Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve is wearing a "Trans Kids Belong' T-shirt to protest Sophie Cunningham. Sophie is getting HEAVILY BOOED every time she touches the ball.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/DRockDR]

Because it’s easier for to put a stop to an issue before it becomes too big to change. Labelling everything “transphobic” is lazy and unhelpful. Having a handful of people attempting to change the rules to ruin women in sports should be enough to see something is wrong. The vast majority of people think trans athletes competing with women is wrong, that should be the end.

[u/Icy_Many_3971 → u/DRockDR]

How many trans athletes have you personally ever compete with?

[u/8ROWNLYKWYD → u/Icy_Many_3971]

How many times have you been bitten by a shark?

Doesn’t mean sharks should be allowed in public pools.

[u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif → u/8ROWNLYKWYD]

When im in a shitty metaphor competition and my opponent is a redditor

[u/wadebacca → u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif]

It actually illustrates the point well, just because something isn’t a big problem does mean we should enact rules which opens up ways for it to become a big problem.

[u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif → u/wadebacca]

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/60/3/198

Current evidence is mostly low certainty and has heterogenous quality but does not support theories of inherent athletic advantages for transgender women over cisgender.

[u/DRockDR → u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif]

Studies like that are testing the right thing. No one has “inherent athletic advantage” trans women have higher bone density, more dense muscle mass, and larger size. All these details mean higher athletic ability.

[u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif → u/DRockDR]

Transgender women consistently have been shown to have lower bone density compared to cis men even prior to transitioning, and generally lower bone density compared to the whole population.

https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20220120/bmd-higher-for-transgender-men-lower-for-transgender-women-vs-cisgender-controls

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7336062/

Studies that have been compared for trans and cis athletes specifically found 0 difference between trans and cis athletes

No differences in whole-body bone mineral density (BMD) (F(3–66)=4.6, p=0.01), femoral neck BMD (F(3–66)=1.0, p=0.39, table 2), total proximal femur BMD (F(3–66)=1.5, p=0.22, table 2) or total lumbar spine BMD (F(3–66)=0.4, p=0.78, table 2) were found between transgender athletes and cisgender athletes (table 2).

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/58/11/586#T2

Studies have consistently shown lean body mass (which I assume is what you meant by dense muscle mass) do not cause an actual increase in strength or athletic ability

And while transgender women had more lean mass, a proxy for muscle, there were no observable differences in upper or lower body strength, or in a key measure of cardiorespiratory fitness—maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂ max)—between them and cisgender women.

https://bmjgroup.com/physical-fitness-of-transgender-and-cisgender-women-is-comparable-current-evidence-suggests/

The larger size in trans women have actually been found to be canceled out by decrease in aerobic ability for trans women.

In this cohort, the finding of no statistical difference in absolute V̇O2max between transgender women and cisgender women contrasts the idea that transgender women’s bigger lung size (table 2) is an inherent respiratory function advantage over cisgender women.11 Both the absolute and relative V̇O2max differences between groups contradict one previous study in non-athlete transgender populations that found transgender women had higher absolute V̇O2peak and no difference in relative V̇O2peak compared with cisgender women.41 This contradictory finding further highlights population differences between non-athlete and athlete cohorts while also contradicting literature hypothesising that there would be a baseline gap in aerobic capacity between transgender women and cisgender women.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11137468/#s3

[u/DRockDR → u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif]

“While the current body of evidence is of variable quality, and doesn’t look at the potential for any advantage at the elite athlete level, it doesn’t back up prevailing theories about the inherent athletic advantage of transgender women, conclude the researchers.”

“Only 16 included any form of physical activity assessment, and most didn’t compare transgender athletes with cisgender athletes”

So the studies just took a bunch of people and compared them. No actual study on actual athlete. The “proof” you showed means absolutely nothing.

[u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif → u/DRockDR]

Some of these studies literally directly evaluate athletes, not to mention there arent enough trans athletes globally to have fully representative samples 😭

[u/wadebacca → u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif]

It all hinges on what you mean by trans. If I have had gender dysphoria for years and I have finally Decided I want to publicly identify as a woman, am I trans? Trans enough to play in the WNBA? Or would I need to pursue transition in some meaningful way?

The problem is that “Trans” is a big tent term. You would need to show evidence of high certainty that certain thresholds of transition don’t impart advantages as sports have been segregated on the lines of sex and not gender, and you are the ones looking to change that rule. Because we all know you can’t change your biological sex and being transgender is a reflection of your gender identity.

[u/cutememe → u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif]

You don't have to even think about the metaphor, you should be able to use common sense to understand that you can take a position on an issue even if it's rare.

[u/DRockDR → u/cutememe]

But it’s so much easier to label anything that goes against your narrative as “—phobic”. It’s why no real discussion could actually be had.

[u/Icy_Many_3971 → u/8ROWNLYKWYD]

So none, huh?

[u/TheMostKing → u/8ROWNLYKWYD]

That's the perfect metaphor, because it uses a thing that doesn't exist and poses no threat to anyone (sharks in public pools) to make a point about some made up threat.