• kilternkafuffle [any]
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                edit-2
                4 years ago

                Jimmy Dore doesn't speak to the educated/theory-reading demographic, but he does have a huge audience. He speaks to an older/non-reading public who doesn't know what the fuck is going on, but hates/distrusts the correct people - the chuds, the bosses, the rich, the cops, the spooks, the racists, the establishment politicians, mainstream media of every sort.

                He's a dumbass - like, he doesn't have a critical eye or any kind of theory/analysis. And has occasional bad takes. But he's not a Destiny/Vaush where he embraces state violence, liberal politics, or lives up his own ass. He's not going to die defending a dumb take, he'll just move on.

                He's a populist comedian - his heart is entirely in the right place. And no revolution is possible without people like him and his audience coming along.

  • Amorphous [any]
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    4 years ago

    look, all we need is a few trans men dominating women's sports and they'll either reverse course or ... probably just ban all trans people from playing sports, actually, now that i think about it.

    • Cysioland [he/him,comrade/them]
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      4 years ago

      probably just ban all trans people from playing sports, actually, now that i think about it.

      That'll be the likely aftermath of such cases, sadly. Hell, even the Caster Semenya case (which isn't even about a trans athlete) showed the true colors of the professional sports industry.

      • Amorphous [any]
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        4 years ago

        jesus christ, i hadnt heard of that. fuck intersex people too, i guess.

        • Cysioland [he/him,comrade/them]
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          4 years ago

          Of course on the wacky alien site, the "normal people" were like "Oh, but aycsheully she's XY so she's a man so she belongs with men".

  • Dbumba [none/use name]
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    4 years ago

    Seems like an important piece of legislation to prioritize when we are on pace for a 7 figure covid death toll and 4/10th of the population can't pay their rent or mortgage.

    • Quimby [any, any]
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      4 years ago

      Only cis women should be exposed to covid through sports! 😐

  • quartz242 [she/her]
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    4 years ago

    Yeah some good ideas and weird takes here.

    Sports at its core is about personal achievement, team success, and entertainment. The fact that it has been politicized and commodified has resulted in this being an effective dog whistle.

    American ninja warrior has everyone compete on the same course regardless of gender. I'm sure if other sports actually tried they could find a way to be totally inclusive and still be entertaining but honestly if you get thrills from watching a blood sport maybe some self crit is in order.

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      I think in the future there might be room for some sports to have leagues, similar to how boxing has weight classes but more holistic, which take into account everything including your natural hormone levels, VO2 capacity, bone density, height, weight, muscle to fat ratio etc to make the only remaining factors how hard you work and how good you are at the sport in question. But that's a sci-fi dream so for now making there be more stuff like couples' tennis would be cool.

    • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
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      4 years ago

      American ninja warrior has everyone compete on the same course regardless of gender.

      The only sport I watch.

    • DonCheadleInTheWH [any]
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      4 years ago

      Yes, we should also dumb down chess and change the rules of every competitive endeavor!

      Your heart's in the right place, but the people you think you're advocating for would wring you by the neck at the suggestion the sport be nerfed so they could participate.

      • shitstorm [he/him]
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        4 years ago

        People would wring my neck for advocating for the abolition of private property, but I'm still gonna say it.

      • quartz242 [she/her]
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        4 years ago

        Maybe I didnt Express myself clearly so my fault on that, I'm not advocating for any sport nerfing rather for those that it is applicable to let everyone run the same course, have a standardized challenge where the goal is to constantly try and beat your own record. Lots of track and field, Olympic sports, and the like this could work for.

        I would advocate for the abolishment of any professional sports that severely impacts the participants long term health and well being and for the remaining sports to adopt a metric not based on gender for classifying participants as others have suggested.

        • AStonedApe [they/them]
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          4 years ago

          So out of curiosity, what would you do with a sport like baseball? It doesn't severely impact long term health, men dominate the sport, and I can't think of a good way to change the sport such that women would be included in any significant way. I'm really interested in this concept, and I hope someone smarter than me can propose a reasonable solution, but I certainly can't think of anything.

          • quartz242 [she/her]
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            4 years ago

            I'm not super familiar with baseball but local play would self organize by whoever wants to participate, in regards to professional it could be a league based on an individual game play metric. Good question

            • AStonedApe [they/them]
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              4 years ago

              I'm all about localizing and democratizing baseball. But I'm not quite sure what you mean by this:

              it could be a league based on an individual game play metric.

