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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Comment
Arwa Mahdawi

Excluding trans women in women’s chess makes you a pawn of the patriarchy

‘If your argument for excluding trans women is that women have inferior brains than men then you are no feminist, you are a pawn of the patriarchy.’
‘If your argument for excluding trans women is that women have inferior brains than men then you are no feminist, you are a pawn of the patriarchy.’ Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Trans women banned from high-level women’s chess events

As anyone who has ever played the game knows, chess pieces are deceptively heavy. Enormous hand strength and lung capacity are required to move even a tiny pawn across a board. Shifting a rook or a queen? That can exhaust a delicate lady’s fingers for weeks on end. And don’t get me started on the spatial intelligence and mental acuity required for chess. Even thinking about the game makes my poor little woman brain hurt.

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