{"id":495235,"date":"2022-01-11T13:59:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T20:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=495235"},"modified":"2022-01-11T15:40:13","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T22:40:13","slug":"guest-editorial-defense-of-lia-thomas-rang-hollow-and-missed-point-of-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/guest-editorial-defense-of-lia-thomas-rang-hollow-and-missed-point-of-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Editorial: Defense of Lia Thomas Rang Hollow and Missed Point of Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Guest Editorial: Defense of Lia Thomas Rang Hollow and Missed Point of Controversy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>In response to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/guest-editorial-in-defense-of-lia-thomas-and-her-right-to-compete\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent guest editorial by Lucas Draper<\/a>, which defended the participation of Lia Thomas as a member of the women&#8217;s swim team at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Linda Blade has penned the following rebuttal.\u00a0 Blade is the author, with journalist Barbara Kay, of the book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unsporting.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UNSPORTING: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport<\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n<p>By Linda Blade, PhD Kinesiology, Sport Performance Coach (@CoachBlade on Twitter)<\/p>\n<p>Jan 11, 2022<\/p>\n<p>The recent editorial in <em>Swimming World Magazine<\/em> defending the right of Lia Thomas (LT) to swim as a woman deserves a response.<br \/>\nAllow me to begin this critique with applause for author Lucas Draper (LD). As a female athlete who self-identifies as a man, LD has chosen the ethical pathway in competing in a much more difficult field with male swimmers rather than to be competing unfairly against fellow females while doping.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, in the manner typical of proponents of gender ideology, LD&#8217;s editorial comments deploy escalating levels of emotional gaslighting.<\/p>\n<p>Firstly, there is the appeal to our common human condition: \u201cLia Thomas is a person first\u201d and \u201cdeserves some basic human decency.\u201d This statement is unconvincing. Female athletes are equally deserving of respect and decency.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, there is the presumption to interpret intent: \u201cNo transgender athlete wants to compete in their preferred gender simply because they could get an edge.\u201d How does LD know? How does anybody know what is in the heart and mind of each competitor? It is irrelevant, in any case. We don\u2019t select sports teams or eligibility based upon someone\u2019s internal motivation. It is not the role of sports officials to read hearts and minds of athletes. When rules are well constructed based upon verifiable physical reality it becomes unobjectionable for officials to make the call about eligibility, which is necessary to keep officials involved. Hurt feelings should have nothing to do with placement in a sports category.<\/p>\n<p>Thirdly, there is implied discrimination: Lia Thomas \u201cshould be allowed to compete as who she is.\u201d This statement is not only meaningless, but also threatens the integrity of sports. What if \u201cwho she is\u201d happens to be a 20-year-old seeking to compete with 13-year-olds? Participation in sports necessarily involves restrictions. It can never be an open forum where competitors are allowed to join based upon subjective preference.<\/p>\n<p>Fourthly, there is an appeal to victimhood while victimizing others: \u201cLia Thomas experiences far more scrutiny over her physical form than I will ever have to deal with\u201d and putting the focus on LT is \u201cmean.\u201d Also, Lia \u201cdoes not deserve to be at the center of this issue.\u201d Yes, of course LT is scrutinized! Because being biologically male in a female competition is not fair. Scrutiny by officials and the public is part of sports. It is not being \u201cmean.\u201d LT chooses to be in the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>Fifthly, there is the attempt to shut down debate: \u201cShe is a woman, she uses she\/her pronouns, and any reference to her otherwise is offensive.\u201d Gender ideologues are the ones who profess that usage of pronouns operates independently of the two biological sexes. If so, then a pronoun now operates much in the same way as other kinds of identities \u2013 such as, \u201cI am a Democrat\u201d or \u201cI am Muslim.\u201d Would we ever select someone for a sports competition based upon their religion?<\/p>\n<p>Self-identity is not of primary concern in sports. What we care about is the fundamental biological blueprint that predestines an athlete to be either male or female from conception onward. The distinction between male versus female biological design is categorical; in the same way that, say, a NASCAR vehicle is distinct from an F1 car in auto racing.<\/p>\n<p>Different design. Different category. Different races.<\/p>\n<p>No offense would be taken if somebody said: \u201cDon\u2019t put the F1 car into the NASCAR race.\u201d Why would it be any different with human bodies? For LD to pretend that reference to an athlete\u2019s biological blueprint is deeply offensive is disingenuous in the extreme. This is a conversation that we must have to preserve women\u2019s sports!<\/p>\n<p>Both sides of the trans argument agree on one thing: the NCAA is ultimately responsible for the Lia Thomas debacle. LD puts it this way: \u201cNo transgender person should have to fear abuse\u201d and makes the point that Lia Thomas is \u201cjust following the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I agree! Faulty NCAA rules have thrust LT (plus female swimmers and officials!) into this controversy. LT, having the sex blueprint \u201cmale,\u201d should feel perfectly safe and accepted swimming against men while socially self-identifying as a woman. Let the men not bully LT!<\/p>\n<p>The NCAA rules on gender self-identification were poorly conceived back in 2011 and look ridiculous now that LT has chosen to take advantage of them.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to offering a solution to this problem, LD equivocates. On the one hand LD says, \u201ctransgender athletes should have equal opportunity to participate in sports.\u201d (I would argue that they already DO have that opportunity \u2013 in the category that matches their biological sex). On the other hand, LD insists that the \u201cintegrity of women\u2019s sports must be preserved\u201d and must be based upon \u201csound medical knowledge and scientific validity.\u201d (Wasn\u2019t this the purpose of Title IX?)<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to what was presented to the NCAA back in 2011, all research to date indicates that medical intervention is completely inadequate in transforming a male body into the female design \u2013 anatomically or physiologically \u2013 as discussed in this <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/33289906\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">review of the literature by Hilton and Lundberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Given the overwhelming scientific evidence now available showing that males will always maintain a physical advantage over females in sports involving strength, speed, power and reaction time, the NCAA must undertake a re-assessment of its policy ASAP!<\/p>\n<p>In the editorial I am responding to, LD refers to the LT controversy as the \u201ccomplex issue of transgender athlete participation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No, the solution for the NCAA need not be complex in the least. Once it is acknowledged that sex takes the pre-eminence over self-declared gender and now that the collective evidence regarding gender transition is understood, the solution becomes very straight forward.<\/p>\n<p>The way to ensure full \u201cinclusion\u201d while maintaining the integrity of women\u2019s sports is to convert the men\u2019s category into \u201copen\u201d (for men, transwomen, and other identities) and keep the women\u2019s category restricted to the \u201cfemale\u201d athlete (and no doping allowed). Until a non-binary solution is developed for sports eligibility, this \u201cOpen\u201d and \u201cFemale\u201d system will ensure that any competitor with a novel identity claim (and there will be more) does not bring with him or her a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n<p>(For reference, this solution is argued thoroughly in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macdonaldlaurier.ca\/biology-fairness-trans-inclusion-sport-paper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent paper<\/a> published by the Macdonald Laurier Institute (MLI) in Canada).<\/p>\n<p><em>All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guest Editorial: Defense of Lia Thomas Rang Hollow and Missed Point of Controversy In response to the recent guest editorial by Lucas Draper, which defended the participation of Lia Thomas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67367,"featured_media":492869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[122077,17],"tags":[129951,130132,130133,51820],"class_list":["post-495235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americas","category-commentary","tag-lia-thomas","tag-linda-blade","tag-lucas-draper","tag-transgender"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO 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