Guest post: “Authenticity” cannot be based on lies
Originally a comment by maddog at Before you find yourself throwing up your hands in a tizzy.
A separate division denies them their truth to compete as their authentic selves and is antithetical to USA Fencing’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) vision.
I call BS. Why is creating separate divisions* for transgender athletes not a proper solution?
One advantage to creating a separate division for trans women athletes is that there would be no need for artificial T suppression, as there would be no need to pretend that the trans woman was an actual woman.
Creating a division for trans women would not “deny them their truth.” “Their truth” consists solely of an internal, unexaminable feeling (or claim of a feeling) that they feel more comfortable with the social stereotypes of femininity than those of masculinity. Athletes do not compete by means of their feelings. They can continue to have “their truth” — their internal feelings — as much as they want. However, they can only compete using their physical, sexed, bodies. Anything beyond an interior feeling of affinity with femininity, or a wish to have been born the other sex, is not a “truth;” it is a lie. The claim, based solely on wishful thinking, to be the sex you’re not is a lie. It is absolutely inauthentic.
“Authenticity” cannot be based on lies. If they compete in the division for the sex that they are not, that’s the exact opposite of “competing as their authentic selves.” It’s competing as their lying, cheating, fraudulent selves.
What’s “antithetical” to a ” diversity and inclusion” policy, is a policy that deliberately excludes women athletes from their own, sex-based, division, in favor of the same-old, same-old men, who have already had, and continue to have, the lion’s share of athletic opportunities throughout history. USA Fencing’s statements are pathetic.
*Of course, there would probably have to be TWO transgender divisions, rather than only one. The trans women would typically be far bigger and stronger, and have more musculature (including fast-twitch muscles), than trans men. Trans men who had double mastectomies may have damaged their natural pectoral muscles. Some of the potential results of mastectomy are muscle atrophy and loss of upper body strength and function. Having only one “transgender” division would once again favor the men (trans women) over the women (trans men), just as sex differences favor men over women in general. Quelle surprise.
And on that basis, someone who feels ‘young at heart’ could satisfy a felt need by competing in events for toddlers in some nursery school. But such events never (at least to my knowledge) offer serious prize money. And that is the necessary concomitant of all this trans bullshit: increasing one’s chances of walking off with the prize, involving serious monetary gain in many cases..
Being able to point to USA Fencing’s (corrupt, unfair) “rules” lets TiMs claim that they’re not really cheating after all. Whether or not this lets them sleep better at night, I don’t really care. Most normal people would be mortified.
The rest of us are supposed to just play along, and not notice or complain about the grotesque injustice of it all (which, we are told, is far, far worse than the injustice itself), and cheer along as women’s rights and safety be trampled (again, still). The fact that these cheating men can stomach being awarded medals for “victories” under these conditions gives evidence of complete ethical atrophy, unabashed shamelessness, and an almost unlimited capacity to accept or ignore cognitive dissonance. These are not qualities to be proud of, or celebrated, any more than the medals and records they’ve stolen from women. Yet we are told that these men are the ones who are downtrodden and oppressed, and that we should limit our concern to their fellings, when they are called out or criticized, rather than show any feeling for the women they’ve cheated and gaslit. Riiiight.