Transgender women athletes banned from women’s Olympic events by new IOC policy

https://lemmy.zip/post/61444281

Transgender women athletes banned from women’s Olympic events by new IOC policy - Lemmy.zip

Lemmy

Now comes the “spite filings” on athletes just before competition.

IOC 2022 “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination”.

IOC 2026 “Pander to Sexists, Racists, and Morons”

It’s so sad to see hatred winning.

I mean… Good?

We separate genders in most sports for a reason. If I were a woman who trained my whole life as a woman, and got to the Olympic level, and I suddenly had to face an opponent that went through puberty as a man, trained as a man, and then a few years ago decided they were a woman, and began taking hormone blockers, I would be fucking pissed. There are significant biological and hormonal differences between men and women, which is why testosterone levels are monitored and regulated among female athletes.

Overall, I think articles like this are just intentional trolling with rage bait about stuff that doesn’t directly concern or impacts a thousandth of a percent of the population.

There’s real news in the real world that’s impacting all of us that we should be aware of and angry about.

Careful about saying stuff like that on Lemmy. If you can’t tell by your downvotes, you’ll find out when they start stalking you. lol
So you’re a transphobe too eh? Way to brag about it
What are you going on about, mate? I’m not transphobic at all. The Olympic committee decided this, I had no vote or say about it whatsoever. Did you even read my comment? lol
I responded to what you said not, the article. Weird deflection.
What did I say that is transphobic, then? Weird projection you have going on there.
Doesn’t seem like you know what projection means

I know exactly what it means.

Now please show me even one example where I’ve said or posted anything transphobic. You’re the one who threw the accusation at me, so let’s see the receipts. Where’s your proof?

A person says something transphobic. You tell them be careful all these horrible users will get mad. Nothing to explain. Lol and yeah I’m revealing my own transphobia by simply pointing out that I saw what you did. Idiotic trolls can never reverse the bigotry they spread so why the fuck are you bothering? Absolutely no one who isn’t also a bigot will believe you.

I didn’t say “horrible users.” I said people would be mad at what he said. And they were. I was right.

Hmmm, again, there you go showing your bias, and projecting yet again.

You have no fucking idea what projection means, transphobic troll who is now blocked.

Of course you blocked you me. Because you are mad that I was right. And you can’t defend yourself because I called you out.

You totally made up a false accusation about me. Makes me wonder about what other stuff you make up.

Anything’s possible when you make shit up
Didn’t read but thank you for identifying yourself as a bigot
We separate genders in sports for stupid reasons, and fairness has never been one of them anyway. The degree of physical variation among humans regardless of dominant sex hormone necessarily means that splitting by gender will put some people in a group with other people that they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating. A taller woman has a significant advantage over a short woman or a short man, women can and do compete with men and win. The logical thing to do would be to separate by height and weight.

Yes, they’re “trolling” or “rage bait”…but you’re the one getting baited.

…you’re the one babbling about the never-has-or-will happen-but-is-technially-possible scenario. You obviously completely unaware of the standards that were in place…which made it impossible for the athlete that you described to compete as a woman.

All this is going to do is allow transphobes and other perverts to inspect the generals of athletes…some of them minor athletes…if they wish to compete.

This is a virtue signal for bigots, solving a problem that didn’t and couldn’t exist. Full stop, end of story.

decided they were a woman

Jeeeeeesus Christ it’s twenty fucking twenty six, how do you not know how gender dysphoria works? Do gay people decide to be gay?

There are significant biological and hormonal differences between men and women, which is why testosterone levels are monitored and regulated among female athletes.

And cis women who have naturally high testosterone levels are then discriminated against.

Overall, I think articles like this are just intentional trolling with rage bait about stuff that doesn’t directly concern or impacts a thousandth of a percent of the population.

Discrimination like this are huge signs of the problems of socitey. Sure, trans people not being able to compete isnt the end of the world… but the Discrimination doesnt stop there. We can just look at history for examples.

Semenya wins appeal against testosterone rules

At least three other Olympic medalists have also been impacted by the rules that set limits on the level of natural testosterone female athletes may have if they want to compete.

PBS News

Sad times if you’re a cis woman who happens to have a wider jawline, larger nose or who generally does not look sufficiently “feminine”. You can be subjected to cruel, invasive transvestigation instigated by people with sinister motives or bitter rivals.

