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About sex segregation in sports...

[Note: here "women" and "men" can be read as "cis women" and "cis men," but usually when I talk about women and men I mean all of them, cis, trans, nonbinary, and more.]

Despite what some people say, sex segregation in sports is NOT for the protection of women's health. Women are not that fragile.

Sex segregation in sports is for the protection of men's egos, which are that fragile.

We don't know women's true capabilities at the current moment. We are barely beginning to emerge from a long period of enforced ignorance about women's capacity for strength and athletic achievement. Example number one million or so:

For decades, the idea that “lighter is faster,” was the reigning mythology passed on by most track coaches when it came to conditioning, especially to endurance athletes. Coaches would encourage young female runners, who often have higher body fat percentages than their male counterparts, to lose weight to improve performance.

Today, many women runners are flipping the script. They’re discovering how dangerous undernourishment can be – including the risks of disordered eating – and are seeking out coaching that supports proper fueling. The old model of coaching for thinness is gradually giving way to an emphasis on strength and stamina.

Undernourishment by athletes competing at high levels can have a number of bad health effects; one of them is bone micro-fractures. I have seen TERFs citing the prevalence of micro-fractures among women athletes as proof that women need protection from competing with men--but in reality it's evidence that women in sports are being systematically discouraged from adequately nourishing themselves.

Until sexism is eradicated, nobody can make any blanket statements about women's capacity for athletic achievement.

#Sexism #Transphobia #Misogyny #Sports #Olympics #Running #WomenAthletes

npr.org/sections/shots-health-…

Imane Khelif is a cis woman, she has experienced 9 losses against other women in her career, including the 2020 Olympics where she lost against Irish participant Kellie Harrington. Yet, the usual transphobes are currently unleashing a vile attack against her, misgendering her, accusing her of being a man competing unfairly and having some sort of advantage against her fellow athletes, all because she doesn't fit their incredibly limited norm of how a woman should look.

Suddenly, people who never cared or know much about the sport are very interested in women's boxing, and found a scapegoat in her in order to spread their disinformation. Khelif is currently receiving more vitriol than convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde who was still allowed to compete.

This is basically yet another reminder that it was never about genuinely caring for the safety of women. Transphobia is dangerous for everyone, *including* us cis women, and that the links between TERF ideology and white supremacy are very real. Feminism isn't feminism if it's not intersectional.

junkee.com/articles/trans-wome…

#ImaneKhelif #Olympics #Olympics2024 #transphobia #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

Transphobic Backlash To Imane Khelif Doesn't Help Women

^Junkee

Lin Yu-ting originally got into boxing wanting to protect her mother from domestic violence, which clearly shows that she has experienced domestic abuse first hand.

Imane Khelif grew up in poverty, she started boxing when she became good at dodging the physical attacks of boys in her village, traveled 10km to train, and had to work to pay for her own bus fare, as her father didn't approve of boxing for girls. An experience that a lot of girls who grew up having so-called "tomboy" interests are probably familiar with. I know I am. She has recently become a UNICEF ambassador, aiming to inspire girls everywhere to chase their dreams. (unicef.org/algeria/en/stories/…)

Not that the transphobia and clear racist undertones of attacking these two women, despite the fact that they are both cis, aren't horrible enough, but there's something particularly sinister and cruel in the fact that the people who decided to paint them as villains and keep circulating disinformation about both, claim to act in the name of ending violence against women and protecting women's rights.

#LinYuTing #ImaneKhelif #Olympics #Transphobia #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA

Yesterday, the UK government used an obscure emergency process to make possession of puberty blockers for new treatment of trans kids illegal, and punishable by up to two years in prison. [1] There was no parliamentary debate, no vote, and no public consultation.

Parents of children on GIC waiting lists are being told by the NHS that if they don't bring their kids to an """assessment""" they risk being reported to Social Services.

The Good Law Project recognises that the NHS are behaving unethically, and is running a crowdfunder to seek urgent legal advice to challenge the NHS.

If you are looking for a good cause, the Good Law Project crowdfunder can be found here: goodlawproject.org/crowdfunder…

[1] erininthemorning.com/p/uk-secr…

#transphobia #trans #NHS #UK #PubertyBlockers

UK Secretary Uses Emergency Powers To Criminalize Possession Of Puberty Blockers

On May 31st, letters went out from NHS England to parents of trans youth stating that they must immediately stop taking puberty blockers, and that possession will be considered a crime.

^{Erin Reed (Erin In The Morning)}

#Florida's #Criminal #Bathroom #Ban Now In #Effect: #Enforcement Likely To Be A #Disaster.

The first #criminal bathroom ban with a #jail #sentence has just #takeneffect overnight in #florida

Florida is now #dangerous for #transgender #people, with arrests likely in coming days.

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Florida #RepublicanParty #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination #Transphobia #ThePartyOfHate

erininthemorning.com/p/florida…

Florida Bathroom Ban Now In Effect: Enforcement Likely To Be A Disaster

The first criminal bathroom ban with a jail sentence has just taken effect overnight in Florida. Florida is now dangerous for transgender people to travel through, with arrests likely in coming days.

^{Erin Reed (Erin In The Morning)}

Note to whoever boosted this Christofascist's introduction where he said he was banned for his opinion without saying what his opinion was:

You MUST ask what the bannable opinion was!!!

Anyway heads up to other mods: I bet Mastodon.Online will ban him soon, so keep an eye out.

#FediBlock #Christofascism #Homophobia #Transphobia #BlockList

mastodon.online/@expertmanoffi…

It's such a shame when cool projects are maintained by bigots.

I wanted to give Hyprland a try, since I love the (technical) direction it's going. Sadly, the maintainers are transphobic and will treat you like garbage if you are a trans person. @orowith2os, a great friend of mine, shared some screenshots about the bigotry on the Discord server that made me reconsider my decision.

#Trans #Transphobia #Bigotry #Hyprland #Linux #FOSS #OpenSource