Sep 29, 2020 10:39 PM
(This post was last modified: Sep 30, 2020 12:31 AM by C C.)
https://quillette.com/2020/09/27/keeping...ens-rugby/
EXCERPTS: . . . World Rugby, rugby’s global governing body, incorporated guidelines established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on transgender participation in sports. According to these rules, males who wish to self-identify into women’s rugby could do so if they committed to reducing their testosterone levels to 10 nmol per liter or lower for at least 12 months. (The average level for men is about seven times that level.)
During this period, instances of biological males playing in the women’s game increased, and some participants began to express alarm. One rugby referee posted on the website Fair Play for Women, for instance, that “being forced to prioritize hurt feelings over broken bones exposes me to personal litigation from female players who have been harmed by players who are biologically male. This is driving female players and referees out of the game.”
[...] In some cases, female rugby players and their coaches would show up to matches to discover that there was a biologically male athlete playing on the opposing team. As one player put it, “I have to play or forfeit my place even when I know its unsafe for me.” Those who enjoyed the advantage of having a trans-identifying player on their team, on the other hand, were sometimes found to be lacking in sympathy. On one occasion, a team captain was quoted as saying that their male-bodied player had “folded an opponent like a deck chair.”
With worries mounting about safety-especially concussions-and financial liability, World Rugby undertook a review of its transgender policy in February 2020. [...] World Rugby turned out be the first sport to bring to the table experts on all sides of the eligibility issue, including sociologists, biologists, kinesiologists (my own specialty), and those with a background in human rights. The consultation is reported to have been respectful and thorough. All relevant opinions were heard.
The dominant view that emerged from this summit was that World Rugby would have to amend its policy. It was simply too risky to continue to allow male bodies into the women’s game. The decision-makers relied on data that had been published by the renowned Karolinska Institute (Sweden) in September 2019. Even after a full year of hormonal reduction in accordance with IOC guidelines, the researchers concluded, there was no appreciable loss of mass, muscle mass, or strength in transitioning males. In physical terms, it was just a man playing with women.
World Rugby had to come to terms with reality: Irrespective of hormonal intervention, male athletes are, on average, 40 percent heavier, 15 percent faster, 30 percent more powerful, and 25-50 percent stronger than their female counterparts. And these differences pose obvious risks for female players in full-contact rugby. [...] Women’s rugby isn’t a particularly popular mass-participation sport. But because World Rugby’s proposal, if enacted, would represent one of the first big cracks in the dam for those who insist trans-identified males should be allowed to compete with women, the case has attracted plenty of lobbying.
The Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights group (CaWsbar) [...thanked...] World Rugby for becoming “the first world sports federation to have undertaken a thorough and balanced review...” Social-media commentary has been abundant. [...] Activist groups opposed to any reconsideration of the IOC’s rules, on the other hand, put out statements-many of them picked up by the press-with headlines suggesting that World Rugby was implementing a “ban” on trans athletes. In fact, no one would be “banned” under the proposal. Athletes would simply be required to compete with athletes of their own sex, as had been the case in rugby, and numerous other sports, until very recently.
Some observers may be tempted to conflate World Rugby’s proposal with the controversy surrounding elite runner Caster Semenya [...who...] is one of a small number of people who exhibit differences of sexual development (DSD)-“a group of congenital conditions associated with atypical development of internal and external genital structures,” as experts define it. The trans rugby players who seek to participate in women’s leagues, on the other hand, are simply biological males who have changed their pronouns and social identity.
Nevertheless, both situations highlight the tension that exists between biological determinants and human-rights claims when it comes to access to women’s sports... (MORE - details)
RELATED (The Guardian): Eddie Redmayne condemns ‘vitriol’ aimed at JK Rowling after her trans rights comments ..... TERF: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist
EXCERPTS: . . . World Rugby, rugby’s global governing body, incorporated guidelines established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on transgender participation in sports. According to these rules, males who wish to self-identify into women’s rugby could do so if they committed to reducing their testosterone levels to 10 nmol per liter or lower for at least 12 months. (The average level for men is about seven times that level.)
During this period, instances of biological males playing in the women’s game increased, and some participants began to express alarm. One rugby referee posted on the website Fair Play for Women, for instance, that “being forced to prioritize hurt feelings over broken bones exposes me to personal litigation from female players who have been harmed by players who are biologically male. This is driving female players and referees out of the game.”
[...] In some cases, female rugby players and their coaches would show up to matches to discover that there was a biologically male athlete playing on the opposing team. As one player put it, “I have to play or forfeit my place even when I know its unsafe for me.” Those who enjoyed the advantage of having a trans-identifying player on their team, on the other hand, were sometimes found to be lacking in sympathy. On one occasion, a team captain was quoted as saying that their male-bodied player had “folded an opponent like a deck chair.”
With worries mounting about safety-especially concussions-and financial liability, World Rugby undertook a review of its transgender policy in February 2020. [...] World Rugby turned out be the first sport to bring to the table experts on all sides of the eligibility issue, including sociologists, biologists, kinesiologists (my own specialty), and those with a background in human rights. The consultation is reported to have been respectful and thorough. All relevant opinions were heard.
The dominant view that emerged from this summit was that World Rugby would have to amend its policy. It was simply too risky to continue to allow male bodies into the women’s game. The decision-makers relied on data that had been published by the renowned Karolinska Institute (Sweden) in September 2019. Even after a full year of hormonal reduction in accordance with IOC guidelines, the researchers concluded, there was no appreciable loss of mass, muscle mass, or strength in transitioning males. In physical terms, it was just a man playing with women.
World Rugby had to come to terms with reality: Irrespective of hormonal intervention, male athletes are, on average, 40 percent heavier, 15 percent faster, 30 percent more powerful, and 25-50 percent stronger than their female counterparts. And these differences pose obvious risks for female players in full-contact rugby. [...] Women’s rugby isn’t a particularly popular mass-participation sport. But because World Rugby’s proposal, if enacted, would represent one of the first big cracks in the dam for those who insist trans-identified males should be allowed to compete with women, the case has attracted plenty of lobbying.
The Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights group (CaWsbar) [...thanked...] World Rugby for becoming “the first world sports federation to have undertaken a thorough and balanced review...” Social-media commentary has been abundant. [...] Activist groups opposed to any reconsideration of the IOC’s rules, on the other hand, put out statements-many of them picked up by the press-with headlines suggesting that World Rugby was implementing a “ban” on trans athletes. In fact, no one would be “banned” under the proposal. Athletes would simply be required to compete with athletes of their own sex, as had been the case in rugby, and numerous other sports, until very recently.
Some observers may be tempted to conflate World Rugby’s proposal with the controversy surrounding elite runner Caster Semenya [...who...] is one of a small number of people who exhibit differences of sexual development (DSD)-“a group of congenital conditions associated with atypical development of internal and external genital structures,” as experts define it. The trans rugby players who seek to participate in women’s leagues, on the other hand, are simply biological males who have changed their pronouns and social identity.
Nevertheless, both situations highlight the tension that exists between biological determinants and human-rights claims when it comes to access to women’s sports... (MORE - details)
RELATED (The Guardian): Eddie Redmayne condemns ‘vitriol’ aimed at JK Rowling after her trans rights comments ..... TERF: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist
