🐱 Veronica Ivy on why it is right for trans Olympians to compete

Veronica Ivy on why it is right for trans Olympians to compete

Sport is a human right and trans women are women in the ways that matter, says a trans cycling champion

economist.com

IT HAS been nearly 20 years since the Olympics allowed transgender people to compete, and in that time over 54,000 Olympians have taken to the world stage. Yet it is only in the Tokyo games this month that the first openly transgender athletes have joined the parade in national tracksuits under their countries’ flags. The world should cheer even more loudly.

Trans athletes were first allowed to compete in the 2004 games in Athens, under the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For the 2016 games in Rio, the IOC removed the requirement that trans athletes have genital surgery. Yet no transgender athletes qualified in 2016 or 2018, though there were over 14,000 competitors.

This year's games will make history with a number of openly transgender Olympians, including Tiffany Abreu, a Brazilian volleyball player; Chelsea Wolfe, an alternate on Team USA’s BMX cycling squad; a Canadian soccer player, Quinn (known only by a first name) and Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand.

Their presence has generated criticism. There is a fear that trans women will dominate women’s sport. However, this is without any basis in fact.

Estimates are that approximately 0.6% of the American adult population is transgender. Taking that figure as a possible global rate, at 54,000 Olympians, statistically you’d expect around 300 trans athletes. And yet until this year, there has been none. There has not been an openly trans world champion in an Olympic sport, nor at major golf or tennis championships, nor holding elite world records. Nothing. If there were any advantages for trans women athletes, surely we’d have seen it by now.

Although no trans athlete has dominated their sport, if one were to do so, wouldn't that be reason to cheer, not jeer?

The IOC is right to allow trans athletes to compete in the Olympics, if it is to remain true to its mission. In the Olympic charter, the fourth fundamental principle of Olympism reads: “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

From the standpoint of human rights, sport is welcoming of all people. And transgender women are women in the ways that matter. Governments and sports organisations, such as the IOC, almost universally make no distinction between gender and sex. In my case, my Canadian birth certificate, driver’s licence, passport, American permanent-resident card and medical records all list me as female. Every sport organisation under which I compete, such as USA Cycling, Cycling Canada and Union Cycliste Internationale, considers me female.

Those who do make such a distinction between sex and gender tend only to do so in order to exclude trans women from so-called “female-only” spaces, including sport. They are wrong to do so. It is simply inconsistent and hypocritical to grant that trans women are “women” but not “female” and that trans women should not compete against "female" athletes. Such distinctions between women and female are rarely made among governments and sports organisations. As far as the IOC is concerned, all of the trans and intersex women competing in Tokyo are female, full stop.

Sadly, the dominant narrative in the media and across social media—where the loudest, angriest voices are amplified—is one of outrage. Some believe that including trans women will lead to the end of women’s sport as it exists. Some critics point to me, a trans woman who has two masters track-cycling gold medals from 2018 and 2019. But it is worth noting that the victory was in an age category (35 to 39), not an overall world championship. And although I previously held a masters world record, it was recently beaten and remains more than 10% slower than the elite (ie, not age restricted) world record.

There are some people who say that they support trans women to live our lives as women in whatever way we choose, except for in their favourite hobby-horse area of exclusion. It might be bathrooms and changing rooms. Sports is just the latest battlefield. The reason for exclusion is, in short, discrimination.

Apparently we’re not “woman” enough, whatever that means. It is a very slippery slope. Women are only this year being permitted to compete in Olympic canoeing events. Women were not included in Olympic ski jumping until 2014. Zhang Shan, a woman, won the 1992 Olympic skeet shooting event, which was gender integrated—she beat men. But in the 1996 Olympics, the IOC gender-segregated the sport and didn’t offer a woman’s division: the defending Olympic champion wasn’t allowed to compete. Women’s cycling events are shorter than men’s, for no obvious reason.

If you really care about women’s sport, support women’s sport: donate to women’s sport programmes. Push for equal pay for women’s sporting events. Press for a full reinstatement of a women’s Tour de France, not the pared down version happening in 2022. Fight misogyny, in all its forms, including against transgender women. If the only way you claim to support women’s sport is by fighting to exclude trans women, then I posit that you don’t actually care about women’s sport.

The Olympic spirit is one of mutual understanding, of bridging differences. I invite people everywhere to reflect on the Olympic ideal, laid out in its charter: “Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”.

Fairness requires inclusion. Let’s stop policing womanhood, in all its diversity. Let’s celebrate the fact that trans women are women in the ways that matter. We should applaud the barriers being broken by the first openly transgender athletes to attend the Olympics this year. Breaking barriers is what the Olympics is all about.

Veronica Ivy (formerly Rachel McKinnon) is the first openly transgender world track-cycling champion, having placed first in the spring event at the UCI Women’s Masters Track World Championship in 2018 and 2019 in her age category. She is an independent scholar and consultant for diversity, equity and inclusion, particularly on issues related to athlete rights.

 

[heathercho]

No-one cares Rhys.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

If you really care about women’s sport

I don't. No one does. Even women don't care about women's sport. If they did, they'd watch it and go to games, which they don't.
The fact that it has to be subsidised so heavily to even exist is proof that women's sport is little more than charity, akin to the Special Olympics.

