Yes, that can of worms. First, I'm not looking to 'simply' rehash conversations. I read an article today, on a website which generally has a good journalistic balance. And I found the article interesting. If you want to contribute to this thread...please read the article.
Striking a balance between fairness in competition and the rights of transgender athletes
The concept of trying to combine a generalised approach to this, with some recognition of the actual issues was refreshing. Do I think it's the answer? Well...no. but I think there are some elements that helped me move my thinking forward (it's an issue I struggle with).
First, quick declaration of bias.
I spend a lot of time attending and coaching female junior sports, specifically basketball. That colours my thinking, I'll readily admit it.
What I found interesting was the idea that we could come up with a generalised framework, and then have an individual approach cooked in to that framework.
The basic concept of changing men's sport to 'open' seems fine. Some junior sport here already works that way, for various specific reasons I'm happy to cover, but they're unrelated to transgender athletes to the best of my knowledge.
And the idea of having some sort of approval process for athletes to compete in women's sport seems okay, I think, although the way it would be handled in detail would be key.
I do think it would vary from sport to sport in terms of what that approval process should look like, or even if it's required.
So...thoughts?
Please don't come here with disparaging remarks about transgender athletes because I have NO interest in that.
And equally, if you're coming with allowing people to select their gender freely and compete in whatever division they wish...or on simply scrapping women's sport...please be aware sports is a topic I take very seriously. So don't do it lightly.
Striking a balance between fairness in competition and the rights of transgender athletes
The concept of trying to combine a generalised approach to this, with some recognition of the actual issues was refreshing. Do I think it's the answer? Well...no. but I think there are some elements that helped me move my thinking forward (it's an issue I struggle with).
First, quick declaration of bias.
I spend a lot of time attending and coaching female junior sports, specifically basketball. That colours my thinking, I'll readily admit it.
What I found interesting was the idea that we could come up with a generalised framework, and then have an individual approach cooked in to that framework.
The basic concept of changing men's sport to 'open' seems fine. Some junior sport here already works that way, for various specific reasons I'm happy to cover, but they're unrelated to transgender athletes to the best of my knowledge.
And the idea of having some sort of approval process for athletes to compete in women's sport seems okay, I think, although the way it would be handled in detail would be key.
I do think it would vary from sport to sport in terms of what that approval process should look like, or even if it's required.
So...thoughts?
Please don't come here with disparaging remarks about transgender athletes because I have NO interest in that.
And equally, if you're coming with allowing people to select their gender freely and compete in whatever division they wish...or on simply scrapping women's sport...please be aware sports is a topic I take very seriously. So don't do it lightly.