What to call this thread?

I remember when my son was in 1st grade -- that was the year we finally understood he was trans, and began his social transition (name and pronouns mostly). He's always been a super bright kid, but he had also always struggled with his reading. He lagged behind the other kids for some reason, and just wasn't able to concentrate long enough to know how to sound out the words.

There were other things happening, too: he was super squirrelly on the rug during circle time and could never seem to sit still. When it was time to line up (boys over here, girls over here), the sweet thing would just go and hide somewhere instead. He didn't want to line up with the girls, but he knew he'd be kicked out of the boys line if he lined up there where he felt he belonged. So he'd just hide instead.

Breaks my heart, honestly.

I won't retell the entire story of "how I figured it out", but it eventually all clicked for me: after YEARS of him trying to get me to SEE him for his authentic self, I finally got it. He wasn't a "tomboy". He was a BOY. And the sooner ....

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Watching the transphobes tie themselves in knots

In recent years, activism from Christian nationalists, ‘gender critical’ feminists, and other right-wing groups, funded by billionaires and fossil fuel companies, has led to widespread restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender young people in the UK and the US.

Despite evidence demonstrating that gender-affirming care improves mental health and wellbeing, reduces suicide attempts and self-harm, and increases happiness, these groups have succeeded in pushing harmful narratives which have stoked concerns around gender-affirming care for trans youth. These narratives have found their way into scholarly journals, national policies, and liberal media alike.

Two issues in particular have been used to justify bans on youth gender-affirming care: an alleged “explosion” in the number of young trans people seeking gender-affirming care, and an apparent increase in the number of transgender boys (those assigned female at birth, or AFAB) seeking gender-affirming care in adolescence compared to the number of transgender girls (those assigned male at birth, or AMAB) who do so.

Rapid onset gender dysphoria

Controversial research by self-described physician-scientist Lisa Littman has argued that these changes are due to a phenomenon she terms ....

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Shiftless2 said:

View attachment 2247 #864

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That's one possible explanation Caroline. It's not the only possible explanation.
Ockham's Razor, more likely I suspect, they prefer what's natural.
In weight-lifting, some can lift more than others.
It's a competition to see who can lift the most.
Wouldn't make much sense to roll in a crane, and lift not only the barbell, but also the stage it's on.

Oscar Pistorias may be a useful illustration for you.
When a prosthetic leg was little more or less than a badly designed baseball bat, it was hardly considered an advantage, & in fact was not.

But extensive prosthetic materials & design engineering created limbs which surpass nature.

sear said:

Ockham's Razor, more likely I suspect, they prefer what's natural.

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On that basis they shouldn't be banning cis women whose natural testosterone levels are high, even by male standards.



And don't forget the complaints about the female Algerian boxer

Shiftless2 said:

"On that basis they shouldn't be banning cis women whose natural testosterone levels are high, even by male standards." S2 #866

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Perhaps.
The Devil's in the details. That's not an endorsement. It's an explanation, an acknowledgement of the difficulty of this issue.
We tend to try and make it "fair" with mathematical objectivity, for example: X.xx level of specified hormone. In the era of synthetic treatments (steroids, or whatever).
And when we apply this standard in sincere attempt to uniformly apply standards, these unusual exceptions tend to surface.

Institutionally therefore, we operate the system to accommodate the ~99% (the majority) rather than tailoring it to the 1% (the minority).
If I were a mathemagician I might seek an objective solution, meaning a system that would eliminate or significantly reduce the unfairness addressed by meme #866.
Can that be accomplished by applying mathematical quantification as the standard, but without the injustice of these exceptions?
Kudos to the one that finds one, and promotes it sufficiently for it to be implemented globally (or better yet, throughout our solar-system).

Shiftless2 said:

"Semenya must take medication to reduce the testosterone that her body naturally produces ..." #866

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Acknowledged. Please see previous reply.

Shiftless2 said:

"Phelps" #866

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I'm a layman on this. My wild guess is the distinction is, Semanya has invoked non-nature, whereas Phelps, circus freak though he may be, appears to be natural even if unusual, unlike for example Lance Armstrong, who reportedly turned to artificial steroid use to win the Tour de France.

Shiftless2 said:

And don't forget the complaints about the female Algerian boxer

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I don't know this.

sear said:

I'm a layman on this. My wild guess is the distinction is, Semanya has invoked non-nature, whereas Phelps, circus freak though he may be, appears to be natural even if unusual, unlike for example Lance Armstrong, who reportedly turned to artificial steroid use to win the Tour de France.

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Semenya has not invoked anything non-natural. Like Phelps she's a genetic freak whose NATURAL testosterone levels are off the charts but the powers that be don't like her (she not only doesn't look "pretty" i.e., meet traditional masculine ideas of female beauty) but she's black and butch gay.

And while I stand to be corrected my understanding is the the ruling that requires her to take testosterone suppressing drugs is so narrowly written that it applies only to her.

On a related note, to the best of my knowledge all of the women who have been banned because of their natural testosterone levels just happen to be black. Not surprising because it's not that long ago that white female athletes were complaining that black women competitors had unfair advantages.