 

[Home Again]

Mentally ill man who mutilated off his penis tells women how it really is.

 

[Idiotron]

Veronica Ivy..... totally a woman's name.

There is a fear that trans women will dominate women’s sport. However, this is without any basis in fact.

Except for all the times when they did.
There are several women's world records right now that are held by men.

The practice of sport is a human right.

But organized sports aren't.

Those who do make such a distinction between sex and gender tend only to do so in order to exclude trans women from so-called “female-only” spaces,

So-called "women's spaces"..... says man trying to invade women's spaces.

It is simply inconsistent and hypocritical to grant that trans women are “women” but not “female” and that trans women should not compete against "female" athletes. Such distinctions between women and female are rarely made among governments and sports organisations.

That's because until recently, they never had to deal with stuff like this.
Most people were unprepared for the troon invasion.

Apparently we’re not “woman” enough, whatever that means.

It means you're a man.

Women were not included in Olympic ski jumping until 2014.

But you were

Fight misogyny, in all its forms, including against transgender women.

But... transgender women are a form of misogyny.

Let’s celebrate the fact that trans women are women in the ways that matter.

Fuck does that mean?
This is like some shitty moral of the story at the end of an episode of Full House or something.

 

[Positron]

Fuck does that mean?

He means transwomen are not women with respect to say cervical and ovarian cancers, but it is okay because Rhys don't give a damn about these cancers -- these aren't "ways that matter".

 

[potato fan]

>Women were not included in Olympic ski jumping until 2014

there's women ski jumping? there must be like a dozen or two women worldwide who actually train that

also there are women only events in olympics, I think synchronised swimming and something else, noone cares

 

[soulless guarantee]

Well at least they didn't refer to him as Dr, as that seems to be his little trick to have people assume he is an MD, rather than having a PhD in Philosophy.

And here is the counterpoint piece by US collegiate runner Chelsea Mitchell:

THE OLYMPICS have finally begun, but under a shadow—one that has increasingly haunted women’s sports. This year, for the first time, biological males who identify as women will openly compete in the female category, owing to an International Olympic Committee (IOC) policy that permits them to do so. It establishes unfairness at the very heart of the most important athletic competition in the world.

Many other sports organisations are making the same mistake as the IOC, often by following its lead. Transgender women are biologically male, in that they were born with male physiology. Allowing them to compete in female competitions in the name of inclusiveness actually undermines the integrity of the competition. And female athletes are losing out: not just losing individual events, but the very opportunity to compete.

I know how discouraging and demoralising it can be for a female athlete to be forced to face off against a biologically male one. I’ve done it over and over. Last year I graduated from high school. For years I was a top-ranked runner in my home state of Connecticut. But Connecticut, like the IOC, permits biological males to compete in high-school women’s sports if those males identify as female.

I spent my time in high school going head-to-head against two biological males—and losing to them repeatedly. Because of the transgender policy, I lost four women’s state championship titles and two all-New England awards, not to mention many other second-and third-place spots on the podium, to biologically male athletes. And I’m not alone; these two biological males bumped more than 80 female athletes out of qualifying for higher levels of competition during numerous events over three years.

Sports organisations like the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and the IOC claim that their policies are about inclusivity, but what those policies really do is exclude women from their own sporting events. It is a problem on two levels.

First, science and simple observation tell us that males have biological advantages over women in physical contests. Studies indicate that this advantage ranges from 10% to 50% depending on the sport, and it shows in sporting records. For example, in 2018, nearly 300 high-school boys ran the 400-metre sprint faster than the lifetime best of Allyson Felix, an American Olympic gold medalist.

The IOC attempted to address this concern by requiring transgender women athletes to be on testosterone suppressants for at least a year before they could compete in the Olympics. But this “solution” assumes that the male advantage comes solely from testosterone—and recent studies, including one in Sports Medicine in 2021, show that this isn’t the case. Although testosterone suppressants reduce some of the biological factors that give males an advantage (like haemoglobin levels), they do not have a marked effect on many other factors—including muscle strength, lung capacity and the simple advantage of size. Male puberty provides advantages that simply can’t be undone.

So biological males, even after a year of testosterone suppressants, have inherent physical advantages over biological females. This makes any competition between biological females and biological males, quite simply, meaningless.

Beyond this, however, is the question of opportunity. Whenever a biologically male athlete competes on a female sports team or in a female event, a female athlete loses an opportunity to compete. And when that biologically male athlete wins a women’s competition, every female is bumped down from the spot she deserved. The higher up in athletics we go, the more devastating this loss is for female athletes.

Among several transgender athletes at the Tokyo games is a biologically-male athlete, Laurel Hubbard from New Zealand, who will compete in the women’s weightlifting event. This is being lauded by some as a victory for the principle of “inclusion”—but that is not the real story. The unvarnished version is that a 43-year-old biological male with massive, inherent physical advantages took the spot of a female athlete at the Olympics. That is not a story of fairness and justice. It is a story of injustice being perpetuated in an ill-considered bid for political correctness.

