We need to be able to talk about trans athletes and women's sports

[janterry]

For those not familiar, here’s the situation: Thomas competed for the University of Pennsylvania men’s team for three seasons, doing pretty well, although not well enough to hold the school records. Her times have slowed after more than a year of hormonal treatments, yet last month she blew away her competition and set four women’s school records in a single meet.

and

Elsewhere, most people prefer to find something else to talk about, or else just carefully note that some people, though of course not the writer, feel it is unfair to make cisgender women compete against trans-female athletes. (The situation.) Beneath all the delicacy is the expectation that all this probably won’t matter very much — that elite trans-female athletes will remain rare or that they won’t win too much. But, well, Lia Thomas. At some point, these questions have to be asked, and answered.

and

Male puberty makes you taller, confers greater muscle and bone mass, larger heart and lung capacity relative to your size, and more hemoglobin. For cisgender men, this translates to roughly a 6 to 10 percent advantage over biological women in sports such as running and swimming, though the gap can be larger in other domains, and in a few sports female biology actually conveys some advantage.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/13/trans-women-sports-uncomfortable-questions/

[jimfields33]

1. Doesn't matter. A female beat the records. Congratulations!

May even make the team stronger by getting into more competition having strong females on their teams.

[janterry]

2. It matters to the other women on the team

and all the other women whose records were defeated.

Science matters!

eta: and yes, the coach is apparently thrilled to be winning (according to the girls that went to the coach - privately - to complain. They say he only cares about winning)

[marie999]

3. So, he couldn't win as a male for 3 years and then decided he was a female?

[ShazzieB]

6. She.

When referring to a trans person, you should use the pronouns that apply to their gender identity (or whatever pronouns they've chosen to use), not those they were assigned at birth.

No matter what your opinion are about trans people in sports, misgendering is not okay.

It's also unfair to make assumptions about the reasons for someone's transition. Combined with what appears to be deliberate misgendering at the same time is very much not okay. For more information, see https://transequality.org/issues/resources/supporting-the-transgender-people-in-your-life-a-guide-to-being-a-good-ally

[marie999]

7. Thank you, I will be more considerate.

[ShazzieB]

4. Not all trans women go through male puberty.

Nowadays there are more and more trans kids (both m to f and f to m) who take puberty blockers and begin hormone treatment to allow them to circumvent having to go through puberty based on the gender they were assigned at birth.. I don't know any numbers, but this is becoming more and more common.

Just throwing this on the table, because I'm really tired of people insisting that ALL trans women go through male puberty. It is really NOT that simple.

[wildheart]

8. It is not that simple

And keeping things fair for biological women is also important.