Step back
Where Megan Rapinoe talked all this nonsense is in an interview with Sean Gregory in TIME that starts with a discussion of Title IX.
What does Title IX mean to you?
Oh, goodness. I mean, Title IX gave me the opportunity to play soccer in college and get a scholarship. I don’t think I even knew about it until probably I got to college, or a little bit after. It wasn’t in my consciousness. That’s kind of the amazing thing about my generation is, we didn’t have to think about it. It was just there for us.
Ok stop right there. Title IX gave her those opportunities as a woman, which she wouldn’t have had without it. Athletic scholarships used to be for men, with women sweeping up a few leftover crumbs if they were lucky. That’s the wrong that Title IX rectified. Now do you see why it’s regressive (to put it mildly) to celebrate men taking over women’s sports by calling themselves trans?
Take the elite aspect out of it, how many women that have just been able to go to college and play a sport? To go to college and to get a scholarship and to not be saddled with student debt? What’s the impact of that in the workplace and thought leadership in business and, every aspect of life? Multiple generations of women, for the first time, we’re able to have these opportunities and break out of the extremely restrictive roles that we had been assigned to for so long. So the impact is immeasurable. I think not only in this country, but around the world. It was a transformational piece of legislation.
Indeed. So that’s why we don’t want men exploiting it for their own purposes.
You mentioned the issue of transgender inclusion in sports, which is such a hot subject right now, as many states have passed bills that ban or limit transgender sports participation. Where do you stand on this issue?
I’m 100% supportive of trans inclusion. People do not know very much about it. We’re missing almost everything. Frankly, I think what a lot of people know is versions of the right’s talking points because they’re very loud. They’re very consistent, and they’re relentless.
But the issue isn’t “trans inclusion.” The issue is men being “included” in women’s sports.
I would also encourage everyone out there who is afraid someone’s going to have an unfair advantage over their kid to really take a step back and think what are we actually talking about here. We’re talking about people’s lives. I’m sorry, your kid’s high school volleyball team just isn’t that important. It’s not more important than any one kid’s life.
Was Megan Rapinoe’s high school soccer team that important? Did it help her get that scholarship she mentioned? Does she wish she had been displaced by a boy who said he was a girl?
Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title. I’m sorry, it’s just not happening. So we need to start from inclusion, period. And as things arise, I have confidence that we can figure it out. But we can’t start at the opposite. That is cruel. And frankly, it’s just disgusting.
That isn’t the issue. The issue is any. Why should any girl lose a scholarship to a boy because he calls himself a girl? Why should she have, for instance?
So, we need to really kind of take a step back and get a grip on what we’re really talking about here because people’s lives are at risk. Kids’ lives are at risk with the rates of suicide, the rates of depression and negative mental health and drug abuse. We’re putting everything through God forbid a trans person be successful in sports. Get a grip on reality and take a step back.
And just let some boys take girls’ opportunities and scholarships and medals and records, as long as it’s not all of them? Is that the plan?
How many steps back should women take?
It’s so important to let transkids (TM) into sports, because otherwise they’ll kill themselves. Also, sports aren’t important and don’t matter, so if you’re worried that cis bitches are going to be excluded from sports, take a chill pill.
Shorter Megan Rapinoe: I haven’t given it any thought, but gosh I enjoyed my soccer scholarship! Also, how about those nasty trans-kid-murdering TERFs, amirite? I’m not like them, I’m full of virtue.
Eliza Mondegreen has a great post (short and to the point) on this topic:
OK, Megan Rapinoe, we all know sports is not the most important thing in life… but can’t we still talk about it?
A few bits that I liked for various reasons:
And the last couple of paragraphs:
Rapinoe can take a chill pill and step back. She’s probably near the end of her career. Too bad about the girls and women coming up behind her.
She knows that men are stronger and faster than women. The US team trains against boys and gets beaten by them regularly. Goes to show how afraid people are of being labelled transphobic.
