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Seeking Perspectives: Trans Athletes in Women's Sports (self.asklemmy)

submitted 8 months ago by Zeon to c/asklemmy

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Hello everyone,

I'm interested in gathering thoughts and perspectives, particularly from the trans community, regarding trans women's participation in women's sports. This is a topic that often sparks debate, and I want to understand the various viewpoints better.

My question is: What are your opinions on biologically male trans individuals competing in women's sports? Do you think there should be separate categories for trans athletes, or should they compete in accordance with their gender identity? I am looking for thoughtful, respectful discussions, as my intention is not to discriminate but to understand the complexities of this issue better.

Thank you for sharing your insights!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

There are a bunch of studies that show that there is minor map advantage on most (not all) measures for trans athletes a few years after transitioning with hormone therapy. Some trans people never go through puberty of their assigned sex at birth.

I used to be of the view that it wasn't fair for someone who was amab to have an innate advantage over someone else who wasn't. However, we should also consider where they would compete. Is it fair to have trans women compete against cis males who now have a similar, but more profound, advantage over them? Or are they now just excluded?

I've come to believe that all sports at the elite level are dominated by those with genetic and physical advantage, usually by luck. Trans people also for in that category, but it's easier to pinpoint the why for them. All the rules of sport are arbitrary, anyway.

So, after consideration, I think we should have sports open to all that are (identify) as a particular gender. For sports that already categorise by physicality (boxing, weightlifting etc), I don't think it would be problematic to consider their physicality too. For many sports there is no advantage anyway, after transition. And even if there was, isn't the point of sports to have fun, to enjoy oneself and have pleasure. Only a rare few people compete at elite levels. Excluding trans people hurts far more.people than it helps.