Meta (lemm.ee)

Is it transphobic or just woefully ignorant? (I have a point to asking that, bear with me)

I've not seen them talk about trans issues before, and haven't looked yet to see. Edit: I went to look and see. Jfc, they're an idiot. May or may not be a transphobe, but they are talking about shit that is so far off of reality in multiple places that I don't even know how to unpack it all. Don't go brigading, don't go fucking with them, but holy fuck. I can't even. It makes it impossible to tell them apart from a transphobe because damn, there is some serious lack of thinking going on.

But, believe it or not, some people are just stupid, rather than bigoted. It's impossible to tell the difference most of the time, but with user histories, you can check and see if they're consistent on lemmy.

That's the whole problem with propaganda. It works. You get enough people parroting inaccurate, or outright made up information, it spreads, and not everyone has the background to recognize how dumb it actually is.

Now, for anyone reading this that holds the opinion stated in the screen shot based on supposed facts, it is simply bullshit. Once someone begins hormone treatment, the changes begin. Those changes functionally erase the "advantages" that are claimed. It is utter tripe. The younger the person is when they begin hormonal treatment, the less time it takes for the supposed advantages to go away.

Now, here's something else interesting. If the person is an athlete before hormones, and after, the changes from that tend to stay in place. But, and this is the key part, someone born with a functionally female endocrine system and is an athlete before and during puberty has those same advantages.

That's right. The way bodies change from sustained athletic training are more significant than those from hormones alone.

Muscle attachment points, as a primary example. They form from using one's body, and that doesn't play favourites. You lift more, you get bigger attachments. You work harder, you get more.

Now, having bigger muscles does increase that. But even that changes post transition. The bones still shift and reshape. You lose that advantage over time.

So, anyone arguing that having previously been exposed to testosterone is a permanent advantage is wrong.

At most there might be a period of time where the body changes that there may be a temporary advantage. But it will go away.

You know how we know it'll go away? Records. Go look up the world records for some sports and athletic endeavors. Trans women have competed alongside cis women plenty. There's no trend of trans women dominating any sport. It isn't there. Go look at weightlifting in specific, the sport where having lifted while having high testosterone is the biggest advantage possible. Where's the trans women wrecking those records?

Yeah. Exactly. Despite there being trans lifters men and women, trans athletes simply don't perform better as a group. Trans women lifters lose muscle mass and drop their maxes. It isn't immediately, it does take time. But you'll see it start in a matter of a month or two of starting anti-androgens, much less the rest of hormonal treatment.

But, and I think it important to say, I know this because I have a background as a lifter, and low level medical training. Not everyone would know this. Someone without that advantage might not immediately see the claims of advantages and not know it's bullshit. They'd have to actually fact check the claims instead of swallowing them whole. Which is why it could be stupidity instead of bigotry.

Also, there are top level cis female athletes that have way higher testosterone naturally than other cis women, and definitely higher than trans women. So, if anything, a trans athlete up against one of them would be disadvantaged. Mind you, having higher testosterone isn't a gimme for gold medals. Those women, even with that hormonal boost lose to women without it. So, you know, an even bigger hole in the propaganda.

Since nobody that whines about trans athletes ever bothers to suggest waiting periods before competing as their confirmed gender, you can tell they're either an idiot, or a bigot. The issue is figuring out which, since they look the same.