Lia Thomas’ Olympic hopes are dashed
The international body has ruled:
Swimming’s world governing body, FINA, announced a ban Sunday on biological men competing in women’s events, unless they had “transitioned” before the age of 12.
In other words, transgender athletes who have experienced the enduring competitive advantages of a male puberty flooded with testosterone, such as greater muscle mass, lung capacity and height, will no longer have an unfair advantage in women’s competitions.
Leaving aside for the moment the question of male-to-female pre-pubescent transitioners and what rules should govern them, it’s a relief that FINA has done what the US agencies in charge have refused to do: re-apply common sense. The FINA ruling only applies to international competitions, however:
It does not necessarily apply to national or regional competitions or lower-level meets. National federations could apply their own criteria for their competitions.
The ruling also only impacts on transgender athletes in women’s competitions. Female-to-male transgender athletes (transgender men) will continue to be eligible to compete in men’s races without any restriction.
That last sentence is pretty darn funny, because I’m not aware of any female-to-male transitioners who would be competitive in men’s sports a high level. This is a one-way street on which only males-to-females have an advantage.
It remains to be seen whether US sports organizations will follow in the footsteps of FINA.
Well, life is full of disappointments – so flowers are called for in cases like this. I think I’ll send a nice little sympathy card with perhaps a dozen or so of nice, fresh Anthuriums.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4133/5053325636_e7d6b3b794_b.jpg
Given the “courage” , and wokeness of the NCAA and NFHS, I really doubt it will extend much further. I can’t wait for the fall youth soccer season where I ref to see what transpires. Though I live in a fairly conservative area.
No female-to-male transitioner would ever be competitive at an elite level. My high school track times, for events from 100 to 800 meters, were good for my time period- early 70’s. They were not elite times. But I would hold the world record for the women’s 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters with those times.
My wager would be that some awful lawfare artist will volunteer to represent him and quite possibly get an odious judge to rule in his favor. The lawyer left lives to make the world worse.
Lia Thomas may yet have a consolation prize– a great future as Brandon’s cycling coach. The First Bicycle of the United States (FBOTUS) explains why it “Busted Joe Biden’s Elderly Ass on Father’s Day Weekend”:
“This is my truth: I hate being Joe Biden’s bicycle. I am routinely forced to provide Sleepy Joe with conveyance, exercise, and entertainment during his many vacations. In return I am subjected to hours upon hours of deranged, incomprehensible anecdotes about the Suez Crisis or the Cuyahoga River fires or the trucker strike of 1973-4. His brain is as warped and rusted as my crankset.”
https://freebeacon.com/satire/guest-column-joe-biden-bike-fall/
I’m sure Thomas and Biden can ride off happily into the sunset together.
I hope that this decision is the first step in the return to sanity. Lia Thomas is not a woman, not female, and has no business competing in women’s sports.
Waiting for the response from Leftists, they never give up
Good on FINA for standing up to this. Just have a freak category for people who don’t want to compete in their gender and be done with it. Or create a category called “anything goes” and throw in the dopers as well.
T”I’m not aware of any female-to-male transitioners who would be competitive in men’s sports a high level.” neo
Nor I but then, that perception is based upon some connection to reality. Many do not share that connection. Such as the series of looks on the faces of the others at the table when tennis great John McEnroe was asked his opinion of Venus Williams. McEnroe agreed that she’s the greatest female tennis pro ever. When asked again how she measured up to the men, McEnroe stated she’d come in at about 700 hundreth… those faces were crushed and quietly outraged. McEnroe was asked if he’d apologize and he said no, he had nothing to apologize for…
As for William Thomas, he’s a loathsome creature entirely lacking in basic decency. What he’s done to women is unconscionable. He’s destroyed thousands of young girl’s and women’s dreams.
unless they had “transitioned” before the age of 12.
Admiral Ackbar couldn’t be reached for comment.
Serena Williams in her own words: “Andy Murray would beat me 6:0 6:0 in 5 to 6 minutes”
https://youtu.be/2hzHBsvj6C0
“unless they had “transitioned” before the age of 12”
Why not 11yr 11 month?
Why not 12yr 1 month?
Seems … arbitrary
See, there’s this thing called “puberty”.
You know, hormones, testosterone, that sort of stuff.
Kicks in around 12-13, but these things can vary.
So you’re right.
FINA shoulda just said, around the time of your bar (or bat) mitzvah.
“…I really doubt it will extend much further…”
Hold on, though:
“Transgender athletes could be banned from track and field next, as World Athletics president Sebastian Coe backs FINA’s ruling as being ‘in the best interests of sport’ because ‘biology trumps gender’”—
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10934773/World-Athletics-president-Sebastian-Coe-backs-FINAs-ruling-transgender-athletes-banned.html
Also…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-21/athletics-sebastian-coe-fifa-watching-fina-transgender-rules/101169362
“That last sentence is pretty darn funny, because I’m not aware of any female-to-male transitioners who would be competitive in men’s sports a high level. This is a one-way street on which only males-to-females have an advantage.”
And, that right there is the pink elephant in the room. It was NEVER about inclusion or sexual identity.