              • quartz242 [she/her]
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                4 years ago

                So from.what little I understand about baseball there are lots of statistics involved so utilizing said play statistics could be used a la a conputer to essentially create a matchmaking system designed to create fair games utilizing gameplay data rather than gender.

                • AStonedApe [they/them]
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                  4 years ago

                  Honestly, I think some of y'all are a bit confused about the nature of some of these sports.

                  rather than gender

                  Baseball already doesn't directly discriminate based on gender. There are no rules saying women aren't allowed to play. There's certainly a societal component to why there have been literally 0 female MLB players, but I think the biological differences are much more significant.

                  utilizing said play statistics could be used a la a conputer to essentially create a matchmaking system designed to create fair games utilizing gameplay data

                  How is this not going to produce leagues/divisions with different levels of male competition similar to boxing? Why would utilizing statistics help women compete fairly against men in a sport they already aren't prohibited from playing in? Remember, boxing only achieves (some) gender equality by specifically banning men from the women's competition.

                  I REALLY want to get behind these ideas, but I'm afraid there may be only 2 options: leave team sports to discriminate based on gender or abolish the sports entirely.

  • cracksmoke2020 [none/use name]
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    4 years ago

    I will never not find it amusing that one of the biggest Tulsi shills on Twitter is Blaire White.

  • kristina [she/her]
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    4 years ago

    im sure the terfs are thrilled to be represented by the biggest douchebag on the democrat side of the aisle

    • Shishnarfne [comrade/them]
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      4 years ago

      She's a strange mixture of good & horrible ideas. She quit the DNC in 2016 in support of Sanders, and she opposes the endless wars, but she also has supported Hindu nationalists in India, and now this.

    • cracksmoke2020 [none/use name]
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      4 years ago

      Implying that a meaningful percentage of democrats in congress don't agree with this seems somewhat foolish to me. Unless I'm reading your comment wrong of course.

      • kristina [she/her]
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        4 years ago

        oh for sure, democrats suck and i want them to all stub their toes into little bloody nubs :che-smile:

  • fed [none/use name]
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    4 years ago

    I am asking as delicately as I can, can someone explain why this is a bad thing?

    • mittens [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      if they were concerned about fairness in sports, they would be pushing for categories based on measurable metrics like height or weight, instead of gender, which if you think about it, doesn't make that much sense to begin with.

      • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
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        4 years ago

        I'll take ya one step further.

        If testosterone is a performance-enhancing drug, ALL athletes should be on T-blockers to ensure fair competition.

        • kristina [she/her]
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          4 years ago

          femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football femboy football

        • Nagarjuna [he/him]
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          4 years ago

          Or, more realistically, every athlete should be taking testosterone, considering 40% of them already are

          • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
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            4 years ago

            That just involves a testosterone arms race.

            Better to mandate the level to 0 or near-zero.

      • Amorphous [any]
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        4 years ago

        that's a really simple, elegant solution ive never considered before

        we should really be doing that. it's so obvious, it's already done in fighting sports. what the hell are humans thinking, buncha dumb fucking monkeys i tell you what

        • kilternkafuffle [any]
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          4 years ago

          Weight classes exist in martial arts, boxing, and weight lifting, yeah. But men and women also differ by muscle mass as a percentage of total mass. Testosterone (whether endogenous or exogenous) during development and in general means more muscle, less fat. In other words, on average, men will still be significantly stronger than women in the same weight class.

          Hypothetically, you could design some complex system controlling for hormones, muscle percentage, and total mass as a replacement for mere sex/gender... but that's overmedicalization. Professional sports are overmedicalized already, with tests for doping and the athletes taking every kind of supplement and drug that's not yet banned... but you're not gonna subject every kid in school to a series of blood tests. That'd be its own kind of fucked up.

          I think whatever division exists in sports for most people should be based on social distinctions, not biological ones. Let trans women compete with cis women - trans people are under 1% of the population anyway. Let enbies be with whoever they want. Society shouldn't be segregated by gender, but locker rooms and certain medical practices are - people are more comfortable with their own gender sometimes. It's an exceptional circumstance, not total segregation.

