I'm really fed up with chancers like Rhys McKinnon and Will Thomas. Those men have no sexual dysphoria to speak of. They just want to win medals they wouldn't get in their own division. Thomas was what, 500th on the male swimming roster? McKinnon is the most out of shape 'athlete' I've ever seen - he fell off his bike, for God's sake! Women's sports : that says it all. I don't care what deluded males think or want, they are not women and never will be!
Not just the glory of "winning" here. It's the glitter glory haze floating all around these chancers.
I so want to be patronizing and tell them how much they're damaging their own brains with the glory culture--but they do it at our expense, I know all too well.
Ute Heggen, author, In the Curated Woods, True Tales from a Grass Widow (iuniverse, 2022)
When I found out that my ex-husband, a man who thinks "he's a woman" for 30 years now, has been competing in various martial arts forms in the women's categories, my heart sank. As I read the diaries 3 decades ago (anniversary of in August, while "on vacation") my thoughts raced in the areas of personal sexual behavior; what's he exposed me to (and I was nursing, so our one year old, by breast milk transmission) what might he expose me to, and wow, he's been leaving us (me, toddler and infant) alone to find for ourselves if someone tried to break in to our apartment.
He's 4 inches taller than me, strongly build, though wiry. I cannot imagine facing him down in a tae kwon do tournament. He always was a ruthless, unforgiving opponent. In the picture of him with the rest of womens team from his dojo, he stands out immediately. No woman should allow herself to be slated to fight him. I just can't imagine. Same old, couldn't stand out as a man, try out your "womanface."
Ute Heggen, author, In the Curated Woods, True Tales from a Grass Widow (iuniverse, 2022)
Thank you for this very interesting essay. It's remarkable that much of this controversy was hashed out decades ago, yet it continues..... I discuss a bit of that history in my article "Steroids, Gender and Fair Play" found here:
...and in Colin's Substack, Reality's Last Stand".
Fundamentally, I see this as an issue of freedom of choice for girls and women. Collins' now vilified cartoon (depicting the philosophical train dilemma) captures the situation perfectly.
I think inclusion should mean 'we have a participation prize for confused males, but the deserving females get their rightful prizes and places as we also foreground the integrity of fair sport.' I would be interested to see how long the issue persists after that.
These differences reliably exist BEFORE puberty, too.
Male muscles have detectably greater concentrations of the more powerful "fast-twitch" fibers—the main source of male athletic advantage in speed and power events—in utero, before the end of the first trimester (just 8-10 weeks from conception).
From a similarly early stage, elbows and knees are straighter in extension—which makes boys able to jump higher, run faster, and punch and throw harder, even in earliest childhood.
I've got a solution. You're a male who wants to compete in the female category? Find a female who wants to compete in the male category, and swap. One for one. Fair's fair.
Excellent analysis! And I'm glad I was able to find it with Google. Here's a similar analysis that Google has banned (although you can find it with Bing and DuckDuckGo). I'm curious if you see anything bigoted or transphobic or scientifically inaccurate in the article linked below. And I'm curious how pervasive this type of censorship is by Google. So much for free speech, though I'm glad your voice is loud and strong! https://normanjansen.substack.com/p/fairness-for-female-athletes
I'm really fed up with chancers like Rhys McKinnon and Will Thomas. Those men have no sexual dysphoria to speak of. They just want to win medals they wouldn't get in their own division. Thomas was what, 500th on the male swimming roster? McKinnon is the most out of shape 'athlete' I've ever seen - he fell off his bike, for God's sake! Women's sports : that says it all. I don't care what deluded males think or want, they are not women and never will be!
Not just the glory of "winning" here. It's the glitter glory haze floating all around these chancers.
I so want to be patronizing and tell them how much they're damaging their own brains with the glory culture--but they do it at our expense, I know all too well.
Ute Heggen, author, In the Curated Woods, True Tales from a Grass Widow (iuniverse, 2022)
uteheggengrasswidow.wordpress.com
Thank you for everything you've done and continue to do.
This is another excellent, comprehensive account of all that needs to be known to help make good, fair decisions.
Thank you for such an informative article! But why refer to these males as women? They are men.
Exactly. I was about to write the same thing. I refuse to call them "transgender women." They are men. At best men-faux-women.
When I found out that my ex-husband, a man who thinks "he's a woman" for 30 years now, has been competing in various martial arts forms in the women's categories, my heart sank. As I read the diaries 3 decades ago (anniversary of in August, while "on vacation") my thoughts raced in the areas of personal sexual behavior; what's he exposed me to (and I was nursing, so our one year old, by breast milk transmission) what might he expose me to, and wow, he's been leaving us (me, toddler and infant) alone to find for ourselves if someone tried to break in to our apartment.
He's 4 inches taller than me, strongly build, though wiry. I cannot imagine facing him down in a tae kwon do tournament. He always was a ruthless, unforgiving opponent. In the picture of him with the rest of womens team from his dojo, he stands out immediately. No woman should allow herself to be slated to fight him. I just can't imagine. Same old, couldn't stand out as a man, try out your "womanface."
Ute Heggen, author, In the Curated Woods, True Tales from a Grass Widow (iuniverse, 2022)
uteheggengrasswidow.wordpress.com
Thank you for this very interesting essay. It's remarkable that much of this controversy was hashed out decades ago, yet it continues..... I discuss a bit of that history in my article "Steroids, Gender and Fair Play" found here:
https://everythingisbiology.substack.com/p/steroids-gender-and-fair-play
...and in Colin's Substack, Reality's Last Stand".
Fundamentally, I see this as an issue of freedom of choice for girls and women. Collins' now vilified cartoon (depicting the philosophical train dilemma) captures the situation perfectly.
Great article, thank you!
Just came upon BeetleBomb, so glad to find it here on Substack! I'd like to share this cartoon I posted this week about the attempt to erase women: https://annecantstandit.substack.com/p/cease-and-desist?r=7f8gy&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
I think inclusion should mean 'we have a participation prize for confused males, but the deserving females get their rightful prizes and places as we also foreground the integrity of fair sport.' I would be interested to see how long the issue persists after that.
There is a 50+ second difference between the male and female Olympic swimming records. Fifty seconds is an eternity at that level.
I’m so thrilled you are on Substack!! Brava!!!
These differences reliably exist BEFORE puberty, too.
Male muscles have detectably greater concentrations of the more powerful "fast-twitch" fibers—the main source of male athletic advantage in speed and power events—in utero, before the end of the first trimester (just 8-10 weeks from conception).
From a similarly early stage, elbows and knees are straighter in extension—which makes boys able to jump higher, run faster, and punch and throw harder, even in earliest childhood.
Check out these USA Track and Field youth record lists: https://www.usatf.org/resources/statistics/records/championship-meet-records/usatf-national-junior-olympic-track-field-champion
Even prepubescent children exhibit the same ca. 10 percent sex differences in top performances as adult athletes do.
I've got a solution. You're a male who wants to compete in the female category? Find a female who wants to compete in the male category, and swap. One for one. Fair's fair.
If ALL female athletes refused to enter against a man surely that would work??
Here is additional back up data and stats: https://boysvswomen.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#/
Excellent analysis! And I'm glad I was able to find it with Google. Here's a similar analysis that Google has banned (although you can find it with Bing and DuckDuckGo). I'm curious if you see anything bigoted or transphobic or scientifically inaccurate in the article linked below. And I'm curious how pervasive this type of censorship is by Google. So much for free speech, though I'm glad your voice is loud and strong! https://normanjansen.substack.com/p/fairness-for-female-athletes
Hey Emma, are you sure chess is a "pub" sport ?