in message <[email hidden]>, MMan
(') said:
Bill C said:I have tons of questions about this situation and testosterone levels,
medications, etc...
Which set of values are they using for this testing? What are the
effects of the hormones in transexual surgery? Are levels that would
get someone banned being accepted in the name of political
correctness? etc...?
Interesting. This has become an issue in golf, which I don't think has
any drug testing. A Danish female-born-male named Mianne Bagger is
playing the European Ladies Tour, which changed its rules ("born
female"😉 to allow it. The Australian and British authorities, as well
as the USGA have also changed similar rules. The LPGA however still
has its "born female" rule. I don't know if Bagger has applied to join
the LPGA.
I have to sympathise with Schroeter. Whatever the rights of people who
feel that they were born the wrong gender, it clearly isn't a level
playing field when people with - at least - male skeletal structure are
riding competitively against women. Dumaresq is apparently 180lbs - the
same weight as me, although she's four inches shorter; and I'm no skinny
lightweight any more. That isn't outside the natural range of real
women, but it's pushing limits; she's a big girl.
And I find it hard to call to mind a 5' 9" 82Kg woman who was seriously
fit. Seriously fit women (apart from steroid-pumped East Germans) are
lighter than that. So while it /may/ be true that male-to-female
transsexuals 'lose muscle mass', that doesn't mean they end up with the
musculature of a woman.
Finally, especially in downhilling, willingness to take risks has a
significant impact on speed, and women are typically more risk-averse
than men. Does transgendering change attitude to risk?
If you take professional competitive sport seriously, then Dumaresq
cannot be allowed to compete /as/ /a/ /woman/. That may be harsh on
transsexuals, but the alternative is to abandon women's sport
altogether. Because, whether or not she set out to cheat (and I think
it's clear from what's written about her that she didn't), her precedent
sets the door wide open to future cheats.
Having said that, I personally know a m-to-f transgendered cyclist whom I
very much like and respect. I've even invited her to enter a competition
I'd organised (she didn't enter; I think, on reflection, that this sort
of thing is why). This isn't an easy issue.
--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
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