Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo describes her selection as “an important symbol of inclusion.”
  • tyrant@lemmy.world
    138·
    8 months ago

    Someone sway my feelings… On one hand I’m happy about inclusion but on the other I’m worried non trans women aren’t getting a fair shake.

    Edit: or just down vote. I’m genuinely torn and hoping someone can provide some insight

    Edit 2: After some snarky comments I decided to go digging… here’s what I found initially. Feel free to post your own studies/links.

    *"For the first two years after starting hormones, the trans women in their review were able to do 10 percent more pushups and 6 percent more situps than their cisgender female counterparts. After two years, Roberts told NBC News, “they were fairly equivalent to the cisgender women.”

    Their running times declined as well, but two years on, trans women were still 12 percent faster on the 1.5 mile-run than their cisgender peers."*

    2021 https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trans-women-retain-athletic-edge-after-year-hormone-therapy-study-n1252764

    and…

    Testosterone drives anatomical and physiological sex differences in the human body (Figure 1). These sex differences can be architectural and therefore permanent, or can be influenced by adult-level, circulating testosterone concentrations, and therefore modifiable. Permanent sex differences that affect athletic performance involve the (i) brain, (ii) skeletal structure, and (iii) cardiorespiratory system. Modifiable sex differences include testosterone effects on (i) muscle mass and strength and (ii) aerobic capacity. 2022 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9331831/

    and…

    “Here, we report that current evidence shows the biological advantage, most notably in terms of muscle mass and strength, conferred by male puberty and thus enjoyed by most transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current sporting guidelines for transgender athletes.” 2022 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7846503/

    and…

    “A study of transgender women found their race times slowed after transitioning, but their age grades, which compare people to the best runners of the same sex and age, hardly changed, suggesting they have no advantage over non-transgender women.” 2018 https://www.science.org/content/article/scientist-racing-discover-how-gender-transitions-alter-athletic-performance-including

    • Famko@lemmy.world
      22·
      8 months ago

      I heard a study before which said that trans women on average had lower testosterone than cis women, so the advantages that a trans woman has over them is rather slim, maybe even nonexistant.

        • Famko@lemmy.world
          2·
          8 months ago

          Sorry for replying late, didn’t see this message.

          I sadly do not have the link to this study as I heard this info a while ago.

          Though I came across a whole lot more studies saying that trans women athletes have higher testosterone levels. Makes sense if they experienced male puberty before and didn’t prevent it using puberty blockers (since the majority of testosterone is created during puberty). Assuming they DID use puberty blockers, they should not have a significant competitive advantage.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      27·
      8 months ago

      I wonder if you are like most people worried that women absolutely must be protected in sports and rarely, if ever, watch women’s sports. Or even the Paralympics at all.

      • crapwittyname@lemm.ee
        5·
        8 months ago

        I don’t feel like this is a strong argument, if that’s what it’s meant to be. If not, please disregard the following.
        You don’t need to watch the Olympics or the Paralympics to have compassion for your fellow human beings who are competing there. And you can simultaneously feel compassion for the cis women who feel that the playing field is not level if trans women compete with them, and for the trans women who just want to be able to compete.
        I’m vehemently pro-trans, and I think that this issue has yet to be settled either way. What you seen to be doing here is an ad hominem attack on someone holding the opposite viewpoint to you (a viewpoint that, again, I hold). This doesn’t help push things forward.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
          24·
          8 months ago

          The thing is, the people I am not hearing make these complaints are the avid watchers of women’s sports. Just mostly a lot of white knights who think that precious flowers need special protection they haven’t asked for.

          This especially came to a head with Imane Khelif, who is a cis woman, where people were suggesting that women in a sport where you try to punch each other into unconsciousness need to be protected. It’s ludicrous.

          • tyrant@lemmy.world
            3·
            8 months ago

            I’m not sure anyone here is saying “women need protection!”. I was asking about the fairness of sport and if a trans athlete has an inherent biological advantage over another athlete.

  • Kokesh@lemmy.worldEnglish
    413·
    8 months ago

    This is awesome! Especially for the other paralympic women, who don’t get to have muscles and bones of a man!