So, what happened today?

[glasgowspur]

I’ll happily admit I prefer watching men’s sport to women’s sport. I’ll also happily admit I disagree that women deserve equal pay in certain sports, particularly where the men generate more interest and revenue than their female counterparts such as football. But I still enjoy women’s sport, tennis in particular as I’m a big tennis fan. I want to see safe and fair competition. I can’t speak for everyone, but that’s just my view. There are countless examples where trans woman now hold records in women’s sports where it’s clear they have an advantage, I don’t see how that is fair. I do also think trans people and people advocating for them (like Stonewall) would benefit by meeting people in the middle when it comes to debates like this. Even if they are disappointed because they can’t compete, admitting they hold an advantage instead of pretending they don’t would help their cause. You don’t have to be an expert in biology to see that trans athletes in certain sports have an unfair disadvantage over biological women. To keep saying they don’t just turns people off IMO.

I do agree with you that a certain percentage don’t care about women’s sport at all and just use it as an excuse to bash trans people. Impossible to measure how many people feel that way but it would be unfair to lump everyone in the same box as those people just as it would be unfair to lump all trans people in the same box as those sending death threats to JK Rowling as I’m sure it’s a small percentage of trans people.

I enjoy women's tennis and golf more than the male equivalent.
Both retain something of the original cerebral elements of the game that the men's game has now lost and have become power orientated.
Put an elite woman up against a very mediocre male pro and the male will win.
Being a cynic I'm actually surprised no women's football team has a trans identifying goalkeeper, they would sweep all before them.

 

[spurspinter1]

I’ll happily admit I prefer watching men’s sport to women’s sport. I’ll also happily admit I disagree that women deserve equal pay in certain sports, particularly where the men generate more interest and revenue than their female counterparts such as football. But I still enjoy women’s sport, tennis in particular as I’m a big tennis fan. I want to see safe and fair competition. I can’t speak for everyone, but that’s just my view. There are countless examples where trans woman now hold records in women’s sports where it’s clear they have an advantage, I don’t see how that is fair. I do also think trans people and people advocating for them (like Stonewall) would benefit by meeting people in the middle when it comes to debates like this. Even if they are disappointed because they can’t compete, admitting they hold an advantage instead of pretending they don’t would help their cause. You don’t have to be an expert in biology to see that trans athletes in certain sports have an unfair disadvantage over biological women. To keep saying they don’t just turns people off IMO.

I do agree with you that a certain percentage don’t care about women’s sport at all and just use it as an excuse to bash trans people. Impossible to measure how many people feel that way but it would be unfair to lump everyone in the same box as those people just as it would be unfair to lump all trans people in the same box as those sending death threats to JK Rowling as I’m sure it’s a small percentage of trans people.

Funny you mention death threats, the day I saw a clip of Roy Keane that I agreed with (worrying I know). All this talk about death threats, along with Roy, I think if you're actually going to kill someone, you don't @ the person on twitter, you just go and do it. Am I saying then that it's okay to send death threats? No, but I doubt they're ever made by anyone actually wanting to murder someone, and most of the time it's probably AI anyways.

If you get called out for something, it's easier to set a horde of bots on yourself and cry about it than it is to self reflect on what it is that has offended people.

No drama on not wanting equal pay when the income generated for different events is vastly different. Maybe it's due to the historical effects of the patriarchy ie women's football getting shut down because it was more popular than men's and that irked a few blokes in power who had fragile egos, but it's simply how capitalism works I guess.

I haven't seen the John oliver stuff you referred you about trans "advantage". I'd be interested in watching it. Not to oversimplify it but I'd hazard a guess that you're team Bill Maher (who I cannot abide) and I'm team John Oliver / Stewart, but despite being much more likeable they aren't above getting things wrong from time to time.