Imagine a world somewhere in a galaxy far, far away where a female humanoid had smashed every competitor in a sport called tennis. She was growing bored and wanted a fresh challenge. She started to eye up the male humanoid inter-galactic competition where the prize money was way, way beyond what she had hitherto been able to claim.
So, as one would expect, she took a few drugs and, true to expectations, she began to hit all her male opponents out of the court--literally. When the humanoids on planet Earth heard about it, they twitted and tweeted for days about the injustice of it all. Silly people. Eventually the intergalactic sports regulating body told planet Earth to shut up, take their drugs, and play ball. The prodigious daughter of one Venus Williams was only too happy to oblige. Things had changed considerably from her mother's day.
Now, let's return to reality. This, from The Guardian:
The former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova has been criticised for “disturbing, upsetting, and deeply transphobic” comments after she argued that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sporting tournaments was “insane and cheating”.
The tennis player and gay rights campaigner first drew criticism from equalities activists and trans athletes when she tweeted in December: “You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.”
Writing in the Sunday Times, Navratilova said she had subsequently promised to keep quiet on the subject until she had done some research on it. “Well, I’ve now done that and, if anything, my views have strengthened,” she wrote.
“To put the argument at its most basic: a man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires.
“To put the argument at its most basic: a man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires.
“It’s insane and it’s cheating. I am happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.”
A bunch of trans-athletes--all trans male-to-female, please note--have protested, claiming prejudice and discrimination and violation of trans, if not human, rights. Navratilova is not moved:
Following her comments in December, Navratilova was criticised by Rachel McKinnon, a Canadian academic and cyclist, who in October became the first transgender woman to win a track world title.
“McKinnon has vigorously defended her right to compete, pointing out that, when tested, her levels of testosterone, the male hormone, were well within the limits set by world cycling’s governing body,” wrote Navratilova on Sunday. “Nevertheless, at 6ft tall and weighing more than 14 stone, she appeared to have a substantial advantage in muscle mass over her rivals.” [Emphasis, ours]Navratilova aced that serve. Game to Navratilova.
Unfortunately, however, Navratilova will lose the match. Why? The pseudo-human-rights brigade will inevitably win. Women's tennis--in fact women's sport in general--will disappear. World competitions will be men's competitions on the one hand, and trans competitions on the other--which is to say that women's sport will be hit out of the park.
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