Under mounting pressure
Two steps forward one step back.
British sports governing bodies are under mounting pressure to reform their policies after world swimming banned transgender athletes who reached male puberty from elite women’s events.
Although the policy could have been passed just by Fina’s executive bureau, endorsement was sought from national governing bodies at an extraordinary general congress in Budapest ahead of the World Swimming Championships.
More than 70 per cent of governing bodies agreed, with 15.3 per cent against, and 13.1 per cent who abstained.
Those are the forward. Now the back.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced a new policy on Thursday, opting to allow transgender women to compete if they have gone through puberty provided their testosterone has been suppressed to below 2.5nmol per litre for at least two years. That would potentially mean Welsh cyclist Emily Bridges could still compete in women’s events at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
That’s a crap new policy. Puberty gives male people a whole slew of permanent advantages, that don’t go away with later puberty suppression. This has been pointed out some 90 billion times over the past couple of years so surely it should have sunk in by now.
Cycling’s decision to reduce its limit still faced a backlash from campaigners, who believe that crucial physical advantages remain after puberty even if testosterone has been suppressed.
They don’t “believe” it, they know it. They recognize it. It’s a fact.
British swimmer Sharron Davies, who was denied Olympic gold in 1980 by state-sponsored doping in East Germany, called on other sports to follow swimming’s lead.
“All the sports should be doing this,” she said. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of my sport for doing the science, asking the athletes/coaches, and standing up for fair sport. Biological females deserve the same opportunities of success in sport as their male counterparts.”
All the sports should be doing this. Now.
This is the speech given by Australian Olympic swimmer, Cate Campbell
I think she mostly gets it and lays out a good case for female sport, but would have liked to hear a more nuanced explanation of welcoming trans into lower levels of the sport. They may prevent another 9 year old girl, just starting out, from reaching the pinnacle.
@ Rev David Brindley:
That’s an excellent speech — thanks for posting it.
They may also prevent another 9 year old girl, just starting out, from joining in the first place. Swimming isn’t just about competition; it’s also about getting changed in the locker rooms. Girls of all ages — and perhaps particularly girls of 9 — are incredibly self-conscious and embarrassed about nudity. It’s hard enough to become comfortable around other girls. Naked boys watching you undress is for some a nightmare scenario.
Providing separate changing rooms or areas for trans-identified boys doesn’t work. The TRAs act like it’s segregation in the Deep South all over again, and they win with that once it’s conceded that they’re “girls.”
I couldn’t change in the locker rooms, even without boys. I somehow managed to shower and put my clothes on without ever getting naked. I don’t quite remember how, but I imagine it involved my gym clothes getting quite wet.
ikn, I had the same problem. In my first year of HS I used to scoot out of the locker room without showering. I was 14 and very self conscious. A group of the other boys, mostly “jocks,” caught on to what I was doing and one day after I got dressed they forced me in fully clothed. I sat through history class the next period soaking wet. They thought this was pretty funny. I then skipped out of PE until I came up with a better solution, which was to switch PE class to last period and go home in gym clothes. Needless to say I failed that one semester, which caused more humiliation — “Who fails PE?!”
I really hated high school, it felt like prison to me. I tried every way I could think of to avoid becoming institutionalized. College was refreshing by comparison, and I took summer courses at the local community college to make up credits that I missed due to being chronically truant. Once I found out I had that option I ran with it. :)