Quote:
Originally posted by Eternium
A few points to consider:
- You don't run Olympic level competitive sports and you don't have to contend with transitioning your body's natural hormones while doing it.
- Olympic athletes are already able to take certain legal hormones and have been using certain combinations for decades. Trans athletes are at a DISADVANTAGE because they cannot use those same hormones.
- The hormones that transwomen (MTF) use fight the building of muscle and strength, widen their hips and move around their body fat.
- "Transgendered" is a slur.
- The average Olympic athelete signs a contract before 20. Some athletes start as young as 15 and most are retired by their mid-20s. If a trans person had to take more than one year of treatment, they most likely wouldn't get to compete at all.
- There are only 13,000 people who compete in the Winter and Summer Olympics every year. Only .3% of U.S. ADULTS identify as trans (700k adults out of 300M people). Do you really think there are going to be that many trans people competing? Is this really worth being angry over when we could celebrate a huge win for equality? |
A few points to consider:
1, The key issue must be whether the committee has correctly identified the magic ingredient for male athletes who are objectively performing better than female athletes in most disciplines. They appear to believe that the only ingredient is testosterone level.
2, Under the new rules, an athlete transitioning to a woman must undergo hormonal therapy and demonstrate that the total level of male testosterone in the blood has been below 10 nmols/L (10 nmols is considered normal for healthy men) for at least a year prior to competing. That means MtFs can still have 5 times as much testosterone in their blood than the average aloved level for women (0.52-2.4 nmol/L).
3, Despite all the science and legal hormones, modern methods of training, applying all we know about nutrition, the current womens world records are way below of mens. Just an example: woman still hasnt run a mile under 4 minutes, even though men broke this record 50 years ago.
4, The transgender MtF athlete will still have the metabolic advantage of having been born male and developped as a male - that means not only greater muscle mass, bone density, but also lungs capacity, whole skeletal and muscular build, so regardless of current testosterone levels, MtF will always be taller and stronger. And remember, FtM going through transition will have no chance to compete against men whatsoever.
5, Female athletes are already relegated to second place in terms of funding, coverage and support. And now they can find themselves edged out by people who have biological advantages because they were born male. Female athletes could find themselves fighting all over again for the very recognition, visibility, funding and airtime that they have had to spend decades battling for in order to achieve the (still-limited) presence they have now.
6, Maybe they should introduce olympics for trans people instead? Games that will reflect and celebrate achievements of trans people in sports, where trans men and trans women can compete within a fairer range of similarity, just like there are paralympics or deaflympics? Idk how would transgender people feel about it, maybe its not a good idea, but this current situation is not fair to female athletes at all.
7, There can be abuse of this rule, like male athletes pretending to be trans (athletes and trainers have access to hormones and have enough funds to corrupt psychologists/psychiatrists to prescribe hormone replacement therapy and pay for speeding the process). Phoenix already hinted here to what lenghts are some people able to go for olympic gold, even when it can **** their body up forever. Dont underestimate or dismiss that. Athletes abuse various illegal substances including hormones and hope that they can pass the examination and win. Thats nothing new. This can open another pandora box for calculated and desperate athletes and trainers.
Im done with this thread now.
