01-27-2021, 01:36 PM
Trans men in sports is a much less reported topic, but there are examples. Chris Mosier made news recently when they qualified for the Olympic trials in men's track and field.
However, the topic on the whole is less controversial than trans women in women's sports.
On the one hand, there is an expectation that AMAB (Assigned male at birth) people are, genetically, stronger than AFAB (assigned female at birth) people. That is to say, a trans woman is expected to have genetic advantages over cis women when it comes to the ability to build muscle and have a larger or bulkier frame. These things often help in sports, so there's a controversy about whether that is fair to the cis athletes participating in women's sports.
That controversy doesn't really exist in men's sports. Since AFAB people are considered "weaker," they don't meaningful disrupt men's sports if they participate in them. At least that is the perception.
Now, we could spend some time dispelling these beliefs, since being on estrogen and testosterone blockers will often remove a lot of the muscle building advantages that AMAB people have, but the extent to which it makes up for this and the time you spend as a man vs the time you spend on these drugs can differ from person to person so it's more of a case by case basis.
The point is, there is not the same fear of "women taking over men's sports" for that physical strength reason.
On the other hand, AFAB men are often on testosterone boosting drugs to assist in their transition and these drugs are almost uniformly banned from competitive sports. So, if an AFAB man wants to compete in men's sports, he must either get a waiver for using these drugs or stop taking the drugs, which would impact his transition or otherwise negatively impact his life.
Just like I can't necessarily quantify how much estrogen and testosterone blockers may bridge the gap between AFAB and AMAB physical strength disparity, I also can't quantify the reverse with testosterone for AFAB men. But there just isn't that fear of AFAB men taking over men's sports.
You could be cynical and say that the reason for this is not because people actually think trans men or women would dominate the sport to which they are transitioning by nature, but more so because our society views women as "lesser" to men, so a woman transitioning to a man isn't a big deal but a man transitioning to a woman is (or you could be EVEN MORE cynical and say that the reason trans women are more controversial is because our society values beauty, youth and baby making capabilities in women over anything else and trans women are not those traditional things, so they are shunned more than trans men [not to mention the ever present fear of being attracted to a trans woman and thereby being "gay" and killing said trans woman, which is an actual thing people argue in court called "trans panic" if they kill a trans woman they were romantically involved with]).
I think trans people are rare enough that each case deserves to be examined as it exists, rather than through any blanket proclamations about trans men or trans women. There is wiggle room in both regards. This isn't a case of "the world gone mad" or of people "pushing an insidious agenda" of any kind. We just need to be compassionate and considerate, as a society, when discussing these things.
However, the topic on the whole is less controversial than trans women in women's sports.
On the one hand, there is an expectation that AMAB (Assigned male at birth) people are, genetically, stronger than AFAB (assigned female at birth) people. That is to say, a trans woman is expected to have genetic advantages over cis women when it comes to the ability to build muscle and have a larger or bulkier frame. These things often help in sports, so there's a controversy about whether that is fair to the cis athletes participating in women's sports.
That controversy doesn't really exist in men's sports. Since AFAB people are considered "weaker," they don't meaningful disrupt men's sports if they participate in them. At least that is the perception.
Now, we could spend some time dispelling these beliefs, since being on estrogen and testosterone blockers will often remove a lot of the muscle building advantages that AMAB people have, but the extent to which it makes up for this and the time you spend as a man vs the time you spend on these drugs can differ from person to person so it's more of a case by case basis.
The point is, there is not the same fear of "women taking over men's sports" for that physical strength reason.
On the other hand, AFAB men are often on testosterone boosting drugs to assist in their transition and these drugs are almost uniformly banned from competitive sports. So, if an AFAB man wants to compete in men's sports, he must either get a waiver for using these drugs or stop taking the drugs, which would impact his transition or otherwise negatively impact his life.
Just like I can't necessarily quantify how much estrogen and testosterone blockers may bridge the gap between AFAB and AMAB physical strength disparity, I also can't quantify the reverse with testosterone for AFAB men. But there just isn't that fear of AFAB men taking over men's sports.
You could be cynical and say that the reason for this is not because people actually think trans men or women would dominate the sport to which they are transitioning by nature, but more so because our society views women as "lesser" to men, so a woman transitioning to a man isn't a big deal but a man transitioning to a woman is (or you could be EVEN MORE cynical and say that the reason trans women are more controversial is because our society values beauty, youth and baby making capabilities in women over anything else and trans women are not those traditional things, so they are shunned more than trans men [not to mention the ever present fear of being attracted to a trans woman and thereby being "gay" and killing said trans woman, which is an actual thing people argue in court called "trans panic" if they kill a trans woman they were romantically involved with]).
I think trans people are rare enough that each case deserves to be examined as it exists, rather than through any blanket proclamations about trans men or trans women. There is wiggle room in both regards. This isn't a case of "the world gone mad" or of people "pushing an insidious agenda" of any kind. We just need to be compassionate and considerate, as a society, when discussing these things.
![[Image: oN5QAdY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/oN5QAdY.png)
