Nikki Haley said the most important issue facing teenage girls is unfair competition from transgirl athletes.

An estimated ONE MILLION high school girls have been raped based on a 2021 (NBC) report. In 2021, 2590 children under 18 were murdered by guns (Pew). Before age 18, 3.5 Million girls have been stalked. One in 10 girls is a victim of dating violence.(Childrens Hosp of Phila).

Meanwhile, (Apr 21, 2023) Newsweek reports 15 high school transathletes competed in high school sports, of those 15, only THREE are girls.

MAGA will exaggerate and lie about victimization to justify hate and bigotry. Nazis did this, too. It's not harmless.

@pattykimura

I have absolutely nothing against trans-men (or women) nor against members of the LGBTQIA+ community in general. However, it seems to be an acknowledged medical fact the level of of testosterone in a baby's bloodstream, even as early as in the womb has a significant effect on the development of bone and muscle mass so even if raised testosterone levels experienced by males in puberty is later prevented by the administration of medication. I fear that girls may therefore be significantly disadvantaged by having to compete against boys who have been "converted" to girls even if the "conversion" is made before puberty.

On the rape question:
unfortunately, much of the output from Hollywood and the US TV studios glorifies rape, violence and male privilege (what might be described as the right to rape). Young people take many of their cues from what they see on TV and in films so it isn't altogether surprising that rapes and other forms of sexual violence are commonplace in the US.

@Paulos_the_fog @pattykimura So strong boys with more muscle shouldn't be allowed to compete against ones with less muscle because that's unfair?

@ariaflame @Paulos_the_fog @pattykimura

To be fair, that's why some sports have weight categories. Boxing comes to mind, but there certainly are others too.

@trinsec @Paulos_the_fog @pattykimura Then matching people by whatever is important for that sport is more relevant than biological sex or gender (after all, a lot of sports segregation only happened because the women were winning too often I hear)

@ariaflame @Paulos_the_fog @pattykimura

Ooh, I'd love to know some more about your last sentence. Got some links? I'm genuinely curious. :)

I also kinda know of only one sport where men and women mixed is considered normal, that's Korfball.

@trinsec @Paulos_the_fog @pattykimura Not off the top of my head sorry. Just comes up a lot when this is discussed, but there are plenty of sports where raw muscle is not a particular advantage.

@ariaflame @trinsec @pattykimura

Good heavens!

What is the matter with everyone on here today!

Clearly, obviously, in sports where the bone strength or muscle mass advantage that may be occassioned by being born a male and thus being exposed to high testosterone levels, is not an issue, then there is no reason to deny transexuals and in particular M2F athletes, the right to compete on even terms with women in that sport - however, in that event perhaps we should be asking our athletics administrations why men and women cannot always compete together in such sports. It's a rational question.

To me it's self evident that the caveat about allowing transexuals to compete on equal terms with female athletes only applies if the having been a male previously is unfair to the lifetime female competitors!

@Paulos_the_fog @ariaflame @trinsec @pattykimura The problem is that your grasp of human developmental biology is just…really fucking incorrect. All you’re doing is parroting is transphobic propaganda, not actual scientific reality.

@turboquokka

Whether his take is wrong or right (and I think its wrong for a few reasons), it clearly isnt coming from a place of transphobia, at least not so far as anything he expressed would suggest. That said I do think he is wrong due to a more general bit of logic...

Ok so lets assume he is right about the fact that someone born a male and transitioned later will tend to have an advantage... Ok so if thats true what your telling me is if someone has a baby girl, and they inject that baby with testosterone at an early age, they will grow up to be a super athelete, and since as an adult they will have normal testosterone, but the effects linger from being a baby, they would be entierly legal to compete in the woman's division, and as I stated some sort of super athlete due to their childhood doping.

So what you've proven is the opposite of what you intended. You proved that a system which divides male-female based on their hormone levels in adulthood OR their birth sex, either system is invalid and easily gamed from either end... therefore you have proven the very need for a system that no longer divides athletes based on birth sex, and therefore must adapt fairly to transpeople somehow.

@Paulos_the_fog @ariaflame @trinsec @pattykimura

@freemo @turboquokka @ariaflame @trinsec @pattykimura

My attitude towards transsexuals and indeed toward sexuality in general is extremely simple:
what anyone chooses to do with their body and their sexuality is none of my fucking business unless it adversely affects other people who might need my support or protection. The state, so far as I am concerned, should keep its nose completely out of such matters!

However, I would suggest transsexuals in the West in general and more specifically in the United States of America, are immensely privileged. Consider the fact that in many countries they would be ostracised for their desire to change their gender and in some countries, imprisoned or even put to death!

That a transsexual can obtain gender reassignment surgery, in many cases at little or no cost (in Europe at least) is an enormous privilege, as is the fact that they will be accepted in most circles as being of the gender chosen; in some countries today, they may be able to change their gender on official documents such as passports or ID Cards.

Given those huge privileges that Western countries give to those wishing to reassign their gender, I don’t think it is asking too much, of transsexuals to respond with good grace where there are possibly legitimate objections to taking part, in their adopted gender, in certain activities.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency, most especially in the USA, to attach massively more importance to the individual’s rights than to the individual’s responsibility to act with consideration towards other people.

There you go that's what I think!

You can have your pile-on if you want it; it will give me great pleasure to block anyone who does!

@Paulos_the_fog

While you are right that there are some countries that are far more abusive to transpeople than america, there are also far kinder and more accepting. Thailand as an example.

Other countries being shittier should never be an excuse for our shortcomings. That said i think it is ok to try to work out social complexities like sports fairness if done in good faith. But keep in mid regardless of other coubtries trans people here expiernce extreme abuse and riddicule from other people and that shoukd always be on the forefront of your mind when engaging them. The legal right to have sex reassignment surgery doesnt make the fact that people are constantly abusing thrm go away.

@turboquokka @ariaflame @trinsec @pattykimura

@freemo @turboquokka @ariaflame @trinsec @pattykimura

I'm not American nor have I ever visited the USA so I'm hardly an expert on conditions there however, given that the US dominates the world news in the English language, it does seem like the US is currently the absolute worst place in the entire civilized world to be trans!