LogFAQs > #960853173

pinky0926 posted...

What is the nature of the advantage and how big is it, though?

That's the crux of the issue. Nobody argues that some athletes are better than others, or that certain physical advantages exist and are quantifiable. People only argue what the purpose of a division even is and how to define it. You don't get into the 96kgs weightlifting division if you're 103, and ruling this out is not an insult to the athlete.

Yep.

If we have different divisions for men and women, we acknowledge that somebody born a biological male is going to have a considerable advantage. And that advantage is not brought to 0 by transitioning.

The purpose of separating men/women's sports was not based on gender identity but mitigating that advantage. And so if we are being honest we should have a discussion about if that advantage is mitigated or not. And if it isn't, then it is quite similar to letting somebody compete outside their weight class.

It's not about not recognizing people's gender identity, it's about the intention of the sex-separated sports in general, which was to mitigate unfair biological advantage. Pretending like that isn't even a consideration in a merit based activity like athletics is a mistake and unfair.

It would be good to have a lot of data on relative performance, and from the data come to the conclusion of what is most fair. Shutting down the discussion before it has a chance to play out is an error.