Well my husband would always beat me at darts. He's also better at pools and it's not because I'm not trying. I'm extremely competitive.
Transgender Athletes
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I'm glad a transphobe isn't going to win it.
That’s hilariousSuch a shame for the women.
It's ridiculous. I was watching and trying to work out which one was the boy, then as soon as the red vest comes into shot, 'oh there he is'.
I'm not a fan of the sources nor do I know the backstory. I don't even know if they still want to be called Aayden.
I will say it's an unsurprising result and more or less inevitable one if a talented athlete goes through male puberty and continues to compete. It's one of those situations that's going to test the boundary of what's acceptable and unacceptable in a sporting context even away from elite level.
I'm also not sure that the mental health and social benefits of them competing as a girl actually exist in a situation like this where it will leave them open to ridicule and abuse. I'm also assuming Aayden is identifying as a girl for honest intentions rather than to take the piss or to get a scholarship but I'm not sure that the other competitors will feel the same.
It's a little hard to work out why they felt the need to crush the rest of the field quite so comprehensively. I guess it's a natural inclination for any athlete to run their fastest possible time but they could easily have run a bit within themselves and not made the event look as farcical as it did.
Nah you're all just transphobes if you don't clap along like obedient little seals at this happening to actual women.
I don't think you can have competitive sport and have the athletes not try to perform at their best.
Having transwomen not trying against ciswomen just so they only win by a little bit is possibly even more farcical than them simply dominating whatever event they're in.
You definitely can. Hence runners never break their PB's in heats.
Ultimately you would rather everyone perform to their best so you can analyse the data better in terms of the disparities.
I don't know enough about competitive running/sprinting to comment too much, but I do think there's still a large gap between that particular runner not trying their absolute best as it's not a final, and the charade of jogging just ahead of the person in second for two thirds of the race to ensure they don't win by too much.
The fact is that everyone else in that race was probably trying their absolute best, and it wouldn't have been good enough even with the winner deliberately slowing down to keep the gap smaller.
As SilentWitness has pointed out, we want these athletes doing their best anyway so we can actually base decisions on data rather than feelings.
That's to qualify - you're not going to go HAM to qualify.
The above video is for a semi-final.
The point is athletes can win races while deliberately not running full speed.
That’s a fair point. I’m really only commenting on what is going through the mind of that individual. In the context of what @jojojo said about the dubious mental health benefits of choosing to compete in these events, with all the negative attention it will attract. Which is much more likely if you turn the race into the sort of farce we see in that clip.
Cynically, I'd suggest there's absolutely no incentive for a trans woman to perform at her best in that situation. Pride is important but the desire to participate and to win the top prize are extremely powerful and that can mean compromise - like not going so hard into a qualifying round or in a test situation.
The fact that the race took the form that it did, does suggest honesty to me but I may be misreading that motivation as well.
They must stay together and fight against it. As some do with forfeiting. That is the only way for them now and with that statements they will force officials to change something.
I think it would be a bit harsh to expect a teen athlete to think of the weight of all those intricacies behind easing off etc. considering the weight of the journey they're already going through in regards to being transgender.
I also think whether you are for or against transgender people and athletes, it's better if they and the non-transgender athletes/people perform at their best so we can analyse the data truly to see the disparities fairly. That way we can track the changes in their development, the development of our medicine and help make decisions in terms of how we choose to create competitive events in future. As I have mentioned before in the thread, there is never really going to be a completely fair way of doing it currently, but if we can make progress or analyse things properly to try and make them fairer to all and mean less people do miss out, the better.
There will be people who still demand "scientific" proof even when it's clear as day trans have irreversible advantages
But hey they're not winning the olympics so it's all good.
In the ages where there are weight class, age class, division by competency, how can one avoid the elephant in the room? It's clear as day they're not in even within acceptable level of advantage. And before people accept this there can be no development as we'll be foing back and forth
But hey they're not winning the olympics so it's all good.
In the ages where there are weight class, age class, division by competency, how can one avoid the elephant in the room? It's clear as day they're not in even within acceptable level of advantage. And before people accept this there can be no development as we'll be foing back and forth
Well qualify but I get your point.
I'm also so exceptionally cynical that I would posit that narcissism has something to do with it.
I cannot make that charge at this athlete but wanting to be the centre of attention and wanting to win constantly in these circumstances, so much so to make the event a farce, is a bit suspect.
I can't believe people even attempt to defend this.
It's ridiculously unfair on biological women.
It's ridiculously unfair on biological women.
Just discovered something I never knew about my favourite sport. Apparently competitive climbing has amongst the least sex based advantage of any sport. The best women will beat all but a very small % of the best men. That’s slightly hard to process, as I’ve always assumed strength makes a huge difference. I guess power:weight is a big equaliser. There must be some other sex based advantage for female climbers I can’t think of?
Flexibility?
Long fingernails for digging into nooks and crannies?
Nope. Long fingernails would be a huge disadvantage!
Yeah, that’s important. Are women a lot more flexible than men? I assumed that, with training, they’d be similar enough.
Could it be big balls vs small boobs?
I've based this entirely on the gymnastics at the Olympics and the women doing more 'bendy' things while the men tend to do more 'look how long I can hold myself up' things.
You'd kind of think so looking from gymnastics, but then that whole sport is kind of weird when it comes to that. The actual events that men and women do are different due to what was at the time thought to be the best ways to show off male and female physiques at the time of when it was all created.
I guess it comes into power:weight ratio but is there difference in finger strength/grip strength compared to weight? Men definitely have overall grip strength advantage but probably not after including weight.
Strength vs weight must be the big thing here. I’m sure you’re right. Although it’s interesting that it doesn’t seem to be as big an equaliser in stuff like power lifting. Maybe that’s because finger strength involves smaller muscles in the forearm, which you can’t bulk up to the same extent as the big muscles used in lifting?
the funny thing is, many of those who find it perfectly acceptable when a biological man fights or race against women, are often the same people from those FFP threads who argue there should be a level playing field between a billion dollars worth football clubs from the biggest and richest cities - because of the integrity of the sport.
That's quite a take.
One theory is that's it's evolution and providing everyone with the equal ability to survive. This makes a lot of sense.