If there was a competition to see which sport could become the most openly transphobic, swimming would be winning, and it’d be competing against itself. Some people just won’t be happy until we backstroke all of our progress to the prehistoric age (which was arguably less fucked than now).
International Swimming Federation FINA (which stands for Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur) announced there will be changes to the sport during a Monday press conference.
President of the Federation Husain Al-Musallam confirmed there will be an “open category” for trans athletes, which separates them from swimming with cisgender athletes at the highest level. Trans women can only swim with cisgender women if they “completed” their transition before the age of 12.
It’s an arbitrary number plucked from the air that locks trans women out of fairly competing at an elite level with their peers. What is a “completed” transition exactly? Who gets to decide this? How many children at the age of 12 or under are ready to transition and on top of this, how many know they want to be professional swimmers?
Hell, how many children are legally allowed to get gender affirmation surgery under the age of 18?
If FINA’s decision sounds like blatant discrimination, that’s because it is!
“I do not want any athlete to be told they cannot compete at the highest level,” said Al-Musallam, telling trans athletes that they cannot compete at the highest level.
“I will set up a working group to set up an open category at our meets. We will be the first federation to do that.”
If any of this sounds like a good
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is physically far superior to most professional swimmers regardless of gender, shall we ban him too?
Did FINA crack down on sexual harassment by coaches? Is FINA pushing for more funding of youth programs and greater access for women? Is FINA enhancing funding for emerging nations in the sport? Is FINA leading a push for more women in media and administrative positions?
— Karleigh Chardonnay Webb (@ChardonnayM) June 20, 2022
I'd love to know that too. It's wild to restrict the rights of a whole category of women without making that pretty public.
— Unlicensed Transexual Erica ⚢(she/her) (@TS_Erica_S) June 19, 2022
The world swimming body has just announced that it wishes to do neither of these things and instead fold to a debate which has been largely centred around transphobic ideology. 2/
Gatekeepers: "You can't compete unless you transitioned before 12." Trans Kids: "So you'll give us puberty blockers then?" Gatekeepers: "God no! You're far too young!"
I can’t tell you how proud I am of my sport @fina & @fina_president for doing the science, asking the athletes/coaches and standing up for fair sport for females. Swimming will always welcome everyone no matter how you identify but fairness is the cornerstone of sport https://t.co/1IaMkIFOkX
thing to you, please name a single trans athlete who has “dominated” unfairly in their field. It’s okay I’ll wait.
And before you jump straight into the comments to talk about “biology” or “fairness”, take a minute to research how hurtful, destructive and backwards this language is. Or more importantly, how none of these claims of “biology” are even backed up.
Not to mention swimmers like who literally have physical advantages above others but are celebrated.
Aussie transgender athlete about how discriminatory FINA’s decision really is.
“Thirty years ago … Athletics Australia was able to come up with a range of physiological parameters or norms for women in our sport and apply these to rigorous tests on me,” she said.
“I would have thought that in this day and age, similar methods could be applied to transgender women … across all sports.
“To deny transgender women the opportunity to be part of a sport as a blanket ruling, without taking the diversity and nuance of transgender lives into account, is transphobic.
“FINA has just told the world that this is OK by them.”
To select an entire group of people and tell them they cannot compete with their peers because of “science”, without showing said science, is transphobic.
To have an entire panel of cisgender people making decisions for transgender people in the name of “saving” a sport, is transphobic.
To make near-impossible rules that specify the age an individual has to have transitioned by to make them the perfect transgender person for your little sport, is transphobic.
Swimming isn’t going to suffer if you let a trans person join the race.
Of course, many athletes have used this opportunity to slam transgender people and support the rule changes. Most of what they’re saying however just parrots the unfounded spittings of other transphobic members of the public. The word “science” sure does get thrown around A LOT by people who get paid to splash in chlorine.
Take and for example:
Aussie four-time gold medallist had a more nuanced and grey take on the matter, but it’s still a shame to see so many cisgender women act like they’re in jeopardy. It’s fear masked as “doing the right thing for women”. Something you’d see from the likes of , not a swarm of award-winning sports players.
“We see you, value you and accept you,” she said.
“My role, however, is also to stand up here, having asked our world governing body, FINA, to investigate, deliberate and uphold the cornerstone of fairness in elite women’s competition.
“And it pains me — that this part of my role — may injure, infuriate and, potentially, alienate people from an already marginalised [transgender] community.
“Believe me, I have wrestled long and hard with myself, with what to say and do. I am aware that my actions and words, no matter what I say, will anger some people — whether they are from the [transgender] community or from the cisgender female community.”
Sure she’s still expressing a fundamentally transphobic view that trans and cis women cannot compete in sport together, but at least she isn’t throwing around unfounded pseudo-science and straight-up slurs. If only more people could express their problematic opinions without being actual trolls.
Essentially, FINA has fucked up. Segregating trans people is not the solution. Segregating anyone from sport is not the solution.
People aren’t pissed at this decision because they’re too woke to care about “fairness”. In fact, they care a lot about fairness. Lets trans people swim with their peers and compete at the highest level. I’d be interested to see how many gold medals they “rob” off of straight, cis, white women.
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