I’m happy with, in basically EVERY sport, Open, then increasing levels of filtering / restrictions (e.g., age, weight, experience, handicap / rating (golf / chess) are all commonly accepted ways of creating classes / divisions). Maing a non-open class based not unaltered male at puberty (though that does sound way more complicated than ‘dimple’ XX division). An XX division might also address other controversial cases like the (South African (?)) runner who competed with women but has elevated T due to non-typical genotype.
Of course, the mental duress of reaffirming that people like Thomas aren’t, in fact, XX is a bridge too far in these (Heinleinian) crazy years.
Huh, going to back to chess, why aren’t the very best chess players distributed more equally among genotypes? It’s almost like there are real differences between the genotypes, either in aptitude OR interest (a distinction without a difference? Maybe).
““unless they had “transitioned” before the age of 12”
Why not 11yr 11 month?
Why not 12yr 1 month?
Seems … arbitrary”
it isn’t. In sane countries it’s illegal to provide puberty blockers before the age of 12.
Therefore no transition can start before the age of 12, therefore it’s impossible to have any mtf transgender people compete.
E.g. in the Netherlands (which countries’ regulations I’m intimately familiar with), the rules say the following:
1) no puberty blockers to be prescribed before the age of 12
2) no hormone replacement therapy to be started before the age of 16
3) no gender reassignment surgery to be scheduled before a) the age of 18 AND b) having lived full time as the target gender for at least 2 years under supervision of a psychologist or psychiatrist.
4) None of these steps to be undertaken without the approval of a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist (so you need a mental health professional to refer you to an endocrinologist and later a surgeon, and without that referral those doctors can’t legally treat you)
5) said psychologist or psychiatrist needs to approve any request to have the person’s legal name and gender changed (so Jimmy can’t just call himself Jane and now join the women’s competition and have his passport changed, a psychologist MUST sign off on this and they stand to lose their medical license if they do so too often erroneously).
This has several consequences:
1) the number of ‘fad transgender people’ is very low, as the entry requirements to the transgender community in the country are very high
2) it’s exclusively adults who receive the full treatment, and very few minors get approved even for medication because of the standards to which doctors are held
3) for adults finding out they are transgender (or after decades of denying it to themselves finally can’t do so any longer) the hurdles are extreme and many have severe mental health problems of other nature (anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, etc.) as a result. Problems that often go untreated because of
4) the waiting lists are very long to get any mental health treatment/counseling at all. More often than not you can expect to wait at least half a year before your first appointment with a specialised mental health professional even after referral by a general practice mental health professional, an appointment with which tier can take several months to arrange as well. Which leads to
5) the suicide rate among mental health patients awaiting treatment is high, which is no doubt something the government doesn’t mind at all as it keeps cost down (patient dead, budget not exceeded…).
“This is a one-way street on which only males-to-females have an advantage.”
In all athletics involving strength, top XY athletes are far better than top XX athletes.
Lia Thomas might stop being a “man”, but rejecting that doesn’t make q’her a real woman. With our reality being that some individuals can reject the normal gender of their biological sex, we need words for such people.
My kids are good with mtf and ftm, but they don’t fit in grammatically. I call Lia a q’woman (from quasi-woman), and q’her other pronoun of q’she, since q’she’s a q’woman.
In computerese, the “!” exclamation point is called bang. It is used to signify the click in African clicking languages – so I wouldn’t call !her a !woman. Perhaps n’she would prefer to be a n’woman (not quite a woman).
A woman is an XX female who calls herself a woman, a man is an XY male who calls himself a man. Other people, trans people, are not real men nor real women.
But they’re really something.
I’m really glad none will be swimming in international competitions against real women.
” I call Lia a q’woman (from quasi-woman)”
Or you could use the generally accepted term t-woman, short for transwoman.
That’s the term most actual transgender (mtf) people use, as it’s both descriptive and non-offensive.
I don’t subscribe to the million pronouns idiocy that you seem to want to be a part of.
If Lia (or any transwomen) is far enough in her transition that she can pass as a woman in general company, I’ve no problem addressing her as such. If he can’t, she shouldn’t be offended if people address him as a man.
And though there may be some mental anguish if you’re recognised as your biological sex despite all the efforts you put in to look like the opposite, I wouldn’t think most actual (rather than activist/fake) transgender people would mind all that much (though they sure would appreciate the courtesy of you using their trans identity rather than the biological one if you notice they are on that path).
Does Lia Thomas have a beard? (Inquiring minds…)
Spelling Bee Contestant Asks The Definition of “Woman”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mnQTzhVgl8
That’s Babylon Bee, of course.
Here’s some background for that BB video.
https://notthebee.com/article/a-school-renamed-its-womens-center-to-be-a-womxns-center-but-its-unsure-if-the-term-is-truly-inclusive-because-blind-people-will-still-hear-it-pronounced-women
“the generally accepted term t-woman” – I don’t think that t-she and t-her are used at all.
The language needs to change, and is going to change, but t-she wants to swim and win against t-her real women competitors is soon going to be a a choice Lia stops having in international competitions. But I doubt t-she wants to be written up as anything other than a “she” – but t-she, or q’she, is NOT, in biological fact, a real woman, a real “she”.
Democrats lie – and now are trying to make the language lie.