As always, transphobia is used to pander to bigoted pricks. This is not a victory for women in any shape or form. This just opens more avenues for abuse for the fucking gender police.

Right?

…What happens when the athlete is a minor? Who inspects the child?

They never care about trans men because this is just misogyny.
Or because trans men don’t have a physical advantage over Cis men competitors in physical competitions.

Not all Olympic events are about brute strength or reaction time etc.

There’s equestrian, sailing, shooting, and an array of mixed events where a trans man could have an advantage over a Cis man.

You’re correct (shooting… women are naturally better shooters than men in my experience.) I agree in competitions that don’t rely on pure physicality this ban wouldn’t make sense, but I don’t agree this is just misogyny versus some other type of prejudice.
I think a one way ban makes sense in some fields because a trans man competing against cis men is already at a physical disadvantage. That’s not the case if the genders are switched.

Curling is the only sport in the Olympics that matters and it would probably be fine ungendered.

Not sure why you’d agree…then double down.

Mmm. I don’t think anybody was saying that misogyny is the ONLY issue.

Literally the original comment I replied to claims, “this is just misogyny.”
Has Domi pointed out elsewhere in this thread. There is no evidence that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women, provided they’ve been on HRT for 2+ years. here’s the meta-analysis they linked
Blåhaj Lemmy - Choose Your Interface

That’s neat. Wild how much an affect hormonal changes can have on the body. Humans are weird.
It’s the old “I have nipples Greg, could you milk me?” and the answer is yes.
Imagine if Greg had responded “yes,” and then proceeded to provide detailed step-by-step instructions in how to induce lactation. That would have been a real weird twist. I’m talking like a five minute segue in the movie.
Now I’m curious: Are there official limits on just how much a trans man is allowed to juice as an athlete?
No clue tbh. There probably are though as testosterone is a monitored thing.
The amount of reactionaries here is deeply disappointing, I expected nothing from a world community and yet somehow I am still disappointed
Find, the Olympics have been super corporate for too long anyway. Create an inclusive alternative and fuck corporate

I’m of two minds about this:

First, let people compete in comparative tier skill events. We have different weight classes for boxing, why should other sports be any different?

Second, who fucking cares? Sports are literally just physical games which have become the victim of capitalism, and the Olympics added nationalism and implicit racial perspectives.

You will never see a Japanese woman winning the 100m sprint. Should we have another category for Asian sprinters? Maybe? But at some point you need to realise:

NONE OF THIS SHIT MATTERS.

Most of these athletes are doing drugs anyway lol.

It matters exactly for the reason why it’s banned. Sports is a pretext for hurting trans people. Sex assigned at birth should not matter at all. The bigots know this, but it’s acceptable as long as it’s dressed up as an intellectually honest debate about fairness in sports. Fairness in sports is a fool’s errand, like you point out. Having that discussion at all is letting the bigots win.

Sex assigned at birth should not matter at all.

It shouldn’t, but it does. As a matter of what is statistically relevant about the dichotomy between males and females.

I’m not having that debate.

You’re arguing in bad faith?

You are creating a strawman by claiming anyone who cares about gender in sports is a bigot who is trying to hurt trams people.

No, I said people are being duped into debating by bigots. This is about politics, not sports.

That’s a strawman.

You are saying that people do not reach that conclusion on their own.

Has Domi pointed out elsewhere in this thread. There is no evidence that transgender women have a physical advantage over cisgender women, provided they’ve been on HRT for 2+ years. here’s the meta-analysis they linked

So yeah, based off of:

It shouldn’t, but it does. As a matter of what is statistically relevant about the dichotomy between males and females.

You’re either a bigot trying to use sports to hurt trans people, or you’ve been duped by bigots. So, unless you’re made of straw Qevlarr isn’t using a straw man argument.

Blåhaj Lemmy - Choose Your Interface

Cool, I’ll check it out, but the claim is still a strawman.

I’m a vegan. When i see people eating beef, I don’t claim “either you like hurting cows, or you’ve been duped by people who hate animals”.

The claim itself is stupid and needlessly inflammatory.

I’m a vegan. When i see people eating beef, I don’t claim “either you like hurting cows, or you’ve been duped by people who hate animals”.

