this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
493 points (100.0% liked)
196
16542 readers
2889 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Because then there wouldn't be women competing in the top leagues of many sports. Men have a huge physical advantage. On marathons, for instance, there's a >10 minute gap. And people cannot watch each of these separate leagues, they usually want to watch the best in any sports class. It also wouldn't motivate women to play amateur sports if they get completely destroyed by most men.
The current sex-based split is imo still the fairest, though it does indeed cause some issues. The naming might not be ideal. The male class is basically the "open" class. Anyone can compete in it whenever they want. The women's class exists solely to give people who have not recently been under the influence of testosterone and other male hormones a chance to compete with other people with their body type. That's not only women, but should also allow for AFAB non-binary and trans guys as long as they haven't started T.
I'm a man and I will never be able to comoete in the top mens league either.
But I like how it works in boxing, where there's a light-weight class where I could compete fairly. That's what I was thinking of
But weight doesn't mean anything. An equal weight man and woman will still be in a totally different class. Also, it's not about what you can do now, but about your potential. Someone who is currently physically within the "male range" will have to do way less to achieve the same performance as someone within the "female range". Mixing them together would be very demotivating to anyone not in the "male range" physically since they'd have to work insanely hard to even beat the less serious men.
Note: I'm using "male/female range" rather than man/woman because gender doesn't necessarily align with physical build.
Source? I'm afab and fucking sick of being told this with a flimsy hand wave of 'biology'. Give me some stats.
You need a source to know that a man and woman at the same weight class would be advantageous to the man?
For it to be considered an empirically true statement, yes.