USA Fencer Disqualified For Refusing To Compete Against Trans Athlete
USA Fencer Disqualified For Refusing To Compete Against Trans Athlete
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USA Fencer Disqualified For Refusing To Compete Against Trans Athlete - GO Magazine
21 comments
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I've always found the moral panic over Trans people in sports weird. Sports don't actually do anything. If some guy throws a ball better than someone else or a woman can poke someone more with a stick it literally has no effect on the world other than what significance we give it.
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Right or wrong, I can understand how people might feel this puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to sports scholarships for higher education.
At least in the US (thanks Reagan) college sports scholarships are the only way some families can afford to send their kids to college.
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At the same time their response is to call to bar groups of people from the opportunity to compete for higher education.
Like I get it, but it's a situation that demonstrates the underlying problem
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At least in the US (thanks Reagan) college sports scholarships are the only way some families can afford to send their kids to college.
That was what was behind that caveat in the second half of my post.
Sure being a big strong guy (or gal) who can do sports things with a ball, stick or whatever is a insanely profitable career, but what does it actually do? Nothing. If every professional sports person suddenly dropped dead tomorrow the world would still be the same as it was today. Sports do nothing.
I mean I don't object to contests of skill and physical prowess, but I just find it insane that it's somehow metastasized into this giant billion dollar industry that produces nothing and consumes everything. Like, imagine if people were getting upset about Trans people competing in... I dunno pogs or something because pog games were a billion dollar industry.
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I feel like this idea is a little too reductionist. Like yeah sports are productive. But you know what else isn't? Movies, books, art majors, history majors, and countless other things that we still need in society.
Sports are entertainment, and that should be a good enough reason for something to exist. You might not like it and that's fine, and you can argue that athletes are over paid (people doing fencing definitely aren't) but just reducing them how much productive output they create is just dumb.
Edit: this comment is not discussing trans folks competing in sports. I think it's a little more complicated than "they should be allowed", but I also don't think banning trans folks is the answer either. This comment is purely discussing the concept of sports in society.
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Part of the panic isn't moral, it's about money. Money in sports corrupts sports, and you can bet that any athlete making money by playing their sport is going to get real upset when they feel cheated out of potential money because they lost "unfairly" to a trans woman (which isn't actually happening).
As for why republicans and some democrats are against trans girls in K-12 sports? Well, they simply don't see trans girls as girls, and that are 'worthy' of equal rights and protection.
But yeah, you are absolutely right.
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Yeah, I find people's emotional investment in sports to be very strange. Not just professional sports, but the Olympics. Like, who the hell cares who can throw a ball the farthest, or jump the highest? What does that do for anyone? How is that useful, or helpful, or valuable in any way?
It's just stupid on every level that anyone gives a damn about trans people in sports. Obviously it's manufactured culture war bullshit, but the fact that it's had any kind of staying power is infuriating.
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You might enjoy this episode of a podcast I enjoy. It speaks a bit about the points you've made...
Toenails: Muscular Christianity
Episode webpage: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/toenails/episodes/Muscular-Christianity-ekqr2o
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21 comments