While those supporting trans athletes may be loud, polls show them to be in the minority. In a survey by Gallup, barely one-third of Americans support trans women competing against females. Unfortunately many sports commissions and organisations are ignoring science and common sense, and they do not seem to care about fairness or female athletes either. Worse still, women and girls who stand up to—or even question—the policies face threats and punishments.

For example, Cynthia Monteleone, a champion track runner, raised concerns about the fairness of a biological male racing against females, but team managers, she says, warned her to stay quiet on the matter. Even questioning the claims of transgender activist groups gets female athletes in trouble. When Olympic cyclist Chloe Dygert liked a tweet in 2020 that said that biological males who identify as women are different from women, her team sponsor threatened to pull its support.

It seems like there is nowhere within organised sports for women and girls to turn. That is why, along with several other female athletes, I have filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, arguing that the policy violates a federal law that guarantees women equal opportunities in academics and athletics. The suit is currently before an appellate court, and asks the court to restore fairness by ensuring eligibility for women’s sports to athletes who are biologically female.

Competing in the Olympics is the crowning experience of an athlete’s life, and winning…well, that is the dream every athletic boy or girl harbours deep inside. It is not fair to tell girls who have worked for years and committed their lives, energy and very selves to athletic excellence that, in the name of “inclusion” and “diversity,” they must resign themselves to being beaten by athletes with the inherent, unfair physical advantages that come from being male. True inclusivity, true diversity, true competition, true fairness—they all demand that we find another solution.

Chelsea Mitchell, an award-winning athlete from Canton High School in Connecticut, runs track at the collegiate level.

Original | Archive

 

[Clem Fandango]

Oh neat! I thought Rhys might actually be dead, going by his lolcow thread. Good to hear he's alive and kicking.

In the Olympic charter, the fourth fundamental principle of Olympism reads: “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

He's always harping on the "human right" part of the charter, but apparently gives no regard to the "fair play" part.

Is it against the human rights of a heavyweight to be disqualified from boxing against a featherweight?

Why do we have separate men's and women's categories at all, if not to acknowledge a similar disparity in ability and to ensure "fair play"?

He will never answer these questions.

 

[Taylor Swift's Ghostwrite]

Remember when that under 15 group of boys from Dallas beat the US national women's team, that holds world cups and such?

But yeah no advantage for males.

 

[AprilRains]

No need to guard the hen house, says the fox in the ill-fitting chicken suit.

 

[Some JERK]

Quinn (known only by a first name)

Why do trannies and pornstars always pick such ridiculous names?

Someone once opined to me that people should pick their own names when they're at a certain age and go by a "childhood name" until then. My reply then, as it is now, that people are horrible at naming themselves. For every "John" and "Sarah" you'd have a hundred "Moonchild"s and "Megatron"s.

 

[Product Placement]

Well, he isn't going to admit he won through being born a dude is he?

 

[REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!]

Of course Rhys gets ratioed all to hell. That's why well never see him on twitter again. 3 months and counting.

 

[Amber the Hedgehog]

I don't. No one does. Even women don't care about women's sport. If they did, they'd watch it and go to games, which they don't.
The fact that it has to be subsidised so heavily to even exist is proof that women's sport is little more than charity, akin to the Special Olympics.

My local men's and women's baseball teams are equally popular. People like watching both them because they play quite differently. Guys being stronger play with hits that go long to give best openings for running and all that entails. Ladies can't do that so play much more variation in tactics, trying psyke out the opposition and often the game is faster with them.

Still in general most sports don't get that much spectators regardless of gender. Only very few types are interesting to common folk. Most sports are just for people whose hobby it is and their loved ones supporting in the audience. This doesn't make sports a charity, it makes it a hobby and a passion. Most people in olympics aren't professional athletes in the sense that they make much money from it but people who have to collect money to go this big camp. They often have a job or school to get back to after this fun thing.

 

[behindyourightnow]

My local men's and women's baseball teams are equally popular. People like watching both them because they play quite differently. Guys being stronger play with hits that go long to give best openings for running and all that entails. Ladies can't do that so play much more variation in tactics, trying psyke out the opposition and often the game is faster with them.

Yes, and a lot of women watch them because they like seeing athletes that they identify with to some extent. Same reason people watch events with their own country in the Olympics. And like you mentioned women's and men's versions of a team sport often end up having different aspects to them, so there are different things to appreciate.

Anyway I personally hope that Rhys is reading every single one of the ratio'd comments and seething.

 

[DuckSucker]

Is there a trans woman that doesnt have like a porn star name? Its always like Melody Dickburn, never like Ashley or Rebecca or some shit.

 

[CharlesBarkley]

Juwana man wasn't a comedy, but a grim future foretold by black shaman.

 

[axfaxf]

I love the fact, that this no-good at anything, balding man is the face of troon sports.
Keep on telling them gals, Rhys, you´re the man! <3

 

[Sweet and Savoury]

Seriously, what the fuck happened to The Economist?

I cant honestly remember the last time they put out a good article on anything related to economics in the last 4 years.

Have they just accepted that they're doomed and choose the clickbait way to stave off bankruptcy for a few extra months?

I swear they're as bad a Newsweek or Harpers.