SleepyWheel

It has a very specific meaning in South Africa that doesn’t apply anywhere else

Level playing fields for women and girls aren’t served by allowing competition from people who haven’t always been female. Its not fair on cis women to have to compete against people who’ve had advantages from going through puberty while male.

The purpose of women’s sport isn’t to be inclusive of women, its to be exclusive of men. And its not that it’s too much work to include some trans women on the basis of ability, it’s that it’s just impossible. Do they include only those who aren’t likely to win? Maybe some that can win, but not by too much? What about a champion male who’s recently transitioned and would shatter the world record, making it unattainable for any cis woman for years to come, maybe ever? There’s no way of making those judgements, no matter how much work is done.

Its the same principle as banning performance enhancing drugs. Some clean athletes might beat some drug using athletes, but we don’t try to figure that out, we just ban drugs. And puberty as a male is getting a few years if hormone-induced muscle gain that isn’t fully lost even post-transition, even on hormone blocking drugs.

No, not any woman stronger than the average for women, because by definition the leading woman will always be stronger than other women.

At the same time, plenty of cis men are weaker than the average female athlete, but we don’t let them compete.

We exclude all males as a category, including former males, because on average they have an unfair advantage. Attempting to make exceptions based on individual performance isn’t feasible.

Effectively, women’s sports are like amateur vs pro competition. You don’t let an ex pro play in an amateur match, even if they’re not as strong as they once were.

Literally the only reason we have a separate category of women’s sports is because, on average, women are physically weaker than men. If both sexes could compete against each other, women would barely exist in elite sports. If that wasn’t the case, there’d be no justification for excluding cis men from women’s sports. After all, being male is “just another advantage” like being tall, right?

On average, cis women are physically weaker than trans women also, and so the same logic applies.

The only equitable solution I can see is a third category of trans sports, where trans people compete against each other