I’m not a vegan or even a vegetarian, but I wouldn’t argue with you if you made that claim, because the only reason we as a society eat as much meat as we do, is because it’s normalised at every level for economic reasons.

If I can manage that, you can manage to not argue with trans people trying to deal with the active and ongoing exclusion they face.

Here’s the issue though, I do not agree with the claim that people who eat beef enjoy hurting cows, or duped by those who hate them.

The claim itself is a strawman, the fact that you are willing to accept it means your epistemology is bad.

This systematic review aligns with previous ones1 4 in highlighting critical research limitations. This includes the typically short study durations (<3 years) and a lack of data on elite athletes.

So we aren’t talking about Olympic tier athletes.

Also, the authors themselves acknowledge the evidence quality sits between very low and low

For what it’s worth, I don’t give a shit about “fairness” in sports.

Then why the fuck are you even in this discussion, arguing with people trying to defend a highly marginalised section of the community?

If you “don’t care”, then dropping it so as to not be part of the active exclusion of trans people would be the appropriate move.

Then why the fuck are you even in this discussion?

Because I believe what I’m saying is important?

Whatever point you think I’m making, I’m not. I absolutely believe trans athletes should be capable of competing in whatever gender sports category they want, provided they are within range of their fellow athletes.

is that true, though? What I’ve read is that the science is showing the opposite, that sex is mostly plastic and that after a couple years on hormones, trans women have similar fitness and athletic ability as cis women:

bjsm.bmj.com/content/…/bjsports-2025-110239

While transgender women exhibited higher lean mass than cisgender women, their physical fitness was comparable.

transgender women’s VO₂ max, when adjusted for weight, aligns with cisgender women,4 further supporting parity in endurance capabilities

the absence of strength disparities between transgender women and cisgender women found in the current review was consistent and contradicts narratives framing male puberty as conferring irreversible athletic advantages despite [gender-affirming hormone therapy].

transgender women’s pretherapy advantages in push-ups and sit-ups disappeared after 2 years of feminising hormones among 46 individuals who started [gender-affirming hormone therapy] while in the US Air Force.

Body composition and physical fitness in transgender versus cisgender individuals: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Objective To compare body composition and physical fitness between transgender and cisgender individuals. Design Systematic review with meta-analysis. Data sources PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and SportDiscus. Eligibility criteria Inclusion criteria comprised studies of transgender individuals comparing body composition or physical fitness pre-to-post gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) or versus cisgender controls. Results 52 studies (n=6485) were included. Transgender women had similar relative fat mass (standardised mean difference (SMD) −0.33, 95% CI −0.72 to 0.05, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE): very low), relative lean mass (SMD 0.19, 95% CI −0.14 to 0.53, GRADE: low), upper-body strength (SMD 0.54, 95% CI −0.95 to 2.02, GRADE: very low), lower-body strength (SMD 0.05, 95% CI −1.31 to 1.40, GRADE: very low) and maximal oxygen consumption (SMD −0.28, 95% CI −0.81 to 0.25, GRADE: very low) in comparison to cisgender women. Transgender men exhibited higher relative fat mass (SMD 0.96, 95% CI 0.28 to 1.64, GRADE: moderate), lower relative lean mass (SMD −6.42, 95% CI −12.26 to −0.58, GRADE: moderate) and lower upper-body strength (SMD −1.46, 95% CI −2.52 to −0.40, GRADE: moderate) than cisgender men. In transgender women, GAHT was associated with increased fat mass and reduced lean mass and upper-body strength over 1–3 years. Transgender men demonstrated reduced fat mass and increased lean mass and strength following GAHT. Conclusion While transgender women exhibited higher lean mass than cisgender women, their physical fitness was comparable. Current evidence is mostly low certainty and has heterogenous quality but does not support theories of inherent athletic advantages for transgender women over cisgender. PROSPERO registration number CRD42024562210. Data are available upon reasonable request.

British Journal of Sports Medicine

I’m going to plagiarise myself:

This systematic review aligns with previous ones in highlighting critical research limitations. This includes the typically short study durations (<3 years) and a lack of data on elite athletes.

So we aren’t talking about Olympic tier athletes.

