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RE: Sex Differences: Check out the gonads on that one!

in #steemstem7 years ago

Thanks for your opinion. That case from the link I think it is ridiculous, a male who becomes a female shouldn't be allowed to compete against females, as you said, her body could have develop some advantages after so many years being a male, and I think this is very obvious.

I haven't read the argument in favor of these things but I would love to.

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transwomen tend to have far less testosterone than cis women due to HRT, and muscle becomes far closer to the female muscle mass as well. The center of mass and thus leg movement is slightly different, and thats one of the very few things that will actually make any difference at all, and it turns out studies prove that they don't amount to much.

You seem to be forgetting transmen as well, which always crush cis females when forced to compete with them.

I think its easier for a trans male to surpass a cis female, because after becoming a man, it would be much more easier to gain muscles.

About the first thing you mentioned, that might depend on the time the trans women has spends as a woman. I don't think it is a coincidence that the trans woman from the link above was able to win that competition easily.

they have guidelines about the time already.

and studies > anecdotal evidence

Sometimes transwomen win by a large margin, just like cis women sometimes do. You are just being biased.

"I think its easier for a trans male to surpass a cis female, because after becoming a man, it would be much more easier to gain muscles."

the exact same is true in reverse

https://thinkprogress.org/transgender-athletes-womens-sports-7300cbf22c19/

here is a nice link on it, with actual research. Most arguments against it are just emotional.

A trans woman will be bigger in average to a cis women, simply because males are bigger. They will always have an advantage over cis women thanks to their bigger size.

cis women can be large too. Only the biggest guys can compete in basketball, do we have "short people basketball" tournaments?

its almost like half of sports is biological 'luck"

The average man is more XYZ-whatever than the average woman. Same goes for the average male athlete vs the average female athlete. When the average male athlete transitions, he might surpass the average female athlete in XYZ, despite her hormones now being on the same level as the average woman athlete's: you might've fixed the muscles, but how about the bones and other hard-to-measure properties?

Anyway, the article itself says much research remains to be done to reach a valid conclusion.

The second article you linked to, links to other research in its 3rd paragraph. (One is the first article you gave, and the other is an article that addresses the exact issue I raised.) None of these 2 articles say what this 3rd paragraph claims they say.

Another linked article is this one. This one drives even more closely into my concern: "The first-ever study of transgender athletes showed that the hormone therapy that facilitates male-to-female transition does more than just suppress testosterone. [...] the study showed that as testosterone levels approach female norms, trans women experience a decrease in muscle mass, bone density and other physical characteristics."

Again, this does not say all becomes equalized: having your bone density change does not mean it changes it, on average, to match the female average. Yet the article that linked to this article says that the science on hormones proves the other side wrong. That is not what the science says.

Anyway, all my reading of these articles so far just reaffirms the "we don't know" of your first linked article review. That's my conclusion so far.

"Another linked article is this one. This one drives even more closely into my concern: "The first-ever study of transgender athletes showed that the hormone therapy that facilitates male-to-female transition does more than just suppress testosterone. [...] the study showed that as testosterone levels approach female norms, trans women experience a decrease in muscle mass, bone density and other physical characteristics.""
actually it tends to become much more extreme than a cis women of the same age

and differences in averages mean nothing. As long as its possible it doesn't matter, unless you plan on changing the entire system of sports to accommodate biological luck first