? (You can point out that the women’s soccer teams in the US generate more money than the men’s)
Do you think that the trans takeover of women’s sports will include the most popular women’s sport, women’s gymnastics, where the undisputed GOAT is 4’8 Simone Biles, and the most recent all around champion is 5’0 Suni Lee?
If you are concerned about cis women and girls missing out on scholarship opportunities, isn’t a better solution to make colleges and universities tuition free?
Do you also take up the fight to defend women’s sports in any of the biannual Reddit threads about how Serena Williams lost to a low ranked pro men’s tennis player and therefore, no one should know who she is or admire her athletic ability?
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Trans men wouldn’t have a significant advantage in men’s gymnastics because men’s gymnastics doesn’t include the balance beam and uneven bars events replacing them with (imo less interesting) strength events like pommel horse and still rings and the less challenging single bar.
I can sort of see how these events might be dangerous for men (cis or post t trans) and other taller people with larger muscles, but the Olympics also doesn’t include men’s rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming. Presumably just because men would be worse at it than women, and we can’t have that.
I think gymnastics are important to bring up in these conversations because sports that include flexibility, grace, and balance challenge the notion that all of athleticism is about cultivating strength, lateral speed, power, and other traits associated with higher testosterone and larger bodies. Obviously people of any gender can possess or improve any of these physical attributes, but so often transphobes don’t recognize that men aren’t actually physically superior to women in all areas of athleticism. Pointing this out really cuts away at their arguments. Because ultimately, most are misogynists who believe that as men, they are inherently superior to women.