Maggie Mertens has a really, really long piece in Deadspin Wednesday about trans women being denied participation in sports such as powerlifting. As Twitchy has reported, tennis star and LGBT pioneer Matina Navratilova has taken a beating from the transgender community for disagreeing with the ACLU’s take that “sex discrimination in sports is wrong. Period.”
She's got the strength, but who has the power? https://t.co/W7B0jz4Iug pic.twitter.com/RObPeSGCZa
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) May 8, 2019
As we mentioned, the Deadspin article goes on quite a bit, but when it comes to the scientific evidence involved, the author consulted … a philosophy professor?
Deadspin, quoting a philosophy professor, argues that there is no scientific evidence puberty gives biological males any athletic advantages. Rather, this belief is "based entirely on social perceptions of gender."https://t.co/y0s6FQNFjT pic.twitter.com/eCc8vN28SH
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) May 8, 2019
A philosophy professor and expert on athletes’ rights:
USA Powerlifting’s response to transgender athletes is head-spinning. The thing about all this talk equating hormone replacement therapy to doping, and the threat to “biological females,” and the “unfair advantages” of “male puberty,” is that it’s based entirely on social perceptions of gender.
“There’s absolutely no scientific evidence at all that supports their position,” said Rachel McKinnon, an expert on athletes’ rights and a professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston, and a world champion track cyclist to boot.
When we shove the concept of athletic ability—strength, for instance—into the same black-and-white binary that we try to put gender into, we’re wrong. There is no stark line separating what men can do athletically and what women can. Some women, in fact, are bigger, faster, and stronger than some men.
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Of course some women are bigger, faster, and stronger than some men. That’s not the part we’re having trouble buying — it’s the idea, once again, that biological differences are entirely a social construct.
There weren’t any art history professors available?
— Brian Rose (@drbtrose) May 8, 2019
This is like taking your car to a philosopher to get your oil changed, only to be told that clean oil is an artifact of "white privilege".
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) May 8, 2019
IMHO, the changes we're seeing in society can be traced back to trends in which people attended college to compile humanities degrees, racked up student debt, and had no way to put their "skills" to use. The rise of govt & corporate #VirtueSignaling gave them a raison d'etre ?
— (((L.N. Smithee))) (@LNSmithee) May 8, 2019
"Society assumes that all men are stronger than all women" is so disingenuous. McKinnon would never be able to find an actual person who believes this, but "society" can't respond.
— Taylor Washburn (@washburnt) May 8, 2019
It seems odd to quote someone arguing that there is no advantage to male puberty who has themself gone through male puberty and is currently a world champion cyclist in the very category they claim to have no advantage in. Must be a coincidence. No conflict of interest at all!
— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) May 8, 2019
Ms McKinnon is also a trans woman whose cycling championships, from what I can tell, all came after her transition. Can’t find any information on wins when she was male.
— Laurel Van Driest (@lvandriest) May 8, 2019
No matter how farfetched the idea you can always find some philosophy professor who will agree with it. 🙂
— Ray Bryan (@r4ybry4n) May 8, 2019
That is a very particularly biased sort of philosophy professor – skin firmly in the game so to speak
— Iseult White (@iseult) May 8, 2019
Rachel McKinnon is not just a Philosophy Professor. She's a male-to-female that has won a gold medal in cycling (women's division). Not exactly a dispassionate, unbiased source.
— Henri Kester (@kets70) May 8, 2019
Which one do you think is Dr. Rachel McKinnon? pic.twitter.com/VXmpMkUR12
— Lance Hawkes (@lhawkes) May 8, 2019
The fact that this position exists is mind-numbing given how every anecdotal and empirical piece of evidence in the world actively disproves it.
— dv (@davansv) May 8, 2019
I guess statistics aren't taught to philosophy majors.
— Grand Poobah of the interwebs ? (@PeterThemeh1) May 8, 2019
Because activists are a reliable source…
— Andy (@atippey) May 9, 2019
Kinda shocked deadspin hadn’t already written this sort of article. Very on-brand.
— Peter Conroy (@ruhlax_guy) May 8, 2019
All formerly-Gawker properties have the same format: a thin frosting of a topic–e.g. tech, sports–over a massive helping of hardcore radical intersectional leftism.
— ǟռɖʀɛա and 65 others (@amillermsme) May 8, 2019
This is exactly why I stopped reading @Deadspin, cause they’ve gone so far ‘off the deep end’ left. It’s a shame…cause I did enjoy reading some of their non-political content.
— Kevin (@Kcardial1) May 8, 2019
I love the way trans women haven’t had any advantage from testosterone – but are somehow massively held back by having to suppress it!
— Helen Joyce (@HJJoyceEcon) May 8, 2019
And why is it that only cis males are ever accused of “toxic masculinity”?
Also, women should be afraid of all men because of their aggression and physical strength.
— Some guy tweeted something ??♂️ (@jtLOL) May 8, 2019
Were you expecting scientific rigor from Deadspin?
— Anthony Afterwit (@laterwit) May 8, 2019
Related:
'Send her to the gulag!' LGBT athlete group boots Martina Navratilova over 'transphobic' comments https://t.co/0dfcAieI7y
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 20, 2019
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