Helen Lewis makes an important point in her piece in the Atlantic on male trans athletes in women’s sport.

The story of transgender women competing in female sports is frequently told as one of inclusion—creating opportunities for people to compete as their authentic selves. But for athletes such as Liilii, these rules were a matter of exclusion. Every spot taken by someone with a male athletic advantage is an opportunity closed to a female rival.

It’s obvious but it doesn’t get put that way often enough. Bro, your “inclusion” is our exclusion so shut up.

…the performance gap between men and women is estimated to vary from 10 to 50 percent, depending on the sport. Yet progressives have downplayed that sex difference—which is obvious to many casual observers—because it challenges the idea that transgender women should be treated as women in all circumstances.

And transgender women, aka men, have somehow become the most fragile, the most needy, the most neglected, the most urgent, the most tragic set of people on the planet, and the consequence of that is that women have become the most cruel, heartless, hardened, domineering, unjust set of people on the planet.

On Joe Biden’s first day in office as president, he issued an executive order opposing discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Its language did not explicitly address college athletics but declared that all “children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”

Because it’s fine for girls to be unable to learn without worrying about encountering a boy in the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.

Throughout the Biden administration, activist groups waved away tough questions, claiming that there was no evidence of “trans athletes” having advantages. But such generic phrasing is deceptive. No one is arguing that trans men have an advantage over biological males; when trans men compete in the male category, they tend to struggle. The actual question is whether natal males have an advantage over natal females. 

This is why I keep insistently pointing out that dishonest generic “trans athletes” that news outlets like the BBC are so very fond of. It’s blatant shameless manipulation and it needs to stop.