June 24, 2022

"People talk about the fact that we’re coming in and ruining women’s sports — but there are way bigger issues that women’s sports face...."

"The idea that a few trans women coming into a sport – and often times not even winning – and that’s what’s going to ruin women’s sports is pretty horrifying.... Because people are so focused on the advantages, they kind of ignore the fact that there actually are disadvantages that also come along with a transition.... Beyond all of this, as a society we need to build understanding and acceptance for queer people before we should even worry about sports."

Said "Transgender mountain biker Kate Weatherly slams ‘horrifying’ new rules on trans athletes" (NY Post). Weatherly was talking about the new rules in swimming and anticipating a similar development in mountain biking.

Within this argument sports are both very important and very not important. Similarly, gender difference is considered very important and, simultaneously, very not important. 

37 comments:

Butkus51 said...

horrifying. I found his pic horrorfying, so theres that.

Mary Beth said...

I'm sure there are disadvantages, but I think they're personal or social, not competitive.

Wince said...

The idea that a few trans women coming into a sport – and often times not even winning – and that’s what’s going to ruin women’s sports is pretty horrifying

Conversely, what's the downside of simply competing in your biological sex category?

Not dominating the competition as easily?

Jefferson's Revenge said...

This sentence interests me-

" Beyond all of this, as a society we need to build understanding and acceptance for queer people before we should even worry about sports.""

Are trans people queer? I thought that was a whole different thing. I think society is pretty accepting of queer people. Gosh, I think it's pretty accepting of trans people too. I think there are only two issues people have with the trans world;

1) The focus on kids and "turning" them early before they've matured enough to make a decision on their own.
2) The obvious unfairness in the sports world to women

Other than that, if a 25 year old wants to declare themselves of a different gender/sex, who gives a sh*t?

gilbar said...

Kate Weatherly said...
.. trans women coming into a sport – and often times not even winning

So, i wondered about WHO this Kate girl is? And found this:
KATE Weatherly has started dominating mountain bike races three weeks after making the switch from men’s to women’s ranks
also,
Shania Rawson the former No. 2 junior women’s rider in the world, finished second to Weatherly in the National Championships in Wanaka at the weekend — 13 seconds behind.

So, "often times not even winning".. Just, USUALLY
Kate was a mediocre male cyclist.. NOW! she's one of the fastest women In The World

L Day said...

Obviously, the wile are trying to change the centuries old meaning of what a woman is. That’s why a Supreme Court Justice tells us she can’t define “woman” when she knows damned well she could.

Lurker21 said...

Within this argument sports are both very important and very not important. Similarly, gender difference if very important and very not important.

You saw that recently with Megan Rapinoe. It's not important if boys play in middle school girls' soccer, but it's very important that men not play on Megan's team. This turn things on it's head. It's important that kids learn healthy habits, and not so important that adults can sit around watching televised sports (especially sports that nobody watches).

Similarly, in this view trans acceptance is socially important, but the physical differences between those who grew up male and those who grew up female are not important. That thinking applies to a lot of what's going on now. Diversity, inclusion, and equity are more important than actual competence and productivity.

mikee said...

Sports are an artificial construct of athletic prowess designed to allow participants to measure their skill against others in a repeatable manner, under rules that all must follow. Having genetics different from other competitors, and physiological differences based on genetics, is a clear means of differentiating people into groups of competitors to allow fair competition. So is grouping competitors by ages, or by weights, or by nationalities (at the Olympics, say).

The trans females can complain all they want, but having male physiology at their entry into this world makes them different from other competitors who started out as female. The trans females can compete with other genetic men, or with themselves in a trans female category, or not at all, but the cis females have a legitimate reason to exclude biological men from their competitions: simply put, trans females are genetically male.

Trans females can compete in other areas of life as fully female without anyone claiming they have an unfair advantage. But in the purposefully fair world of sports, they want to cheat.

Tom T. said...

"Often times not even winning" is spectacular.

Taking her concern at face value, the problem is that the invasion of women's sports is one of the single biggest obstacles to trans people securing acceptance by the public at large.

