He even cheats at cheating
Oliver Brown at the Telegraph talks to a woman who had to race against “Lia” Thomas:
The day after she watched Thomas – who until starting hormone therapy was ranked a mere 554th as a man – vanquish every female rival in the country, she found that they would be direct competitors in the 200-yard freestyle final. They finished, ultimately, in a dead heat for fifth.
Except, only Thomas was allowed to hold the fifth-place trophy, with Gaines told by an official that it was “for photo purposes”. She would need, she was told, to make do with the award for sixth.
They both won the fifth place but she was ordered to take sixth. Insult to injury.
Thomas became emblematic of many sports’ efforts, in defiance of compelling scientific literature, to incorporate trans athletes into the female category. Here was a swimmer who carried all the cardiovascular advantages of male puberty, but who could, with a short course of testosterone suppression, compete against women at the highest levels in America.
Cardiovascular advantages along with all the other advantages. Lists of them are easy to find. Bones, muscles, body structure.
Gaines was an extreme rarity in that she was prepared to put a name to her concerns.
“Women are intimidated by their universities,” she says. “They’re told that they will never get into graduate school, that they will never get a job. The women are emotionally blackmailed, told that if trans athletes emotionally harm themselves after someone speaking out, then they are solely responsible. It’s a lot to put on 18- to 22-year-olds.”
It’s especially a lot to put on 18- to 22-year-olds when it’s so grossly and obviously unfair.
They weren’t even warned about having Thomas getting naked in their locker room.
“We were not forewarned about Thomas sharing our space. That’s absolute insanity to me. All of a sudden, the place goes silent and there’s a 6ft 4in biological male towering over everyone else, starting to undress. You feel this sense of total discomfort. It was the most bizarre experience. I walked out of there thinking, ‘Am I missing something? Why are people in authority not talking about how this is wrong?’”
We’re not the ones who are missing something.
People in authority are benefitting from this, that’s why they are not talking about how this is wrong. Women are being made second-class citizens in the institutions that they had to fight for in courts, legislatures, student senates, and local government.
“Okay, you’ve got it. But, what if we made it so you have to share it with men? What if men still get to see you naked, and strip in front of you? Don’t like it? Tough. Do something else.”
Men always are put first, power doesn’t give in easily. The frustrating thing is that so few people see this is being done with their eagerness to accept that trans women are women, and not willing to accept that it’s just men reclaiming their place as the real athletes.
Funny, when men resist this sort of blatant injustice, they’re praised for “standing up for what they believe in.” When women do it, they’re whiny little bitches, transphobic, Karens, etc. So is praising Thomas’s grit and determination a tacit admission that he’s male?
It seems so to me, UnBruce.