I’m assuming that the push for inclusion in women’s sports is because of nonacceptance and feeling “unsafe” in the macho-heavy culture of male sports. Otherwise, as weight classes in boxing obviously make sense, sexed-body classes in contact sports would not be up for question. But maybe I’m wrong and the symbolism of membership in the sex class that participation on a female team involves may be the larger motive — in which case my idea that men should be forced to be inclusive of all kinds of males would be a moot point. But the safety question is what keeps coming up in the bathroom discussion — and there, too, males need to control their reaction to others males’ degree of sex role (non)conformity.
One way to do this would be to declare the men’s division an “open“ division. De facto, a lot of men’s sports already are, although individual states and districts may have rules about how female competitors can take part, if at all. There are obvious safety concerns in contact sports when you mix male and female bodies, and that means there are also liability concerns.
However, I doubt that many trans women would wish to compete in an open division because it would not be affirming of their identity. I suspect most would see an open division as the men’s division by another name.
Additionally, trans women on hormone therapy typically lose some strength, although on average they retain about half their initial male advantage. The individual experiencing a loss of strength doesn’t notice the remaining advantage nearly as much as what has diminished. So I also imagine that many trans women would insist that it would be unfair for them to compete against men.
Maybe i misunderstood, but how can men accomodate "transwomen," if the latter insist they are women?
I’m assuming that the push for inclusion in women’s sports is because of nonacceptance and feeling “unsafe” in the macho-heavy culture of male sports. Otherwise, as weight classes in boxing obviously make sense, sexed-body classes in contact sports would not be up for question. But maybe I’m wrong and the symbolism of membership in the sex class that participation on a female team involves may be the larger motive — in which case my idea that men should be forced to be inclusive of all kinds of males would be a moot point. But the safety question is what keeps coming up in the bathroom discussion — and there, too, males need to control their reaction to others males’ degree of sex role (non)conformity.
One way to do this would be to declare the men’s division an “open“ division. De facto, a lot of men’s sports already are, although individual states and districts may have rules about how female competitors can take part, if at all. There are obvious safety concerns in contact sports when you mix male and female bodies, and that means there are also liability concerns.
However, I doubt that many trans women would wish to compete in an open division because it would not be affirming of their identity. I suspect most would see an open division as the men’s division by another name.
Additionally, trans women on hormone therapy typically lose some strength, although on average they retain about half their initial male advantage. The individual experiencing a loss of strength doesn’t notice the remaining advantage nearly as much as what has diminished. So I also imagine that many trans women would insist that it would be unfair for them to compete against men.
Those are all really good points. Your suspicion is correct: so far, the open category has not attracted interest.