By Charles C. W. Cooke
Thursday, March 17, 2022
From the Times:
ATLANTA — Lia Thomas, the
transgender woman whose record-threatening times on the University of
Pennsylvania’s swim team made her a star of college athletics and a symbol of the debate over sports and gender identity, won
an N.C.A.A. championship in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday.
Thomas, a fifth-year senior who
arrived for the swimming championships in Atlanta as the top seed in the 500
and 200 freestyle races, completed the race in 4 minutes, 33.24 seconds, more
than a second ahead of the runner-up.
I would like to know who is fooled by this. My suspicion
is that almost nobody is fooled by this, but that almost everybody is scared to
admit that in public.
However “Lia Thomas” might self-identify, he has the body
of a man. This matters, because he is competing in a women’s sports league, and
because there are profound biological differences between men and women in that
sport, as in almost every other. The Times reports that
Thomas “left opponents far behind and put some collegiate records under new
pressure.” Well, yeah. This is because Thomas is a man, and because
Thomas’s “opponents” — two of whom were Olympians — are not.
The Times adds that:
As some insist that no amount of
testosterone suppression can undo the physiological changes linked to male
puberty, like taller height and larger hands and feet, others dispute that
transgender women have a built-in advantage and have argued that inclusion
should outweigh competition.
Again: Who is fooled by this “others dispute that . . .”
stuff? It’s nonsense, and we all know it. As for the idea that “inclusion
should outweigh competition”? That is an obvious, transparent
post-rationalization. By definition, N.C.A.A. swimming is a
“competitive” sport, and the only reason that anyone involved would think of
suggesting otherwise is to justify including a man in the participants’ ranks.
At Swimming World magazine, John
Lohn neatly sums up the farce:
A little more than three months
after the possibility first arose, Lia Thomas captured a title while
representing the University of Pennsylvania at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and
Diving Championships. Most times, a national championship should be celebrated,
the athlete commended for her hard work, dedication, and discipline.
Not this time.
No, this title-winning effort in
the 500-yard freestyle should be met with nothing less than a head shake, an
eye roll or a shrug of the shoulders. Why? Because Lia Thomas’ victory is an
insult to the biological women who raced against her. Against those who fought
for Title IX and equal opportunities for female athletes. Against science, and
the unmistakable physiological differences between the male and female sexes.
Indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment