To clarify, the pictured poster Caroline Kwan is an ally, not a TERF. The TERFs referred to in the title are the ones ‘protecting a very specific idea of what a woman is’

  • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz
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    3 months ago

    This is a pretty good take, except that the men’s division is also protected. Performance enhancing drugs are not allowed, it is not a free-for-all open division.

    I don’t think anyone thinks the men’s and woman’s division should be combined because there is no good way to differentiate the difficult place in the middle; this is a classic heap paradox, just because the division between woman and not woman is difficult does not mean it doesn’t exist.

    Just one example from speed climbing men’s WR = 4.74s, woman’s WR = 6.06s; the men are 27.8% faster. No one is arguing that men are more dedicated and train more, that they have access to better nutrition or equipment. Men have a natural advantage; combining the divisions would simply mean that no women could possibly get into the top class competition. This maps across ALL sport.