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Comment by woodruffw | Hacker News Reader

> It also doesn't really line up with the fact that we fawn over genetic quirks that let Michael Phelps dominate his sport. If we think that certain sorts of genetic quirks are unfair in women's sport, why do we allow them in men's?

I appreciate that you’ve said this so concisely and clearly. The Olympics are, overwhelmingly, a show of extraordinary human abilities. Singling out transwomen for scrutiny and prejudice amounts to special pleading.

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Cis women are 50% of the population while transgender women are less than 1% of the population. Excluding 50% of the population from sports is obviously more problematic than excluding less than 1%, even if both are not ideal.

More than 99.9% are excluded from Olympic-level sports anyway.

But all have some at least theoretically plausible hope, say as a child, to aspire to them. Back when sports were only for men, ~50 % -- women -- were excluded even from that. Allowing trans women to compete as women will again remove that hope from ~50 %: Non-trans women.

Yours is a non-argument.

here is a thought experiment for you: no more genders in sports. at all. everyone competes under the same rules. we bother with quirks like gender? i mean, we want equality right? everyone competes under the same rules /s

Your snideness is noted, but this is precisely the stoic mindset: athleticism is most virtuously practiced when we only compare current selves to our best possible versions of ourselves.

We can’t change anything about how others are; we can only better ourselves. Telling transwomen that they can’t perform athletic excellence on their own terms is myopic and inconsistent with our own praise for factors outside of our control. Worry less about them, and more about yourself.

nah. if you’re working on yourself that’s fine. if you’re working a lifetime to be the best at something only to be cheated out of it, we’re talking about something else.

to nail this point home: if you are training to ride a bike and you’re the best in the world at it and after that someone comes along with an electric bike and wants to “compete” with you you’re gonna have a problem. nothing wrong if everyone has an electric one and the sport involves electric bikes. something is wrong if someone brings an electric bike and claims the bike is the same as the others.

I don't think they like to be referred to as "electric" anymore.

We are talking about competition between others. You have worry about yourself compared to other people - that's the whole point.

We are not arguing the virtues of athleticism I don't understand why you wrote that.

Nobody is telling transwomen that they cannot perform/compete. Just that they shouldn’t compete with women.

So you admit you want to abolish women's sports?

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