Under Which Category of Sport Should a Transgender Surgery Person Compete?

[Butterfly]

Under Which Category of Sport Should a Transgender Surgery Person Compete?
Bleacher Report
By Saraswathi Sirigina
January 17, 2009


http://bleacherreport.com/articles/112104-under-which-category-of-sport-should-a-transgender-surgery-person-compete


Okay, I am not going to claim any priori or knowledge here, all that I want is honest opinion and debate. I have not googled it nor have I studied any precedents, except one case.

Let's debate on the ethical constraints and if there is any scientific or medical evidence that helps or hurts the case of transsexual rights.

[BunnyBee]

I think while hormone treatment brings transsexual women down into the range of XX females, it is probably in the upper range since even girls with androgen insensitivity syndrome seem to have an edge.  From the website secondtype.com:  "Top female athletes have often been found to have AIS when sex tested,  reportedly 1 in 500 women athletes of international standard suffer from AIS, which is an order of magnitude greater than current estimates of about 1 in 5000 AIS women in the general female population."

The Olympics allow transsexual women to compete with on the women's side of things.  Mianne Bagger is allowed to compete in the LPGA.  I think sports is overvalued in our world and I don't really fear the Universe imploding by any stretch if transsexual women are allowed to compete in this way.  We have enough disadvantages in life, can't we just be granted this one advatage?

[tekla]

The reason for sport in the first place - not spectator type, the player deal - is to make sure that no one has an advantage, to create, in sports lingo that made it to the mainstream 'a level playing field.'  So far a few have been allowed to cross - but only one way, there are no FtMs competing as men - have not been a problem as they don't win.  Once you have one who is winning, a lot, this will become a different issue.

[Alyssa M.]

I've never put any stock in competitive sports as being fair. All fairness is an illusion. People complain about the scourge of doping, but often fail to recognize that our standards of what constitutes performance-enhancing drugs and what is okay -- say, a cup of coffee (but not two!) -- are every bit as artificial as the drugs themselves. The way I see it, all sports make about as much sense as Calvinball. I'll still watch them for the display of human talent (and because I hate the f---ing Yankees) but I don't worry about fairness.

Individual sports involving nature -- skiing, surfing, climbing, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, etc. -- are more interesting to me because main competition is between the athlete and nature. When you win at basketball, you can't know whether it's because you got better or the competition got worse; when you get that redpoint, you know.

[tekla]

The real bet in real high quality skiing and any type of mountain work is you bet your life that you will get to do it again.  But you never race your friends?  Put a side bet on a climb?  Last one to the lodge buys?  None of that?

[Linus]

Individual sports involving nature -- skiing, surfing, climbing, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, etc. -- are more interesting to me because main competition is between the athlete and nature. When you win at basketball, you can't know whether it's because you got better or the competition got worse; when you get that redpoint, you know.

I used to play hockey (way back when) and as a goalie was rather individual on the team but you are right in that fairness is hoofed out the window. Today, when possible, I "compete" against myself (so to speak) by doing long distance solo touring. Being on a bicycle for KM/miles on end is completely freeing. I used to dream of competing in rondonee events (long distance self-competition where the goal is to complete, not compete). The ultimate one would be the RAAM (Race Across America). There'd only be one potential drawback: I'd have to see if the T I take would show up as an "illegal" drug and thus preclude me from competition.

[Alyssa M.]

Tekla,

My approach to sports and especially toward mountain sports is probably one of the aspects of my personality that is most obviously feminine. So, no, I don't do any of the things you mentioned. I rarely see girls do those things at all. Actually, Chinese downhill can be fun, but it's just not my style of skiing -- if I can ski fast, my line is too easy. I try to be the last one down because I took the hardest line. If I'm messing around with friends on some rock outcrop or a kicker, I'll compete a little to see who can go bigger, who can do cooler tricks. But in climbing I won't do any of that. It's all about encouragement, not trash talk or explicit competition. The competition is there, but it's just understood, not spoken. I think that's a big part of the reason there are organizations like Chicks with Picks and Babes in the Backcountry and so on. I've seen perfectly nice guys making their girlfriends cry half way up a rock pitch because of their competitive attitude, and plenty of other similar stories in other outdoor sports.

All of that is not to criticize how other people have fun in the mountains; it's just how I personally have the most fun.

~Alyssa