Rusty said...

Isn't the object of any sport to test yourself against your peers? With trans athletes it isn't like competing against like. I'm surprised this has to even be brought up.

cassandra lite said...

It's both very important and very ignored that no trans-men are crashing men's sports teams.

M Jordan said...

Years ago I heard Stephen King in an interview say that horror lit is very moralistic and the ultimate enemy is always chaos. Those who broke societal rules, who created chaos, were always the first to die. Likewise the second verse of the Bible — “And the earth became chaotic and empty (tohu and bohu)” — shows the true enemy of God is chaos. By verse three God starts reestablishing order, an order that existed prior to verse 2 in a hidden eon. (Yes, I’m a “gappist.”)

Chaos rules the landscape today brought on by progressivism’s triumph of the last sixty years. And nobody likes it, not even the creators of it. The good news is it can’t last, order must return and it will … until the next spasm of Marxism convulses the world.

Jeff Vader said...

When was it decided that the more mentally disturbed a person is the less society as a whole can question them?

PB said...

You can't really "transition" from one sex to another. You can be a surgically altered, cosmetic look-alike, but a man will never be a woman and a woman will never be a man. The distinction between sexes is very important for medical treatment and post-mortem accident identification. In the first case, if you blindly treat a patient as the sex they "identify" with, you are risking medical damage. In the latter case, you can't really ask the corpse what they "identify" as.

It is offensive to me when people attempt to redefine reality and appropriate words for their own use with new definitions. Using the term "trans-woman" or "trans-man" is such an appropriation. They need to come up with all new words.

As for "pronouns", if someone gives me their pronouns, I will studiously avoid using any pronouns with them.

Regardless, once a man, always a man, and likewise, once a woman, always a woman.

Hari said...

Here is the exact same argument: The idea that a few [steroid users] coming into a sport – and often times not even winning – and that’s what’s going to ruin [all] sports is pretty horrifying.... Because people are so focused on the advantages, they kind of ignore the fact that there actually are disadvantages that also come along with [using steroids]

Bryant said...

True athletes want to compete on an even playing field while still taking every advantage available to them. Why is it so important for these trans athletes to compete against women? Almost all men's categories in sports are mixed and women are free to compete in them, but instead these cheesy faux athletes insist they must be able to compete against the women.

John henry said...

He says that there are advantages to the sport from allowing crossdressers.

Could he tell us what they are?

The article doesn't say.

Does he still have have his guy parts? I might feel a bit differently if he was committed enough to cut them off.

Articles about cross dressers claiming to be women should always say.

Also, you seem to be using more non pay walled sources lately. I am sure others will join me in thanking you.

John LGBTQ Henry

SoLastMillennium said...

The most important take from this post is it implies Ms Althouse reads the New York Post.

SoLastMillennium said...

The biggest take on this post is it implies Ms Althouse reads the New York Post....

John henry said...

gilbar said..

NOW! she's one of the fastest women In The World

No.

He's not

John LGBTQ Henry

Jersey Fled said...

In 2018, 275 high school boys ran the 400m faster than the women's world record. We see this everywhere that biological men compete against women; swimming, weightlifting, track and field, bicycling ... The hormone blocker argument is just a fig leaf.

Jimmy said...

"Beyond all of this, as a society we need to build understanding and acceptance for queer people before we should even worry about sports."
No we don't. Based on my experience with the left, this means that unless we get in line and accept the new order, we will be 'canceled', or treated to the lefts discrimination.
Sorry not sorry. Male, or female. You want to call yourself the other gender, thats fine. Don't expect me to play along with your insanity.
Feminism proved, at least to me, what a complete failure it is, when it allows men to compete against women. The insanity part comes in when these fools demand we play along.

