Lesbian congresswoman Angie Craig, who is seeking her fourth term in Congress, previously said it’s “appalling” not to let trans women join female teams.
Trans women do not have sporting advantage over cis women, so segregating them from cis women is appealing to bigots and people ignorant of the data at the cost of one of the most vulnerable communities in society.
Gender segregated sports are not the answer long term. Women’s teams are already treated like second class citizens even in sports where there is little biological advantage between the bimodal sex expressions of male and female.
The best solution I have seen is treating sports like weight classes in boxing, based on whatever advantage criteria there is for that sport. This may still act as a gender segregator in practice, but it allows anyone to compete at the level they are able without questioning their gender identity or sex characteristics.
Your idea is interesting. Can you tell me how it would apply to something like high school basketball? If, when I was in high school, we had a series of teams determined by skill level, we would probably have 12 or 15 teams before any biological females could have participated. But there’s no way my high school had the resources to field 12 or 15 teams. Not enough court space, coaching staff, etc. So the practical result would be that nobody with XX genes would have an opportunity to play. Is there something in your line of thought that would help with this type of situation?
Oh, I’m not really interested in arguing the minutia of implementation here, just presenting an alternative approach. You can find out more in this video from Mia Mulder if you’d like!
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Trans women do not have sporting advantage over cis women, so segregating them from cis women is appealing to bigots and people ignorant of the data at the cost of one of the most vulnerable communities in society.
It is unacceptable.
Gender segregated sports are not the answer long term. Women’s teams are already treated like second class citizens even in sports where there is little biological advantage between the bimodal sex expressions of male and female.
The best solution I have seen is treating sports like weight classes in boxing, based on whatever advantage criteria there is for that sport. This may still act as a gender segregator in practice, but it allows anyone to compete at the level they are able without questioning their gender identity or sex characteristics.
Your idea is interesting. Can you tell me how it would apply to something like high school basketball? If, when I was in high school, we had a series of teams determined by skill level, we would probably have 12 or 15 teams before any biological females could have participated. But there’s no way my high school had the resources to field 12 or 15 teams. Not enough court space, coaching staff, etc. So the practical result would be that nobody with XX genes would have an opportunity to play. Is there something in your line of thought that would help with this type of situation?
Oh, I’m not really interested in arguing the minutia of implementation here, just presenting an alternative approach. You can find out more in this video from Mia Mulder if you’d like!