Trans women typically have less masculinized bodies to begin with, and almost universally report a decrease in muscle mass after at least a year on HRT. Barring them from women's sports is barring them from sports in general.
"Biological differences" exist in degrees. If you ban AMAB women who transitioned as adults, do you then ban AMAB women who blocked their male puberty? Do you ban XY women with pAIS? Do you ban XY women with cAIS? Very quickly, the act of policing trans women's bodies extends to policing all women's bodies.
Trans women typically have less masculinized bodies to begin with, and almost universally report a decrease in muscle mass after at least a year on HRT.
Yes, they are in a bad spot where male and female sports both are problematic.
Barring them from women’s sports is barring them from sports in general.
Only competitively, but yes, it sucks and I don't have a good solution to offer either.
If you ban AMAB women who transitioned as adults, do you then ban AMAB women who blocked their male puberty? Do you ban XY women with pAIS? Do you ban XY women with cAIS?
That is what I was getting at when asking if there is any way to allow them into female competitions, without hurting the women participating and facing a lot hatred for being successful. You can try to come up with some abstract rules of evaluating trans athletes' bodies, but that just sounds horrible. I don't see any good solutions for this :(
Competitive sports are inevitably problematic. Every which way you go, you run into quandaries; there are no good solutions that can maintain the "fairness" of it. We can, however, promote human rights and oppose discrimination.
I think the best way to be inclusive of trans women in sports is to allow them to certify themselves as women after being on hormones for X number (5?) of years. And have this be an honor system instead of subjecting all female athletes to extra scrutiny.
The more we learn about biology, the less sense we can see in the ideal of a "fair competition" that we're so attached to. It was an illusion all along.
Trans women typically have less masculinized bodies to begin with, and almost universally report a decrease in muscle mass after at least a year on HRT. Barring them from women's sports is barring them from sports in general.
"Biological differences" exist in degrees. If you ban AMAB women who transitioned as adults, do you then ban AMAB women who blocked their male puberty? Do you ban XY women with pAIS? Do you ban XY women with cAIS? Very quickly, the act of policing trans women's bodies extends to policing all women's bodies.
Yes, they are in a bad spot where male and female sports both are problematic.
Only competitively, but yes, it sucks and I don't have a good solution to offer either.
That is what I was getting at when asking if there is any way to allow them into female competitions, without hurting the women participating and facing a lot hatred for being successful. You can try to come up with some abstract rules of evaluating trans athletes' bodies, but that just sounds horrible. I don't see any good solutions for this :(
Competitive sports are inevitably problematic. Every which way you go, you run into quandaries; there are no good solutions that can maintain the "fairness" of it. We can, however, promote human rights and oppose discrimination.
I think the best way to be inclusive of trans women in sports is to allow them to certify themselves as women after being on hormones for X number (5?) of years. And have this be an honor system instead of subjecting all female athletes to extra scrutiny.
Could you test for testosterone level? Or is that also a grey area?
It is a gray area, especially considering how men have injected testosterone as a form of doping.
See my other post.
The more we learn about biology, the less sense we can see in the ideal of a "fair competition" that we're so attached to. It was an illusion all along.
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