drankl

The US has been through worse, you'll probably be fine.

Best thing to do is not watch the news as much, it's designed to make you worry about things that are out of your control.

It's most likely based on the findings discussed here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41574-021-00553-7

It is being used as a wedge issue by conservatives in the US, but I feel that liberal politicians made a rod for their own backs on this one. An unforced error that their opponents were happy to take advantage of.

This article has an interesting viewpoint, from the perspective of a feminist liberal who had been trying to warn Democrats about this for years: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol10/iss2/8/

I am not.

Retroactively stripping the titles from trans men (§4.1) does not "encourage female participation", no matter how you slice it.

Section 4.1 is the logical outcome of FIDE categories being split into Open, where both men and women can compete, and Women, where only women can compete. If a female player changes her chess-gender to man, then it no longer makes any sense for her to hold titles from the Women category such as Woman Grandmaster. She is choosing to exclude herself from a restricted category and the titles that only exist in that category.

I actually don't agree with this policy overall but given that they've decided to let men register as women and women register as men, I'm glad they at least included some restrictions in Section 3 to prevent the men from competing in the Women's category.

if you were more familiar with the social pressures on trans people, you'd realise that they aren't well-modelled as cis members of their AGAB, for the purposes of inclusivity measures. Your perspective isn't a valid worldview.

I think we just have different worldviews.

This article by Susan Polgar, a trailblazer in women's chess and who has been a role model for female chess players worldwide, makes the case for why separate tournaments for women and girls are needed: https://web.archive.org/web/20250306124806/https://chessdail...

She describes the challenges she faced as a young girl and then as a woman in this male-dominated field, how she had to deal with sexism, social stigma, unwanted sexual advances and threats to her physical safety - all because she is female and wanted to play chess.

With that in mind, the question is, how would including male players (who call themselves women) in these tournaments benefit women and girls? I don't see how it would. The ask seems to be driven from these males requesting to be included, rather than female players requesting these males' inclusion.

you haven't explained why you believe the World Athletics decisions hold up

I've read their policy and from my understanding the restrictions they've put onto eligibility in the female competition are both evidence-based and prioritise fairness for female athletes (rather than inclusion of male athletes). That's why I personally welcome them.

It's actually quite nuanced when you look at the details, for example, athletes with CAIS are eligible even though from a strictly technical perspective they are 46,XY males. The reason they are eligible is because, being entirely sensitive to androgens, their bodies developed an external female phenotype with no testosterone-driven advantage over 46,XX female athletes.

Whereas the policy excludes male athletes who have DSDs like 5-ARD, even if they have female documentation (e.g. Caster Semenya), because of the male physiological advantage and how unfair this is to female competitors.

Meanwhile, your "whatever that is" remark suggests you haven't thoughtfully considered the perspective of trans people before.

I have actually, in many discussions with trans-identitied people both in real life and online, in reading articles and books, and in reading forums where they talk to each other. It's mostly why I ended up rejecting the idea that woman and man are merely identities to be claimed. Personally I find that notion quite sexist.

To quote the British Prime Minister, the purpose of recognising a Palestinian state comprising both Gaza and the West Bank is to "revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution".

But how can that work in practice when the stated aim of Hamas is to eradicate Israel? It seems that removal of Hamas from power in Gaza would be a prerequisite.

The reason for a separate women's category in FIDE's chess competitions is different to athletic sports - it was introduced to encourage female participation in what was an overwhelmingly male-dominated field.

As an example, here's what women in chess have to deal with: https://www.fide.com/fides-statement-on-sexist-remarks/

That statement makes the point that FIDE are well aware this is a problem, and is one they're trying to solve:

"FIDE not only strives to increase women’s representation in professional sports and official positions but also to change the perception of chess as purely a men’s world. Our community has to be a place where women feel safe and respected. Therefore, any action that carries disrespect, sexism or physical, verbal or emotional assault is unacceptable."

Now, some people might argue that if a male competitor claims to have a woman identity, whatever that is, then that player should be permitted to compete alongside women. Given their aim of increasing female participation in chess, FIDE have been somewhat more skeptical of this argument, as you can see in the policy you linked.

but throwing out claims that are easy to state and hard to rebut (without stooping to the "fight rhetoric with rhetoric" level) does not encourage thoughtful discussion.

I made a comment about the perspective of World Athletics on this, and linked to their statement as evidence. Why would you feel the need to rebut this? Instead of considering it thoughtfully.

Historians will probably have a range of opinions on this matter.

I suspect this is what those pushing these laws wanted all along. They talk about dying in dignity and all that but seems it's much more about normalizing human culling.

I'm just commenting on a topic I'm interested in, like the person I replied to did.

