Trans woman want to fight biological women in MMA?
- Thread starter Craterloads
- Start date
Didn't you know? You have to completely and unwaveringly accepting of it otherwise you'll be labeled as ignorant, stupid, or offensive.
I know!
I am awaiting the flames of indignant outrage even as I Type!
To use an analogy, If I had some guy take a scalpel al to my face and make me look 20 years younger, I wouldn't actually be 20 years younger!
And the idea of having my birth certificate amended to reflect my new youthful appearance would be regarded (quite rightly) as totally absurd.
While I can understand the psychological desire for people who have undergone this sort of surgery to have birth certificates amended to reflect their new chosen identity it is not actually a logical step, does not relfect reality, and leads to all kinds of administrative cans of worms such as this one!
They could just get around all of this by only letting competitors to compete in the classification on their birth certificate.
Whilst they may 'feel' different which has lead to them being transgender, they still (to a certain point) posses the physical characteristics of their birth gender. From the OP:
I call BS on this...
Whilst they may 'feel' different which has lead to them being transgender, they still (to a certain point) posses the physical characteristics of their birth gender. From the OP:
I call BS on this...
Part of the problem is that most people see gender as a black/white thing, when in reality it's more complicated than that.
People can be psychologically mismatched - a chimera, Hermaphroditic & I'm sure many other factors (which I'm unaware of) which can cast a shadow over falsely diametric views on human gender.
Simply calling them "men" is childish & highlights a degree of ignorance on this complex issue.
People can be psychologically mismatched - a chimera, Hermaphroditic & I'm sure many other factors (which I'm unaware of) which can cast a shadow over falsely diametric views on human gender.
Simply calling them "men" is childish & highlights a degree of ignorance on this complex issue.
Probably the best compromise, it's not like he/she has to go into the sport professionally.. you could see other women argue that they should be allowed to take male hormones coughsteroidscough to counter the advantage.. before you know it the sport becomes more about hormone composition than it does about sport.
What if the role was reversed and its a woman taking male hormones because they want to be a man? how would that be fair on non drug taking males she fights, especially in the lighter weight brackets where the men are slender rather than beefcakes.. would be a very unfair advantage..
I think people who change gender are just going to have to accept that things like professional sports are going to be out of the question.
Or a victory for science and rational debate over bigotry and dogma?
It seems the medical boards have done the necessary research and cleared her to fight, so I don't really think there's any need to drag her through trial by media.
There's clearly going to be an advantage, on average, in terms of frame - basically their reach - but it's not like it's unheard of for women to be 6ft+ and built like a brick **** house just like some guys are tiny (just look at jockeys and racing drivers). We might as well legislate that women who are bigger than an acceptably 'feminine' range cannot compete.
Refusal to accept isn't childish or ignorant. I personally don't believe or accept that a person can actually change gender through surgery.
That's not to say I don't think they should have it if that's what they feel they need. I'm all for people having the right to do what they want as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of others.
But to not accept it doesn't make a person ignorant.
I think this is the key point, especially in terms of sport. One could argue that people who do well in certain contact sports have higher natural levels of male hormones, and people not so much don't tend to go into certain sports because they aren't naturally disposed to have certain traits.
Based on this you could argue that a less hormonal man should have the right to take a certain amount of steroids in order to level the playing field and compete fairly. Sounds like a can of worms, or that competitors with high levels have to take hormone suppressants... a classic example of putting the rights of an individual over the rights of others.
If a man had a clinically diagnosed testosterone deficiency I imagine he would be allowed to take testosterone supplements under the supervision of his doctor.
Can anyone confirm this would be the case under current doping regulations?
There are many MMA fighters on TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) as they have low test levels.
Most of them it's due to age, but others due to steroid abuse in the past.
It's a very grey area in MMA currently, as plenty see it as cheating.
Most of them it's due to age, but others due to steroid abuse in the past.
It's a very grey area in MMA currently, as plenty see it as cheating.
This is why I haven't commented on this aspect, because it just gets ridiculous trying to make these sort of comparisons.
For example, my "missus" is stronger than most (untrained) men she or I know, or rather most men I know are quite a bit weaker than she is and she doesn't even do strength training (yet).
I'd be interested to know this, although I suspect not as you could argue that someone with lower testosterone would not only be at a physical disadvantage, but also a psychological disadvantage as they would also not be interested in things like boxing - they would be less 'eye of the tiger' and more 'eye of the (crochet) needle', therefore due to their psychological disposition they would not be interested in boxing or whatever in the first place.
Assuming that's correct, then I dare say the question has never been asked/explored in terms of professional sport.
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I'm sure he'll be very loud, fighting is very rarely a quiet thing.
However, if you believe the article and the person's claims, they have been given the okay by doctors, as the doctors apparently don't believe they have an advantage given by their background.