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Comment by kraftman | Hacker News Reader

You seem to have missed these sections:

"It turns out that when transgender girls play on girls’ sports teams, cisgender girls can win. In fact, the vast majority of female athletes are cisgender, as are the vast majority of winners. There is no epidemic of transgender girls dominating female sports. "

"The Olympics have had trans-inclusive policies since 2004, but a single openly transgender athlete has yet to even qualify."

etc.

If trans people have such an obvious advantage why aren't they dominating every single category of every single strength-involving event?

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It's also notable what a small number of people we're talking about. States have passed laws aimed at addressing this that affect literally a handful individuals living in that state. The amount of smoke this issue is generating is way out of proportion to its actual impact. Meanwhile, PED use among athletes and the general public is increasing[1][2] with little public pushback.

[1] https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2021/0215/p203.html

[2] https://www.usada.org/spirit-of-sport/education/use-performa...

> If trans people have such an obvious advantage why aren't they dominating every single category of every single strength-involving event?

Athletes who dope don't always dominate, but it still gives them an unfair advantage. Same as when males compete in women's events.

That said, in some women's sporting leagues these males are actually dominating - see https://shewon.org for a list of the many hundreds of women who have been denied their place on the podium by trans-identifying male athletes.

> If trans people have such an obvious advantage why aren't they dominating every single category of every single strength-involving event?

Because there are fewer of them competing. Not every man is more athletic than every woman, but the most athletic men are more athletic than the most athletic women.

If me, as a man, tries competing in a women's weightlifting competition, I wouldnt do well, but I wouldn't do well in the male category either. But if you take competitive male athletes and have them compete against females, they will be incredibly competitive.

So trans women arent doing well vs other women because there are fewer of them competing, but also women arent doing well vs other men because there are fewer of them competing. If your only issue is the potential that a person has based on their testosterone, then maybe we should have no gender division, but testosterone categories instead. It seems it would make more sense than preventing both cis women and trans women from competing in a sport just because their hormone levels are too high (a trait we're apparently already directly pre selecting for)

Male performance advantage remains even for those males who choose to lower their testosterone levels; they retain muscle mass and strength above women, and their overall skeletal structure remains intact too: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7846503

In fact, the difference between male and female athletic performance is so stark that even the most elite female athletes are at a disadvantage compared to teenage boys: https://boysvswomen.com

> If trans people have such an obvious advantage why aren't they dominating every single category of every single strength-involving event?

Because there aren't that many trans women who compete in women's sports.

Neither of your quotes is close to a good argument. If you want to answer this question empirically, look at statistics (race times, lbs lifted, etc) and women's competitions where trans women competed.

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