If you compare the female and male world records for pretty much any sport, you'll very clearly see the effect of SRY and other male-making genes.

The rationale for the female category is to remove this male advantage from competition. Allowing a subset of males who have the advantage of their sex to compete against female athletes, just because these males call themselves women, undermines the whole point of women's sport.

This is why we need such testing as described in the article. It's no different in principle to, for example, weigh-ins in boxing that enable fair competition in each weight category.

https://archive.today/P0Ybu

https://archive.today/sFH9x

This also shows King Lear as a good example of why trigger warnings are unnecessary, given that in 400 years of performance no-one bothered with such warnings and no harm was caused by their absence.

Which is why it'll probably end up getting blocked at the ISP level for non-compliance.

https://archive.today/Rm7vS

Having state-mandated software running on every device sounds like a much more invasive solution, and more easily turned against device owners.

Whereas making online service providers responsible for the content they offer is more lightweight for the end user and is more consistent with how it's done offline, like with age verification for certain types of purchases.

https://archive.today/ct2o0

I wonder how it sounds if you map the primes straight onto Hz instead of piano scales.

Both legal name and chosen alias are used in the article to describe each person as they are introduced to the reader. That should be sufficient.

Some clubs digitally scan your identity document (driving licence or passport) on entry, and almost all clubs and shops have CCTV.

This is approximately the same as age verification systems online which either take a selfie video to estimate age, or accept a photo of your ID.

If they could find a non invasive way to perform age verification, that's free to the website, there wouldn't be a debate.

Google will be introducing this into their Wallet app, initially for railcards and online alcohol purchases. Hopefully should be more convenient and secure: https://blog.google/products/google-pay/google-wallet-age-id...

I expect people will still complain even with systems like this available.

I thought the author's point about how the rhetoric in favour of assisted suicide is being put forward was interesting.

Instead of being debated in an honest, thoughtful and measured way, it's being marketed with propaganda-like emotional appeals, which makes it harder for people to see the ethical implications clearly. All of this being done with the aim of affecting public opinion and changing policy.

That is your ideological position and you are of course welcome to hold it.

Most forums and chat servers won't have to introduce age verification, because the content their users generate while participating in discussion doesn't need to be age-gated, and anything that would need to be (such as pornography) is off-topic and will be removed by moderators anyway.

This link may be of interest: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5383111-online-safet.... It's about how one of the UK's largest forums is complying with the OSA and why they are taking this approach.

The author of the article alludes to why she avoided using their cult identities in writing the piece:

"The Zizians are certainly a lunatic bunch. Yet in some ways this vegan, trans death cult is only a very extreme expression of sentiments and attitudes that have been flourishing in elite, progressive circles for far too long. Indeed, the fact that the media has been determinedly using the Zizians' preferred pronouns in the reporting of their alleged crimes shows just how seriously their wacky beliefs are taken."

https://archive.today/YjwUg

Women's rights are human rights. Have you considered this?

Any eligble female athlete should be allowed to compete in the female category, regardless of identity. Coincidentally, to answer your question, there is a good example from women's boxing in the 2024 Olympics: Hergie Bacyadan, a female boxer who identifies as a man.

Sports governing bodies are, thankfully, moving away from flawed identity-based policies and back towards recognizing male physical advantage as the excluding factor for the female category. So athletes like Khelif and Semenya are excluded. But athletes with CAIS, for example, may be permitted to compete as if they are female.

It is your choice if you don't wish to converse further about this. I expect others will recognize your contribution for the drive-by scolding that it was.

There's no misinformation in the article, you've just misunderstood it.

It has nothing to do with trans. This is another Caster Semenya type of situation.

That wiki article on Khelif is wrong. There was an interview with Khelif's trainer where he said there is a "problem with chromosomes" and "problem with hormones" and that Khelif is now having testosterone levels lowered medically. The XY karyotype test results of Khelif have been quoted and reported on by sports journalists.

Anyway if Khelif by some miracle isn't male then there should be no concern about this sex screening that World Boxing have introduced. It will only disqualify boxers who shouldn't be competing in the female category.

This is a clever move. If she gets arrested and charged for saying any of this it will make an excellent test case, with an expert legal team instructed for her defence.

If not, and other feminist women are charged under these laws for expressing the same views, then this raises the issue of selective enforcement and unfair application of the law.

Yes, you are. It's this document that has the results for the Oro Valley Circuit Race:

https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/5a2c6ab0-8c88-4f37-9827-694...

Fact is, a male was allowed to compete in this women's event, and he came in first place. And this is just one example of many, as the other hundreds of entries on https://shewon.org amply demonstrate.