{"id":5071,"date":"2021-04-29T16:07:43","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T16:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5071"},"modified":"2021-04-29T16:07:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T16:07:43","slug":"the-massive-republican-push-to-ban-trans-athletes-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5071","title":{"rendered":"The massive Republican push to ban trans athletes, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“It\u2019s perhaps the harshest in a wave of state-level anti-trans legislation aimed at barring trans girls and women from playing girls\u2019 and women’s scholastic sports. About 30 states have introduced anti-trans athlete bills this year, and two of those became law this month: Mississippi<\/a> and Arkansas<\/a>. Tennessee\u2019s ban<\/a>, meanwhile, is awaiting the governor\u2019s signature. Idaho passed a similar law<\/a> last year, which was later enjoined by a federal court<\/a>.”
…
“science has found that trans girls who hormonally transition at younger ages do not necessarily have a \u201cbiological advantage\u201d athletically.And none of it justifies banning middle school trans girls from the local girls\u2019 soccer team.”  
…
“An Associated Press investigation<\/a> into these athletic bans found that most lawmakers supporting such bills cannot name a single trans athlete competing in their state. A New York Times report<\/a> indicated that out of about 200,000 women taking part in NCAA women\u2019s sports at a given time, about 50 are transgender.”  
…
“Advocates say that laws that exclude and punish trans kids \u2014and messaging that classifies young trans girls as \u201cbiological boys\u201d \u2014 is scare-mongering and unfair, and only seeks to reinforce ugly stereotypes about trans girls and women to an uninformed public. It\u2019s another attack on trans kids that potentially threatens not just their school life but also their relationship with their parents \u2014which, advocates say, is ultimately the goal for anti-trans conservatives: forcing trans kids back into the closet.”  
…
“Children frequently play coed sports until puberty begins, and only then does there begin to be a separation in athletic performance between boys and girls. The existence of girls like Walker, however, further complicates matters. She largely avoided male puberty to begin with, thanks to her middle school puberty blockers and hormonal transition. Taking a look at her slight physique would render absurd the idea that she\u2019s some genetically giant super-athlete compared to her cis peers.”
…
“Even for trans women athletes, many experts agree<\/a> that trans women at least lose some performance ability when they hormonally transition, even if it\u2019s after puberty has been completed, rendering it unlikely that they would be able to keep up \u2014 or stay safe \u2014 competing against their cis male counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estrogen is much less efficient at building and maintaining muscle than testosterone, and early research indicates that trans women lose significant strength through their transition-related hormone replacement therapy regimen. So for trans women athletes, that means they need to take longer to recover between workouts than they did before transition, causing muscle loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some studies have suggested that trans women do retain<\/a> at least some of their previous pure strength advantage even after a year on estrogen, with further drops past the one-year mark, how this exactly translates to more complicated athletic movements beyond pure strength and endurance tests remains to be proven.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Part of the problem on the anti-trans side is that they\u2019re starting from the base assumption that trans women are men, and substitute cis male physical traits when discussing whether trans women may have competitive advantages. They\u2019ll argue that men have bigger hearts and more lung capacity, or produce more red blood cells on average than cis women, and then assume trans women\u2019s bodies would be the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But initial scientific findings don\u2019t necessarily support that, according to Loughborough University PhD student Joanna Harper<\/a>, who has spent the past decade researching trans athletes. Harper noted that a trans athlete she previously studied at Arizona State University saw the ejection fraction rate of her heart drop significantly after HRT, meaning less blood was pumped with each beat. \u201cThe heart itself might be the same, but the muscles may not work as well,\u201d she told Vox. \u201cAnd if the ejection fraction goes down, who cares about the size of the heart? It\u2019s how much blood you can pump that matters.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Trans women were allowed to begin competing as women in the Olympics<\/a> if they\u2019d had bottom surgery beginning in 2004. The surgery requirement was lifted in 2016<\/a> and replaced by guidelines stating that trans women must lower their testosterone levels for an entire year before eligibility. Despite the more open stance, no openly trans woman has ever qualified to compete as a woman in the Olympics.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sports \u2014 and, ultimately, being part of a team \u2014 are a normal part of kids\u2019 socialization. Studies have shown that athletic participation provides all sorts of positive effects on children, from\u00a0reduced rates of depression<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0positive physical health outcomes<\/a>. But more importantly, high school and college sports are a common space for community-building. Small towns often gather at the local high school\u2019s athletic events and socialize and build a common identity. By excluding trans girls from these spaces, it sends a clear message to all trans kids that they don\u2019t belong.