It’s also why the anti-trans argument makes absolutely no sense in chess. Like, in sports there’s some room for nuance because cis men do have a huge advantage in most sports of cis women, and depending on the sport and the stage of transition, that can carry forward to trans women. It’s fucking hard to have that nuanced conversation because 95% of the time it gets drowned out by transphobes, but there’s still something to talk about.
But in chess? Nobody is arguing there’s any inherent biological advantage. The only reason for gendered tournaments is to create a safer space for non-men to compete in a male-dominated pastime. The only argument for excluding trans women from the Women’s category in chess is transphobia. It’s a real “mask off” moment for all the TERFs claiming it’s about “integrity in sport” (Jesus fuck, writing that out made me realise how similar this all is to gamergate and the birth of the alt right).
A lot of tournaments in HEMA (historical European martial arts—think fencing, but with bigger, older styles of swords than what they use at the Olympics) around where I lived have started using an “Underrepresented Genders” (URG) category alongside the Open category, instead of Women’s. It’s functionally not much different from having a Women’s category that also accepts trans people (important possible difference: it accepts trans men as well as trans women, and enbies), but the name helps make it clearer. I quite like that as a concept.
Nobody was ever arguing there was a biological advantage… As the comment you replied to pointed out, it’s about socialization. Since that mostly happens as children, those who transition as teens have already experienced much of that.
How does a trans-woman’s socialization compromise competitive integrity? That’s an entirely internal problem, and it doesn’t affect any other competitors. This is really just grabbing for any excuse to be transphobic.
I hypothetically agree, but note that you’re basically arguing for trans women to compete with men. Just in this scenario bio women also have to. And classically this results in men dominating and women being discouraged from even joining due to factors discussed above.
It’s also why the anti-trans argument makes absolutely no sense in chess. Like, in sports there’s some room for nuance because cis men do have a huge advantage in most sports of cis women, and depending on the sport and the stage of transition, that can carry forward to trans women. It’s fucking hard to have that nuanced conversation because 95% of the time it gets drowned out by transphobes, but there’s still something to talk about.
But in chess? Nobody is arguing there’s any inherent biological advantage. The only reason for gendered tournaments is to create a safer space for non-men to compete in a male-dominated pastime. The only argument for excluding trans women from the Women’s category in chess is transphobia. It’s a real “mask off” moment for all the TERFs claiming it’s about “integrity in sport” (Jesus fuck, writing that out made me realise how similar this all is to gamergate and the birth of the alt right).
A lot of tournaments in HEMA (historical European martial arts—think fencing, but with bigger, older styles of swords than what they use at the Olympics) around where I lived have started using an “Underrepresented Genders” (URG) category alongside the Open category, instead of Women’s. It’s functionally not much different from having a Women’s category that also accepts trans people (important possible difference: it accepts trans men as well as trans women, and enbies), but the name helps make it clearer. I quite like that as a concept.
100% this if people want you get angry at the FIDE they should do it for the right reasons.
Nobody was ever arguing there was a biological advantage… As the comment you replied to pointed out, it’s about socialization. Since that mostly happens as children, those who transition as teens have already experienced much of that.
How does a trans-woman’s socialization compromise competitive integrity? That’s an entirely internal problem, and it doesn’t affect any other competitors. This is really just grabbing for any excuse to be transphobic.
How does anyone know what socialization I had? Also, why does it even matter? This just feels like grasping for straws.
also feels like grasping at straw men
I hypothetically agree, but note that you’re basically arguing for trans women to compete with men. Just in this scenario bio women also have to. And classically this results in men dominating and women being discouraged from even joining due to factors discussed above.