While I tend to agree with you on what I think the best current options are, I see no harm in studying the issue further.
More, better information is a good thing. And it may lead to surprising findings. Or not.
Any reason this canāt occur while doing the below?
You mean, like a generation of female athletes?
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I donāt see any harm in studying something either. If someone wants to fund it, go for it.
No amount of studies will alter the opinion of people who understand how ridiculous that a 41 year old man, which is absolutely GERIATRIC for this sport, is somehow the best female heavyweight lifter in New Zealand.
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Iād prefer if the governing body of tge sport polled the participants anonymously every few years to develop their current policy.
Yes, it would have to be a generation of women. 10-15 years likely. It would be nice to be able to quantify the social benefit of being a male weightlifter vs female for example. Eg, the resources, time, emphasis on male weightlifters is typically greater than female, but how much benefit is actually derived from that? Etc.
Yep, never let facts and science get in the way of your opinion, lol
What facts? What science?
I thought you were implying that no amount of studies could change your mind about the unfairness/ridiculousness of tge situation with that weightlifter. My bad.
Heād need to be on the spectrum for any evidence to change his mind.
Testosterone is a hellava thing.
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Right, because Iām extremely skeptical that there is any scientific case to be made that a year of hormone therapy somehow washes away all of the sex-based characteristics that give men a tremendous edge in nearly every sport.
No such science exists, so I think it is reasonable to base my opinion on what is known, not the possibility of science emerging that supports a pre-determined ideological position.
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I have an idea to end all this crap. Get rid of womenās sports. Let them compete all on the same level, men, women, trans, etc. No more womenās soccer, just soccer, let them compete to be on the countryās team. No more womenās tennis, just tennis. Then there is no sexism or discrimination, just the best performers win the spots on the teams.
This then eliminates all of these issues. Itās a total level playing field.
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Women would win that cross country skiing/shooting sport (whose name escapes me)ā¦ and maybe horse racing. Thatād be about it.
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My trans friend, age 39 has been doing hormone therapy of some kind (donāt know exact details) for over a year, along with lazering off the beard and actively working to lose some of the considerable muscle mass acquired without drugs when he was a competitive lifter.
From what I can tell training jits together, heās still STRONG AS FUCK and his overall athleticism is still extraordinary for a 39 year old. Heās not the bearded tank he used to be, but he isnāt very far off.
Combined with the overall athletic background, Iām absolutely certain he could ācompeteā with the best women in the world in the following sportsā¦
Weightlifting
Boxing
Decathlon
Shot put
Probably judo
Probably some other track and field events too
No need for extensive training or an open window of your athletic prime, just show up and kick the crap out of the ladies, just like Hubbard.
Of course my friend isnt going to do that, but he could.
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Or, just have males compete against males. Mutilated males are still males. How is this even a thing?
Because that doesnāt fix the imbalance of FtM people who now get trt. You just trade 1 imbalance for another
Ban the use of trt (for females at least) as being ergogenic.
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Why not just give trans their own division, then compare their lifts to menās and womenās? The sport, inherently, is competing against yourself. Unlike basketball, wrestling, team sports, etc.
Strength sports are a great way to test this, as it will reveal the strength disparity between MTF.
This is where I know I fundamentally disagree with many. I donāt think a very small-minority should have this much power to force change on a system that isnāt broken.
I still like getting gender specifications out of sports completely. The best performers get the team spots and thatās, that.
That way there is no claim that a sport is āpunishingā these athletes over those athletes.Only requirement is the athlete is of good character, meaning does not behave in a way that is damaging to the sport and performs at the top level. Thatās the fairest. If some tranny is the best Guard she gets the spot. If a woman is a top notch basket ball player, she gets the spot, etc.
Having a trans league is kind of a terrible idea. There are very few trans people in the first place and even fewer trans athletes. Itād be a subsection with few competitors and fewer spectators. There wouldnāt be enough of a draw to buy uniforms for the teams.
I tend to agree on generally being against the small minority causing large changes in policy. But I feel like there is a way to fairly address the issue that can result in a very small change to policy. Frankly, i think top tier trans athletes are already so rare that this is much more an ideological issue rather than anything approaching a common issue that needs to be addressed ASAP to save sport. Maybe it will become common in the future, but right now I think we have plenty of time to stoke discussion and find a fair solution. And I think the solution can be found using longish term studies and scienceā¦ Grad students always need new topics to study! Haha
Such as?
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What solution can possibly exist for the obvious athletic imbalance provided by testosterone?
I mean itās basically the concept that caused men to be the dominate sex on this planet forever.