myrmepropagandistAug 18, 2023

This has mostly been reported as "trans women banned from women's chess" but it's much more sinister. (as if it weren't already.)

ALL trans people are targeted by this ruling. Trans men will be stripped of all chess titles won, which can only be returned to them by “changing the gender back to a woman” (from the ICF’s ruling). ALL transgender chess players will be marked as trans in their files.

If you play or know anyone who does take a stand on this. It's ugly.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/international-chess-org-trans-women?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

International Chess Org: Trans Women Have "No Right To Participate" In Women's Chess

International Chess Federation, FIDE, has released new guidelines targeting transgender players. The guidelines would strip trans men's titles, and potentially bar trans women from playing.

Erin In The Morning
Show threadMichael GemarAug 18, 2023
@futurebird It’s really shocking to me that the game that is supposed to be purely mental has such ridiculous physical prejudices in its governing bodies.
Show threadmyrmepropagandistAug 18, 2023

I think there are some obvious reasons why thats true.

My brother was pretty good at chess and won some trophies on the school team so I tried to join. (he told me when he joined he didn't even know how to play.)

This ended up being one of the most explicit experiences with sexism in my life! The first time I showed up they pretended I was in the wrong place. "This isn't the chess club it's the Anime club."

I told the advisor who now resented me for making him come to the meetings. 1/

Show threadmyrmepropagandistAug 18, 2023

So, now they couldn't get me to leave by lying ... no one would play against me since "you don't have a rating its a wast of time"

I managed to get a few games out of the advisor (who clearly wanted to be grading papers) unlike my brother I came to the club already knowing the game.

On the third meeting they relented and they had what I learned later was their best player go against me. Of course I lost very quickly and badly!

"You see there's no point in your being here."

2/

Show threadmyrmepropagandistAug 18, 2023

Looking back I can recognize that I was "ruining" their club in a way they couldn't articulate. Because not everyone there was already skilled and with time... I probably would have beat one of the weaker players-- and this just couldn't be allowed to happen.

That's how I read it.

I remember calling my brother at college and asking "did the chess club haze you or anything?" and he was so confused.

I tried out for the fall play and when I got cast I forgot all about those guys. 3/

Show threadmyrmepropagandistAug 18, 2023

Well, mostly forgot about them. They were the "hardcore STEM crew" so I kept popping up wherever they did.

I remember riding with one of their dads down to the state science fair finals. Seeing them at math competitions.

I think if they didn't have some kind of masculinity fear complex we could have been really great friends.

OH WELL sucks for them.

4/4

Show threadQueen of Anxiety
@futurebird Yep toxic masculinity says they are already inferior for being nerdy. But it also says women are even more inferior, as evidenced by them often getting told things like “you throw like a girl.” They find something they’re good at, and it gives them a sense of a “but at least I’m good at X and have a place as a man.” But if a woman can beat them? Their carefully-crafted place in the masculine order falls apart. 1/
Aug 18, 2023 at 2:22amWeb
Show threadQueen of AnxietyAug 18, 2023
@futurebird This is why STEM still has problems with gender balanced and why women gamers get so abused during games and why D&D groups are often so toxic for women. The exact same levers at play. So add in the idea of a trans person, and their world shatters. A “man” deciding they’re happier as a woman? How dare they! All their externalized self-loathing comes up and they, being deep believers in the patriarchy, lash out at those they perceive as a threat to it. 2/
Show threadQueen of AnxietyAug 18, 2023

@futurebird Even though it’s the same system that oppressed them. Instead of making them empathetic, it turned them into soldiers who will fight for the system that made them miserable as children in an attempt to cling to the only sense of self-worth they have.

It’s kind of sad, but also infuriating, given how transparent it is. Like, men will do anything to avoid going to therapy, and by “anything” I mean perpetrating the same abuse they received onto others…3/

Show threadQueen of AnxietyAug 18, 2023

@futurebird … in hopes of scoring points in the toxic masculinity game.

And no, just because you understand why someone is a bully doesn’t make them not a bully. This is awful behavior. Much comfort to those targeted by these bullies!!

Show threadDana das Grau 🧙🏻🧝‍♂️Aug 18, 2023
@queenofnewyork @futurebird kinda the same mentality as the poor white trash racists. They can have all the cards stacked against them, but as long as they have someone else to denigrate and look down on it makes them feel better about their place in the world.
Show threadQueen of AnxietyAug 18, 2023
@futurebird @DanadasGrau Yep, take all the shit that’s been forced on you and turn it against someone else. Not the people dishing it out, but the people who cannot fight back. :/
Show threadDana das Grau 🧙🏻🧝‍♂️Aug 18, 2023
@queenofnewyork @futurebird yeah, one thing that really sucks about humans
Show threadfear is not a WeltanschauungAug 18, 2023
1000% hard agree, the alpha-nerd dynamic is as toxic as it is transparent
@queenofnewyork @futurebird