      • cracksmoke2020 [none/use name]
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        4 years ago

        Unless you're measuring people by say, every single measurement required to properly size a suit (hips, shoulders, ect) alongside things like muscle mass and weight then it's still difficult to properly group people.

        At least all of the above is very relevant in sports like swimming, running, ect, although it would certainly make the sports more interesting with deeper classifications like this. A lot of people quit these sports because they don't have the right build.

      • SimMs [none/use name]
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        4 years ago

        arent skeletal properties largely determined by sex? skeletal features is hugely important in determining performance potential.

        • unperson [he/him]
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          4 years ago

          Then measure those skeletal features instead of making drama over DNA.

          • SimMs [none/use name]
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            4 years ago

            "100m sprint, class leg bone 50-60 cm" i dont know man. sure the trans-inclusive paradigm will reshape alot of this kind of stuff, but.. cmon

        • InnuendOwO [she/her]
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          4 years ago

          On average, sure. Professional sports don't give a shit about averages. Just look at basketball players all being like, 7 feet tall.

            • InnuendOwO [she/her]
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              4 years ago

              Okay?

              Like, I don't get the point here. Professional sports are always going to be dominated by people who's bodies are extremely outside of the norm. Sports are like, 80% practice, 20% genetic lottery, and no matter what you do you can't really change that last 20%.

              Seems extremely weird to me to go "this is fair, she's a foot taller than me, so she'll always be better at basketball than me, that's fine :)" but then immediately turn around and go "this isn't fair, she's a foot taller than me and also trans, so she'll always be better at basketball than me, that's not fine :("

        • mittens [he/him]
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          4 years ago

          don't quote me on this, gender skeletal difference are due to bone modelling during adolescence, it's not determined at birth IIRC, It is unkown to me how much remodelling is done during normal adulthood, nor during transition, certainly skeletal changes happen when someone transitions, you may have noticed this yourself, but whether this represents a significant advantage at sports or not is something that you may want to ask a real doctor and not me. i'm too busy making shit up at work to make shit up here.

    • FactuallyUnscrupulou [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      My personal opinion on all competitive sports is that they require public infrastructure to facilitate them which is not efficient use of the resources. Instead of building a stadium for competitive sports, I would ensure local neighborhoods have space for everyone to go play a pickup game or just some catch.

      When I was in college our admin tried to raise tuition for the whole student body instead of increasing activity fees. The most effective argument to stop it was saying, "We're totally cool with the football team being disbanded and the community being allowed to use the facility". Ten years later and the football team is gone, now I can practice frisbee golfing in the Winter and chuds are mad their Div 3 team is no more.

      • Cysioland [he/him,comrade/them]
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        4 years ago

        People enjoy watching sports. Let them. But the way the professional sports industry is operating definitely should change.

          • kristina [she/her]
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            4 years ago

            football should be banned in favor of touch football so i can watch all the right wingers cry

          • kilternkafuffle [any]
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            4 years ago

            You don't need to ban the whole sport - just change the rules/equipment. Rugby is more violent, but doesn't have the same rate of TBIs because they aren't ramming each other with their heads all the time. (Or so I'm told - I understand neither sport.) But ban its current version, yes.

          • 389aaa [it/its]
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            4 years ago

            Adults should be allowed to do whatever they like assuming everyone involved is fully informed on the consequences and consents regardless of them, no matter how stupid of a thing to do it is. Deffo agree that children's football should be banned tho.

        • FactuallyUnscrupulou [he/him]
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          4 years ago

          It cannot change the way it operates and still be viable. This exploitation of labor and the melding of private interest and public funding is the very heart of the industry.

          • Cysioland [he/him,comrade/them]
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            4 years ago

            It cannot change the way it operates and still be viable.

            :yes-comm:

            Essentially, we should have sports, but no sports industrial complex.

            • KamalaHarrisPOTUS [he/him]
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              4 years ago

              glorify the best soccer player in your neighborhood not the best soccer player in your country

    • Shishnarfne [comrade/them]
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      4 years ago

      It's basically legislating against a transphobic fantasy - "the trans athletes are coming and they will ruin Wimbledon and the Olympics" - even though there is literally nobody who is doing this, and this plays no role in anyone's decision to transition.