Also, the authors themselves acknowledge the evidence quality sits between very low and low

For what it’s worth, I don’t give a shit about “fairness” in sports. What I am pushing back on is the insinuation that people are either malicious or manipulated if they don’t accept the assertion that trans women do not have a competitive advantage.

At best, it’s uncharitable, and at worst, it a litmus test.

Why are you demanding that someone proves no advantage exists? If you find the level of proof ambiguous, then the null hypothesis must be that no difference exists. That’s just basic respect for human rights and dignity.

Realize what you are suggesting. You are suggesting that trans women and girls be completely cut off from competitive sports in any form. Trans women are conclusively far below cis men in performance. We’re just squabbling over whether some minute advantage exists over cis women. Trans women can’t just go and play with the guys. You’re arguing for trans women to be completely excluded from any form of sports whatsoever, a complete expulsion from an entire realm of human culture and experience.

If you’re arguing for something so radical and cruel, the burden of proof is on you. The default assumption is equality. We don’t take away civil rights on a whim. If it can be scientifically shown, on a sport-by-sport basis, that trans women have some massive advantage over cis women? Fine. In that case I might support a handicap system, or if that were not possible, exclusion as a last resort. But the burden for proof for that should be high. You’re hurting real people here. Unless you can scientifically prove that some advantage exists, the default assumption must be that no advantage exists.

Why are you demanding that someone proves no advantage exists?

I’m not. I’m simply stating that there is a difference, it isn’t a matter of debate. It’s like saying Kenyans are better at sprinting than white people in general.

I believe that respecting trans people means being honest about the facts, and promoting equality. Both can be true.

You are suggesting that trans women and girls be completely cut off from competitive sports in any form.

You’re arguing for trans women to be completely excluded from any form of sports whatsoever

that trans women have some massive advantage over cis women

None of these are claims I’ve made.

You’re hurting real people here.

The only thing I’m hurting is the brains of the people who are jumping on the slippery slope, all the way to the strawman.

For decades the Olympics committee has enabled trans and intersex athletes to compete without issue, using regulations on hormones to ensure fairness; it is only because the new IOC president is committed to excluding trans and intersex participation in sports that we have seen this reversal - there has been no change in the science to support the IOC’s new position.

The quality of evidence is often low to very low for many important guidelines, both clinical and social, and yet those guidelines are not tossed out as not sufficiently backed by evidence. Meanwhile, the evidence we do have is clear that there is no meaningful advantage granted to trans women over cis women in physical fitness or athletic ability - and this fact is corroborated by decades of failure of trans female athletes to dominate against cis female competitors.

Furthermore, the majority of trans athletic bans are state laws in the US that bar both trans men and trans women from participating in sports primarily in K-12 schools - the impact of the anti-trans movement’s push for the exclusion of trans participation in sports has not been primarily about creating fairness, but opening the door to senseless discrimination, often against a handful of children.

In Kentucky, they passed a law and overrode the governor’s veto to pass a trans sports ban that only impacted a single girl who was actually the founder of her field hockey team, and all the people she played with wanted her to be able to play. But now she isn’t allowed to play because she’s trans.

Whether you intend to or not, you are supporting a hate movement without the actual evidence to show that trans participation in sports is a problem on any level of competition, let alone for children playing with their friends.

Kentucky’s lone transgender athlete can’t play on the team she helped start

Fischer Wells helped start her school's girls field hockey team in Louisville. Then the state banned all transgender girls from playing. She's the only one.

The Washington Post
Women’s sports exist because they can’t actually compete against men. The division is inherently and explicitly exclusionary. They were created to give 50% of the population a chance to compete on as fair of a stage as possible.

Women’s sports was not created to protect women. Women’s sports were created to protect the egos of men who would place under women. If women competed with men, there would be a bunch of butthurt men who would be angry they aren’t as good.

For example, the Battle of the Sexes tennis matches had so many men coping and seething when a women beat a man in a highly publicized tennis match after the guy was talking mad shit. You can look up any number of examples like this where after a woman does well in a sport, a seperate league for women is established.

Women’s sports exist because men wouldn’t allow them to even play competitive sports, period. Women’s leagues were created as a conciliatory gesture from misogynists, not out of some sense chivalrous duty to uphold fairness and equality.
There isn’t men sports. There are sports, and women sports. The league men play in allow both genders.