• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    They’re finding issue with mtf athletes playing against a league of individuals who didn’t go through puberty as a male.

    Good news! Puberty blockers exist and have been studied and used for literal decades for other reasons.

    That’s clearly an advantage, and to say otherwise is to ignore science altogether.

    The science says 2-3 years of hormone therapy levels the playing field and there’s no more advantage.

    In fact, women who haven’t transitioned often have an advantage because their testosterone levels can be higher than women who have transitioned.

    And that’s the crux of the issue: human variation.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The science says 2-3 years of hormone therapy levels the playing field and there’s no more advantage.

      Would you be opposed to a requirement that trans women wanting to compete in women’s leagues undergo 3 years of hormone therapy before being allowed to play?

      • straightjorkin@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I think most trans people would agree that’s reasonable, but at that point, you also have to talk about the bans on transition for minors, which would affect a minors ability to have that time frame met, and then their ability to play.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      Puberty blockers exist and have been studied and used for literal decades for other reasons.

      In the case of a trans woman having not went through puberty as a male then yeah true enough as far as I know.

      The science says 2-3 years of hormone therapy levels the playing field and there’s no more advantage.

      Are you sure about that? Because I looked it up and (after a few instances of “we have no idea but maybe not”) I found this. I’ll also admit that I only read the conclusion so I can’t make any guarantees for the quality of the paper.

      In fact, women who haven’t transitioned often have an advantage because their testosterone levels can be higher than women who have transitioned.

      Yeah that’s the thing: Testosterone is only one part of athletic ability. The paper lists some parameters that are either not affected or affected but not reduced to within the average range of cis women, but the obvious example would be height.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The paper does what all transphobes, and coincidentally most sexists, do when this subject comes up:

        Pretends that the average woman has a shot at high level athletics even at just the college level.

        If there’s scholarships on the line, the people getting them are going to have certain natural advantages on top of busting their asses for years at the sport.

        To quote an old Utah Jazz coach:

        You can’t coach height

        So when you compare the average 22 year old woman to an elite college athlete, you’re gonna a very large gap. Just like comparing an average 22 year old guy to whoever just won the Heisman trophy.

        The difference is larger in women. Because the average guy is more likely to have played sports growing up, and those gains in coordination when you g last for life.

        And that’s not even it.

        There are just soooooooooo many reasons why this who thing is overblown fearmongering designed to get idiots mad at a very small very vulnerable group.

        Of all the things to be mad about right now, your mad at tops, absolutely tops, double digit young non-paid athletes.

        Just fucking why?

        If it’s not transphobia, what other reason do you care to still be going thru this thread desperately trying to have the same argument?

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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          2 days ago

          If it’s not transphobia, what other reason do you care to still be going thru this thread desperately trying to have the same argument?

          Well I care about the truth for its own sake, but you can also call it pedantry. I recognize that this is culture war bullshit by conservatives meant to demonize trans people for what’s mostly a non-issue, but setting aside conservatives being conservatives it is a debate worth having. And I have nothing better to do, that helps too.