And the reason for this is trans activism. Huge chunks of the media are self-censoring or intimidated out of writing clearly and truthfully about this for fear of being accused of “transphobia.” Reporting neutrally on reality is “transphobic,” so is saying anything less than completely supportive, approving, and compliant with genderism. If TAs have their way we will continue to know very much about it. Feature. Not bug.
If the right were half as “loud, consistent, and relentless” as trans activists, they would have won already. As much as I oppose almost all of what the American “right” stands for these days, some of the points the right are making are probably correct. Besides, they might not be the “right’s” talking points at all, just simple observations of reality. There are only two sexes. Humans can’t change sex. Those aren’t Republican talking points, it’s just the way things are. We should be able to agree with them that the sky is blue and gravity exists without being lumped in with them on every single policy position they hold.
The right’s use of language may be more accurate and transparent than trans activists’, and that’s on trans activism. Novel redefinitions and euphemisms are the tools of charlatans and obscurantists. If your agenda’s success depends on avoiding and obscuring the truth of its import and ramifications, then there are problems with your agenda, whether it is “right” or “left.” If the prevention of open, honest debate gets in the way of your plans, then you have set yourself up as an opponent of open, honest debate. That’s great if you want to live in an autocracy, in which case trans activists have a lot more in common with today’s American right than they’re likely ever to admit. Encouraging disregard for democratic norms is, in the long run, a losing strategy, even if it works for your immediate, short-term goals. When your opponents use those very same tactics of dishonesty, secrecy and intimidation against you, you’ll have no right to complain.
The above discussion, in regards to acknowledging the truth, whoever speaks it, and the “left’s” deployment of autocratic methods, gives me a much greater appreciation of this passage from A Man for All Seasons:
A step back is exactly what feminists are asking for. Yes, children’s lives are at risk, moreso than Rapinoe knows. Needless mutilation, sexual disfunction, sterility, lifelong medical dependency, the failure of “transition” to resolve comorbidities (with its own resulting risk of self-harm), puberty blockers’ prevention of full, healthy maturity, and so on. I’ll put all of those known, ongoing outcomes against the shaky, oft-mentioned-but-seldom-proved, astronomically high trans suicide figures that are broadcast in the emotional blackmail part of these performances.
Rapinoe, from the Time article:
My niece played on her high school volleyball team and that was important to her. She wanted to win and she loved to compete. How Rapinoe can casually dismiss that and say is isn’t important is something I know she really doesn’t believe given her own background. Girls just as much as boys like to compete and win and Rapinoe certainly feels the same way. If some male decided he was a woman and deserved a spot on the women’s soccer team, and then played against Rapinoe and overpowered her and her side, I’m betting it would be quite important to her then. So I agree with others that Rapinoe is saying it’s not important because she doesn’t want to put her endorsements at risk.
ZING!
Rapinoe has learned her lesson well, then. She’s seen what happens to others who doubt the Fath. It’s like a real life instance of the success of the old Chinese saying “killing chickens to scare the monkeys.” Good Monkey! (For now.)
Here’s a better and more detailed examination of the questions of truth and bullying autocratic tendencies I noted above:
https://elizamondegreen.substack.com/p/trans-activism-is-post-truth-politics?r=qv57z&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Rapinoe should read Sally Jenkins on the importance of Title IX to women’s progress in the US. No mention of trans in the article, but it still underscores what’s been gained, and what could be lost.
Thanks What a Maroon for the Jenkins article, which reminded me of this report from a year ago in my home town about a retiring coach of girls’ track which also shows how sport can be important for girls. Title IX also boosted high school sports for girls and not only benefitted those girls who went on to college thanks to an athletic scholarship, but also those girls who didn’t.
New Richmond icon Judy Weiss calls it a career: Coached Tiger girls’ track since 1974
Meanwhile I just learned that Arlington’s (VA) own Torri Huske won the women’s 100 m butterfly at the world championships the other day with a US record time of 55.64 seconds, breaking her own record and tying her for fifth best time ever. The record is held by Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, at 55.48.
The men’s record is 49.45 seconds.