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

" Beyond all of this, as a society we need to build understanding and acceptance for queer people...
Your wants are not my needs.
Understanding? Sure, I understand that queer people, in all their diversity, exist, and always have existed.
Acceptance? Yes, in your private spaces. Do whatever you want with any other consenting adult in your own space, on your own time.
Acceptance in the public square? No. You may want to take your swinging dick into my granddaughter's restroom, but you will have to literally go through me to get there.
I'll be standing at the door.
I know that I won't be able to determine with 100% accuracy who is female who who is just playing the part, but I don't recommend that you push your luck.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Leah Thomas was not winning his swim matches as a guy.

Leah Thomas did very well winning swim matches as a girl.

Discuss.

JAORE said...

Tyranny of the micro-minority.

M said...

Your issues are not other people’s problems. We don’t have to validate the feelings of a man who thinks he is Napoleon. We don’t have to let him invade Belgium. Why do we have to let trans into other people’s spaces? There is no logical reason for this.

Michael K said...


Blogger JAORE said...

Tyranny of the micro-minority.


You can say that again. The insane left is winning so far. Common sense plans a rebuttal.

Jupiter said...

"Similarly, gender difference is considered very important and, simultaneously, very not important."

Of course, he's a woman now, he gets to have it both ways.

n.n said...

Men and women are equal in rights and complementary in Nature/nature. The transgender spectrum is politically congruent ("="). Transgender conversion therapy is performed through medical, surgical, and psychiatric corruption in a sociopolitical experiment.

Jupiter said...

"Transgender conversion therapy is performed through medical, surgical, and psychiatric corruption in a sociopolitical experiment."

Clearly, this is true. But one has to wonder, what is the nature of that corruption? How did the medical schools become complicit in this monstrous crime?

Achilles said...

"The idea that a few trans women coming into a sport – and often times not even winning – and that’s what’s going to ruin women’s sports is pretty horrifying.... Because people are so focused on the advantages, they kind of ignore the fact that there actually are disadvantages that also come along with a transition.... Beyond all of this, as a society we need to build understanding and acceptance for queer people before we should even worry about sports."


This mediocre male bike competitor just wants to win without possessing the talent or determination to win as a man.

He is a fucking barbarian and so are the people that support him competing against women.

These people need to be suppressed. They are selfishly destroying something that thousands of people enjoy.

Steven Wilson said...

JefF Vader says:

"When was it decided that the more mentally disturbed a person is the less society as a whole can question them?"

I wish that is where we were. I've been saying for at least five years that what we are witnessing from the left is a search for the single most dysfunctional human being in the word and the immediate installation of that person as the sole arbiter of all social mores.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

"Beyond all of this, as a society we need to build understanding and acceptance for queer people before we should even worry about sports."

Nice, but dishonest, way to elide the issue.

What that creature actually meant is "we need to build understanding and acceptance for queer people before we should even worry about women"

To which I say: if the feminists don't want to defend women, I'm not sure I should

Static Ping said...

It has the same energy as a wrestling heal complaining he's not allowed to hit his opponents with a steel chair.

lane ranger said...

I'm always late to the party on Althouse, although it's the only place I comment. What's missing from this discussion is the primary reason for having women's sports in the first place. Sport has so many beneficial effects, including (earned, and therefore legitimate) self-esteem, physical fitness (which can last a lifetime), acquiring social skills in the areas of teamwork and graceful winning and losing, learning the value of delayed gratification through hard work that does not pay off immediately, etc. These benefits are only possible for the vast majority of girls if they compete only with each other, and this obvious conclusion has animated the push for women's sports. I don't discount the fairness and equality motivations, but I'm focused on the beneficial results of women's sports, which go well beyond fairness and equality for women. It seems clear that women's sports will be negatively impacted, if not decimated, by permitting men to compete against women; why should girls spend their formative years making the kinds of sacrifices necessary to be competitive in their sport when they cannot effectively compete against men? If we agree that preservation of women's sports is valuable and beneficial to women, then it follows that men must continue to be excluded.

285exp said...

Prior to his beginning hormone therapy, was he ever among the elite males in his age group? Not just competitive, but elite? But now that he is an elite female competitor, we’re expected to believe that his hormone suppression has erased the advantage his male physiology gave him? Nah.

Zev said...

It's a scam, and the person running the scam would like it to continue.