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/identities\/22334014\/trans-athletes-bills-explained<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“It\u2019s perhaps the harshest in a wave of state-level anti-trans legislation aimed at barring trans girls and women from playing girls\u2019 and women’s scholastic sports. About 30 states have introduced anti-trans athlete bills this year, and two of those became law this month: Mississippi and Arkansas. Tennessee\u2019s ban, meanwhile, is awaiting the governor\u2019s signature. Idaho passed a similar law last year, which was later enjoined by a federal court.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“science has found that trans girls who hormonally transition at younger ages do not necessarily have a \u201cbiological advantage\u201d athletically. And none of it justifies banning middle school trans girls from the local girls\u2019 soccer team.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“An Associated Press investigation into these athletic bans found that most lawmakers supporting such bills cannot name a single trans athlete competing in their state. A New York Times report indicated that out of about 200,000 women taking part in NCAA women\u2019s sports at a given time, about 50 are transgender.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Advocates say that laws that exclude and punish trans kids \u2014 and messaging that classifies young trans girls as \u201cbiological boys\u201d \u2014 is scare-mongering and unfair, and only seeks to reinforce ugly stereotypes about trans girls and women to an uninformed public. It\u2019s another attack on trans kids that potentially threatens not just their school life but also their relationship with their parents \u2014 which, advocates say, is ultimately the goal for anti-trans conservatives: forcing trans kids back into the closet.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Children frequently play coed sports until puberty begins, and only then does there begin to be a separation in athletic performance between boys and girls. The existence of girls like Walker, however, further complicates matters. She largely avoided male puberty to begin with, thanks to her middle school puberty blockers and hormonal transition. Taking a look at her slight physique would render absurd the idea that she\u2019s some genetically giant super-athlete compared to her cis peers.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Even for trans women athletes, many experts agree that trans women at least lose some performance ability when they hormonally transition, even if it\u2019s after puberty has been completed, rendering it unlikely that they would be able to keep up \u2014 or stay safe \u2014 competing against their cis male counterparts.
\nEstrogen is much less efficient at building and maintaining muscle than testosterone, and early research indicates that trans women lose significant strength through their transition-related hormone replacement therapy regimen. So for trans women athletes, that means they need to take longer to recover between workouts than they did before transition, causing muscle loss.<\/p>\n

While some studies have suggested that trans women do retain at least some of their previous pure strength advantage even after a year on estrogen, with further drops past the one-year mark, how this exactly translates to more complicated athletic movements beyond pure strength and endurance tests remains to be proven.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Part of the problem on the anti-trans side is that they\u2019re starting from the base assumption that trans women are men, and substitute cis male physical traits when discussing whether trans women may have competitive advantages. They\u2019ll argue that men have bigger hearts and more lung capacity, or produce more red blood cells on average than cis women, and then assume trans women\u2019s bodies would be the same.<\/p>\n

But initial scientific findings don\u2019t necessarily support that, according to Loughborough University PhD student Joanna Harper, who has spent the past decade researching trans athletes. Harper noted that a trans athlete she previously studied at Arizona State University saw the ejection fraction rate of her heart drop significantly after HRT, meaning less blood was pumped with each beat. \u201cThe heart itself might be the same, but the muscles may not work as well,\u201d she told Vox. \u201cAnd if the ejection fraction goes down, who cares about the size of the heart? It\u2019s how much blood you can pump that matters.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Trans women were allowed to begin competing as women in the Olympics if they\u2019d had bottom surgery beginning in 2004. The surgery requirement was lifted in 2016 and replaced by guidelines stating that trans women must lower their testosterone levels for an entire year before eligibility. Despite the more open stance, no openly trans woman has ever qualified to compete as a woman in the Olympics.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Sports \u2014 and, ultimately, being part of a team \u2014 are a normal part of kids\u2019 socialization. Studies have shown that athletic participation provides all sorts of positive effects on children, from reduced rates of depression to positive physical health outcomes. But more importantly, high school and college sports are a common space for community-building. Small towns often gather at the local high school\u2019s athletic events and socialize and build a common identity. By excluding trans girls from these spaces, it sends a clear message to all trans kids that they don\u2019t belong.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[506,403],"class_list":["post-5071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-republicans","tag-trans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5072,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071\/revisions\/5072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}