• brainw0rms [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    I think it helps to bring it back to the real world, and not simply rhetorical hypotheticals. A lot of the otherwise well meaning people fall for the false premise that there is somehow vast amounts of trans women in women’s sports, but there just isn’t. They accept the idea that it’s a popular occurrence for a male athlete to transition solely to dominate the women’s sports field, but that just doesn’t happen in real life.

    Joanna Harper, a researcher based at Loughborough University in Britain who studies the effects of hormone therapy on transgender athletes, told The New York Times last year that out of 200,000 women in college sports at a given time, about 50 are transgender.

    In 2021, just nine of the 174,000 students participating in high school sports were transgender.

    It’s really just a plain lie, and not at all worthy of serious consideration. If people who are presented with these facts still choose to be transphobic, then they’re simply showing their true colors and using this as an excuse.

    • IzyaKatzmann [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      Nine??! Well I hope trans people have the opportunities available to them to compete if they so desire, which is the only consideration which gives me genuine pause.


      This makes me think, obviously the satanic panic was similarly NOT a legitimate threat to whatever it was that was considered worth protecting. How many ‘satanic cultists’ were there even? Like 11 in one state? Jeez, saying these fears are blown out of proportion in and of itself, and relative to the number of people involved is an understatement.

      • brainw0rms [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        Honestly, it’s really sad there are so few. I find it horrifyingly depressing to imagine being the single transfem high school athlete in an entire state, and being aware that her state politicians are spending their time debating and passing a law in which the only material outcome is preventing her, personally, from competing in sports.

        • IzyaKatzmann [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          8 months ago

          GUH that is awful, what a horrible experience!

          I would think your friend wouldn’t even be sure about any ‘gains’ or ‘wins’ because how would you know any kind of protection, benefit, or treatment like an equal human being could stay? Like anything could be overturned and any reliance on some positive might be setting one’s self up for disappointment and further harm down the line! I feel so bad for her :'-(

    • marxisthayaca [he/him,they/them]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      Joanna Harper, a researcher based at Loughborough University in Britain who studies the effects of hormone therapy on transgender athletes, told The New York Times last year that out of 200,000 women in college sports at a given time, about 50 are transgender.

      Would be interesting to read those papers, tho.