“Separating Sports by Sex Doesn’t Make Sense” is the new hot take from The Atlantic. You see, some states have been passing laws that prevent biological males from competing on girls’ sports teams. We’ve been assured that science tells us that boys have no physical advantage over women, especially if they’re on a regimen of female hormones. But what’s with the whole gender binary in the first place? Megan Daum looks at the issue.
Laws that are keeping trans kids from playing sports are rooted in the same gender essentialism that has always been enshrined in the sports world, and laws in all kinds of states. Here’s why that (incorrect) philosophy harms everyone. https://t.co/f600M8bUZD
— Maggie Mertens (@maggiejmertens) September 17, 2022
“And though sex differences in sports show advantages for men, researchers today still don’t know how much of this to attribute to biological difference versus the lack of support provided to women athletes to reach their highest potential.” https://t.co/xXF6wccLyC
— Meghan Daum (@meghan_daum) September 17, 2022
Mertens writes:
Decades of research have shown that sex is far more complex than we may think. And though sex differences in sports show advantages for men, researchers today still don’t know how much of this to attribute to biological difference versus the lack of support provided to women athletes to reach their highest potential. “Science is increasingly showing how sex is dynamic; it has multiple aspects and also shifts; for example, social experiences can actually change levels of sex-related hormones like testosterone in our bodies in a second-to-second and month-to-month way!” Sari van Anders, the research chair in social neuroendocrinology at Queen’s University, in Ontario, told me by email. She said that this complexity means it doesn’t make sense to separate sports by sex in order to protect women athletes from getting hurt. “If safety was a concern, and there was evidence to select certain bodily characteristics to base safety cut-offs on, then you would see, say, shorter men excluded from competing with taller men, or lighter women from competing with heavier women, across sports.”
Come to think of it, you don’t see a lot of shorter men playing professional basketball. That needs to change.
These people would argue that humans can breathe water if that would advance their political agenda. https://t.co/T9Wr9VWGtf
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 17, 2022
There are easier ways to convince the world you're mentally ill than by claiming women can run as fast or lift as much as men. https://t.co/rz8DCOvCkl
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 17, 2022
"Maintaining this binary in youth sports reinforces the idea that boys are inherently bigger, faster, and stronger than girls in a competitive setting—a notion that’s been challenged by scientists for years."
This isn't science, it's a credo or a dogma. https://t.co/orYxABsSJx
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 17, 2022
Go ahead, put boys and girls together. You're not going to like it. https://t.co/p1D8o90hNB
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 17, 2022
Sure, sure, there's no difference between boys and girls, it's pure coincidence women are fifty years behind men in swimming. https://t.co/prjpr5okgz
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 17, 2022
Women are literally almost a century behind men in the 100M dash. A century. One. Hundred. Years. But sure, boys and girls are totally the same and can compete on the same playing field. https://t.co/Rb728v6xos
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 17, 2022
As I said, this isn't science, it's a religion. They spout this stuff because those are the beliefs, and not believing them would be heresy or apostasy. And that they'd rather die than do. Just like any devout believer. So they must simply deny reality. https://t.co/Hm0hTAenZX
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 17, 2022
The University of Pennsylvania decided that the girls on the swim team had no choice but to deny reality and share a locker room with a biological male. If they had a problem with that, there was always the school’s psychology and counseling services to get their minds right.
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Related:
Trans swimmer, Lia Thomas, nominated for woman of the year, women hardest hit once again https://t.co/jAYQp1IH4j
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 18, 2022
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