The US has been through worse, you'll probably be fine.
Best thing to do is not watch the news as much, it's designed to make you worry about things that are out of your control.
335 karma · joined September 26, 2023
Best thing to do is not watch the news as much, it's designed to make you worry about things that are out of your control.
This article has an interesting viewpoint, from the perspective of a feminist liberal who had been trying to warn Democrats about this for years: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol10/iss2/8/
Section 4.1 is the logical outcome of FIDE categories being split into Open, where both men and women can compete, and Women, where only women can compete. If a female player changes her chess-gender to man, then it no longer makes any sense for her to hold titles from the Women category such as Woman Grandmaster. She is choosing to exclude herself from a restricted category and the titles that only exist in that category.
I actually don't agree with this policy overall but given that they've decided to let men register as women and women register as men, I'm glad they at least included some restrictions in Section 3 to prevent the men from competing in the Women's category.
> if you were more familiar with the social pressures on trans people, you'd realise that they aren't well-modelled as cis members of their AGAB, for the purposes of inclusivity measures. Your perspective isn't a valid worldview.
I think we just have different worldviews.
This article by Susan Polgar, a trailblazer in women's chess and who has been a role model for female chess players worldwide, makes the case for why separate tournaments for women and girls are needed: https://web.archive.org/web/20250306124806/https://chessdail...
She describes the challenges she faced as a young girl and then as a woman in this male-dominated field, how she had to deal with sexism, social stigma, unwanted sexual advances and threats to her physical safety - all because she is female and wanted to play chess.
With that in mind, the question is, how would including male players (who call themselves women) in these tournaments benefit women and girls? I don't see how it would. The ask seems to be driven from these males requesting to be included, rather than female players requesting these males' inclusion.
> you haven't explained why you believe the World Athletics decisions hold up
I've read their policy and from my understanding the restrictions they've put onto eligibility in the female competition are both evidence-based and prioritise fairness for female athletes (rather than inclusion of male athletes). That's why I personally welcome them.
It's actually quite nuanced when you look at the details, for example, athletes with CAIS are eligible even though from a strictly technical perspective they are 46,XY males. The reason they are eligible is because, being entirely sensitive to androgens, their bodies developed an external female phenotype with no testosterone-driven advantage over 46,XX female athletes.
Whereas the policy excludes male athletes who have DSDs like 5-ARD, even if they have female documentation (e.g. Caster Semenya), because of the male physiological advantage and how unfair this is to female competitors.
> Meanwhile, your "whatever that is" remark suggests you haven't thoughtfully considered the perspective of trans people before.
I have actually, in many discussions with trans-identitied people both in real life and online, in reading articles and books, and in reading forums where they talk to each other. It's mostly why I ended up rejecting the idea that woman and man are merely identities to be claimed. Personally I find that notion quite sexist.
But how can that work in practice when the stated aim of Hamas is to eradicate Israel? It seems that removal of Hamas from power in Gaza would be a prerequisite.
As an example, here's what women in chess have to deal with: https://www.fide.com/fides-statement-on-sexist-remarks/
That statement makes the point that FIDE are well aware this is a problem, and is one they're trying to solve:
"FIDE not only strives to increase women’s representation in professional sports and official positions but also to change the perception of chess as purely a men’s world. Our community has to be a place where women feel safe and respected. Therefore, any action that carries disrespect, sexism or physical, verbal or emotional assault is unacceptable."
Now, some people might argue that if a male competitor claims to have a woman identity, whatever that is, then that player should be permitted to compete alongside women. Given their aim of increasing female participation in chess, FIDE have been somewhat more skeptical of this argument, as you can see in the policy you linked.
> but throwing out claims that are easy to state and hard to rebut (without stooping to the "fight rhetoric with rhetoric" level) does not encourage thoughtful discussion.
I made a comment about the perspective of World Athletics on this, and linked to their statement as evidence. Why would you feel the need to rebut this? Instead of considering it thoughtfully.
The rationale for the female category is to remove this male advantage from competition. Allowing a subset of males who have the advantage of their sex to compete against female athletes, just because these males call themselves women, undermines the whole point of women's sport.
This is why we need such testing as described in the article. It's no different in principle to, for example, weigh-ins in boxing that enable fair competition in each weight category.
Whereas making online service providers responsible for the content they offer is more lightweight for the end user and is more consistent with how it's done offline, like with age verification for certain types of purchases.
This is approximately the same as age verification systems online which either take a selfie video to estimate age, or accept a photo of your ID.
> If they could find a non invasive way to perform age verification, that's free to the website, there wouldn't be a debate.
Google will be introducing this into their Wallet app, initially for railcards and online alcohol purchases. Hopefully should be more convenient and secure: https://blog.google/products/google-pay/google-wallet-age-id...
I expect people will still complain even with systems like this available.
Instead of being debated in an honest, thoughtful and measured way, it's being marketed with propaganda-like emotional appeals, which makes it harder for people to see the ethical implications clearly. All of this being done with the aim of affecting public opinion and changing policy.
This link may be of interest: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5383111-online-safet.... It's about how one of the UK's largest forums is complying with the OSA and why they are taking this approach.
"The Zizians are certainly a lunatic bunch. Yet in some ways this vegan, trans death cult is only a very extreme expression of sentiments and attitudes that have been flourishing in elite, progressive circles for far too long. Indeed, the fact that the media has been determinedly using the Zizians' preferred pronouns in the reporting of their alleged crimes shows just how seriously their wacky beliefs are taken."
Any eligble female athlete should be allowed to compete in the female category, regardless of identity. Coincidentally, to answer your question, there is a good example from women's boxing in the 2024 Olympics: Hergie Bacyadan, a female boxer who identifies as a man.
Sports governing bodies are, thankfully, moving away from flawed identity-based policies and back towards recognizing male physical advantage as the excluding factor for the female category. So athletes like Khelif and Semenya are excluded. But athletes with CAIS, for example, may be permitted to compete as if they are female.
It is your choice if you don't wish to converse further about this. I expect others will recognize your contribution for the drive-by scolding that it was.
It has nothing to do with trans. This is another Caster Semenya type of situation.
That wiki article on Khelif is wrong. There was an interview with Khelif's trainer where he said there is a "problem with chromosomes" and "problem with hormones" and that Khelif is now having testosterone levels lowered medically. The XY karyotype test results of Khelif have been quoted and reported on by sports journalists.
Anyway if Khelif by some miracle isn't male then there should be no concern about this sex screening that World Boxing have introduced. It will only disqualify boxers who shouldn't be competing in the female category.
If not, and other feminist women are charged under these laws for expressing the same views, then this raises the issue of selective enforcement and unfair application of the law.
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/5a2c6ab0-8c88-4f37-9827-694...
Fact is, a male was allowed to compete in this women's event, and he came in first place. And this is just one example of many, as the other hundreds of entries on https://shewon.org amply demonstrate.