RolStoppable said:
These are two sentences that I agree with, but I have a small correction: Men who transition are called transwomen, not transmen like you wrote. The first one because of biological reality. Those who argue otherwise are stooping to the same level as the deniers of human made climate change. The facts need to be respected. The second one because I witnessed it first hand during the broadcast of Lions vs. Packers. There were multiple commercial breaks where the Trump campaign hammered it home that the Democrats aren't against transwomen in women's sports. I consider these ads highly effective in turning people away from the Democrats, so if a Democrat wants to be electable, they have to keep this topic in mind. The problem with transwomen in women's sports is that you are effectively discriminating against women. Women's sports were created because of biological reality and in the interest of fairness which is the ideal that sports in general strive for. Keeping transwomen out of women's sports counts as discrimination against transwomen, and I would agree with that. So the situation is that this is a problem with no possible solution to please everyone. Smart politics opt for the majority in such cases, it is that simple. Doing otherwise makes the Democrats a very easy target. |
You are right, but I usually don't care as I don't care about competitive sports to begin with. But yeah it is true and for people that are having difficulties to admit that: there are also sports in which competitors are separated by weight class. That's why at the start of a boxing event the contestant have to be weighed. People should ask themself, why this is happening and the answer is: otherwise it would be an unfair competition. Same with separating by gender. Allowing Transwomen is also unfair. So I don't know what trans athletes should do, maybe a transwomen and transmen category? People should consider that nobody is talking about transmen, and for good reason: transmen that have to compete with men cannot compete. Basically the reason why letting transwomen compete with women is unfair to women is the same reason why letting transmen compete with men is unfair to transmen. So putting up extra categories for transpeople seems to me currently the best option, but again: I am not into competitive sports.
But the more interesting part here is: Republicans blast ads about this issue? Everyone should ask themself why they do that. And the answer is: this issues puts the current educated left in an argumentative disadvantage because they willfully handicapped themself by not allowing themself to talk honest about it (like you did). This forum is very mixed politically, therefore you get away with saying that, on a more leftist forum you would get roasted for saying: "The problem with transwomen in women's sports is that you are effectively discriminating against women." Not because you are wrong, but because some people seem to think speaking honestly about true things is somehow discrimination.
A few posts above yours someone posted the reaction of Bernie Sanders and Seth Moulton. And apparently Moulton also adressed trans issues, and the article says: "also repeated comments about trans athletes he had earlier made in the New York Times that leaders in Salem and across Massachusetts have called harmful." So talking about trans in this way is considered harmful. So why are Republicans blasting these ads? Because Democrats either keep their mouth shut or start arguing between themself if they react on it. It is impossible for them to deal with this.
But there is a second reason: People - especially sports fans - may somewhat be invested in that question, but usually at election other issues are more pressing. Republicans effectively distract from all the stuff they don't look as good. See, Democrats would have also an easy in: just show an statistic how wealth among the TOP 1% and the lower 50% (or even 90%) developed over the last years and then show Trump being buddy-buddy with super rich starting with Musk. And asking: "Who will he make policies for?" That should be helpful.
