If you live in the United States, you would have to be living in a cave somewhere to escape the deluge of state legislation against transgender athletes'.
More than likely, the vast majority of these legislators have never met a transgender woman or trans man and have no understanding of our lives. Most certainly too, none of them have taken the time to research the effects of hormone replacement therapy on the body.
I probably am not the best example of HRT on a person's body because I transitioned later in life during my sixties. When I did transition and my muscle mass began to change, I learned quickly how much of my old male strength had disappeared. I can only imagine how the process would work for an trans athlete.
One way or another, perhaps the most ridiculous idea is transgender athletes are transitioning just to compete at an advantage. Missing the entire dilemma changing gender presents to the person going through it. The specter of increased mental illness all the way to heightened levels of suicide among the transgender community is never taken into consideration.
Gender is definitely not a game to the transgender athletes facing legislative discrimination by people unwilling to see the big picture for what it is. The big picture is the old binary gender rules aren't working anymore.
People need to wrap their narrow minds around the fact transgender athletes as well as the trans community as a whole need understanding, not discrimination.
These acts are a symptom of the continuing attacks on trans people, not just in the States but very much here in the UK as well. As one area of attack fails they open up another front, this is simply the flavour of the month. They are not interested in any inequality in competition if trans people are involved, they are certainly not interested in the welfare of the athletes trans or cis, it is just part of the constant war on our very existence.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paula...it's like chasing a nest of roaches. It's hard to get them all. Once one group of haters has been silenced there seems to always be others.
DeleteI have to admit that I have mixed feelings on this subject, because it is far from an either/or issue. Fifty years ago, when I was on my boy's high school track team, I was a better 440 yard runner than most boys, but I'm certain that I could have won the race every time, had I run against cis girls (I've checked the record books). Never mind the fact that there were many times when I would return home after track practice or a meet and secretly express my femininity through dress or activities, just as any girl might have. Of course, fifty years ago, I really had no choice but to keep my femininity a secret, and there wasn't even a girls track team at my school. I seriously doubt that, if I had been free to declare my gender identity and there would have been the opportunity to join a girls team, I would have chosen to compete against the girls.
ReplyDeletePuberty blockers and HRT would have made a difference in my athletic abilities. I don't know how much difference, but I'm guessing that I might have been among the fastest girls; not necessarily a record-setter, though. Then, again, maybe I wouldn't have had the same interest in competing against anyone - boys or girls - had I not been subjected to the ravages of male puberty. Much of the reason I had for participating in athletics was to hide my feminine identity, anyway.
So, I believe that trans girls should be able to compete against all girls, but not by mere declaration of gender identity alone. Whether it be through suppression or introduction of cross hormone therapies, there should be the requirement that a trans girl must have been under some regimen for a certain period of time before being allowed to compete against other girls.
I know there are people from both sides of the argument who disagree with me. While I can't see the fairness in allowing only a self-declaration of gender identity, I certainly reject the notion that "biological boys" should be disallowed from girls' athletics outright. The thing that gets me is that many of the same people who want to keep trans girls from being on girls' teams because of their hormonal "advantage" are the ones who want to criminalize any hormone therapies for trans girls. But, as Paula said, these people are just trying to erase trans existence altogether.