So CBC served me up something nice to rant about today;
transsexuals in sports. Specifically, a woman (who was born a man) wanting to compete in this year’s Olympics in women’s cycling.
In this case – about Kristen (formerly known as Chris) Worley – the gender issue is completely irrelevant. She’s saying that she deserves to be in the Olympics because she can meet the qualifying time. But she’s never competed in a qualifying event! “I can run 100m in 10 seconds flat. No, I’ve never raced, but just trust me. Take away the position of some other chick who has been training and racing her entire life, earned her position on the Olympic team through sanctioned qualifying events, and give it to me!” Honestly, I don’t know where this Kristen gets her sense of entitlement… So forget the argument about discrimination and breaking down barriers; try out or quit whining.
This situation will undoubtedly come up again, though, and I’ll be very interested to see what decisions are made. Kristen is arguing that there is no physical advantage for transitioned females. I think that’s bullshit, and any woman who lines up at the starting line next to a woman who has spent the first 25 years of her life in a man’s body building man muscles is going to think that’s bullshit too.
Anti-discrimination used to be “Treat all people equally”. Now, it’s “Treat all people equally, and some people more equally than others.” For real, that’s what I learned in HR. Am I the only person who thinks that, to an extent, society is too accommodating for personal differences?
“Years of oppression and a lack of opportunities”… blah blah blah. How about an elderly woman driving through a bus shelter and killing someone because taking away her license would be ageism? How about an autistic child being disruptive and violent to other students in a classroom because excluding him from the public school system would be unfair?
If you cut off your manmeat, you give up the opportunity to compete at the Olympics. You also give up the ability to pee standing up. Sacrifices come with all decisions, and I would hope that Kristen properly weighed the pros and cons before making this life-altering choice.
People need to focus on what they can do within their limitations. We’d all be a lot happier and a lot more productive if we’d develop our personal strengths, focus on our advantages instead of disadvantages, instead of wanting the world to roll over and change everything for us.