      • fed [none/use name]
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        4 years ago

        im sorry... but there are biological differences between sexes? That’s why we differentiate gender from sex no? Sports are about biological athletic competition, so the playing field should be as even as possible...

        im not trying to be transphobic :deeper-sadness:

        • Caocao [he/him]
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          4 years ago

          I gotchu comrade.

          The reason this is a right-wing talking point is because it casts trans women as villains out to steal sports scholarships from innocent little girls, and implies that they are just pretending to be women to win at sports. Additionally it casts leftists as lunatics who don't believe in biological sex. It also makes rational people like you think maybe the transphobes have a point.

          In reality this is a total non-issue. Maybe there's a debate to be had about trans women, sex segregated sports in general, etc. but that's not the point here. The point is that Tulsi is choosing to put forward this bill--which is a right-wing talking point and nothing else--as a lame duck during a fucking pandemic, to appeal to the transphobic, reactionary base she picked up on Tucker Carlson. That's transphobic.

          • kristina [she/her]
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            4 years ago

            why yes, i am a gigachad trans woman with 50 college scholarships and 8 olympic gold medals. my arms are bulging at a whopping 10in, im a heavyweight at 110 pounds, and im ready to MURDER

          • Corbyn [none/use name]
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            4 years ago

            Trans women largely appear to be on an equal level as cis women when it comes to athletics.

            Do you have any sources on this? Why would their biological advantages completely disappear?

            If trans women really did have such an advantage we would expect them to dominate top-level play.

            That depends on how many compete at the same level, how much support there is for them, and how many strive to compete at the highest level. The biological differences exist, and there is no way around this issue. It isn't a real problem yet, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be unfair competition and probably hurt the trans community more than it helps them. It is a shitty topic, but is there any way to allow trans women into female athletic competition without hurting the sport? There is a reason why competitions are separated by sex.

            Even though it isn't a real problem (outside of right-wing brains), acting as if the differences wouldn't exist doesn't seem to be helpful either.

            • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
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              4 years ago

              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.

              • Corbyn [none/use name]
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                4 years ago

                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 :(

                • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
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                  4 years ago

                  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.

                    • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
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                      4 years ago

                      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.

            • penguin_von_doom [she/her]
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              4 years ago

              Do you have any sources on this? Why would their biological advantages completely disappear?

              Because these advantages are driven basically 99% by testosterone and the strength advantage it gives. The olympics require one to have been several years on HRT and have their testosterone in female ranges before they would allow them to compete officially. Other sports have similar requirements.

              And I can tell you that T changes a lot. Before transition I was average strength. After transition, even though I'm in the best shape I've ever been, and train a-fucking-lot I still have guys that are half my weight being completely able to pin me down. According to my fitbit device, my Vo2Max is within the top 25% of users, which might seem like a lot, but I also train 10-15 hours a week, sometimes more. The more advanced girls at my poledancing studios are usually much stronger and have more endurance than I do. In the martial arts that I participate, my advantage comes from being taller than a lot of the other girls, which gives me some extra range, but when I fight someone my own size its all down to skill and luck.

        • cum_drinker69 [any]
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          4 years ago

          I understand where you are coming from with this, and it is a fair point in a vacuum. But unfortunately that is the point of it, to find something "reasonable" as a entry point for transphobic nonsense. A sitting fucking house rep doesn't actually give a shit about women's lacrosse, this is just a cudgel to beat trans people over the head with.

            • VolcelPolice [any]
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              4 years ago

              We appreciate the clarification, however there is only one exception to ACAB :dorner:

        • 420clownpeen [they/them,any]
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          4 years ago

          Nah honestly it's good that you asked this because this was something that caught me too before I knew much about trans issues

        • mayor_pete_buttigieg [she/her]
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          4 years ago

          On average asian men are shorter and smaller than black (african american anyway) men. Shouldn't we segregate sports by race?

          • fed [none/use name]
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            4 years ago

            the difference between men and women is much larger than the differences between two men.

            https://quillette.com/2019/04/05/sex-differences-gender-and-competitive-sport/

  • RedArmor [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    If you oppose this you are sexist and transphobic.

          • RedArmor [he/him]
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            4 years ago

            I’m just doing a bit, sorry comrade.

            Obviously this will negatively impact our brothers and sisters and non-binary comrades ability to show off their athletic capabilities. Which, I for one, do not endorse.