Every single sportsperson in the world, past and present, was born from a woman. All our sporting heroines and heroes were born from women. The women and men on sporting bodies and boards were born from women. It wouldn’t be too silly to think that might be worthy of a bit of respect.
Apr 19, 2023Liked by Katrina Biggs - A B'Old Woman
The whole "just lower the testosterone level" is a specious argument. The male sports advantage starts before birth when the basic bits of us are being formed. All puberty does is accelerate, accentuate and cement in these differences between men and women. Less testosterone does not alter the shape of the pelvis, how the hip joints operate (which is why generally speaking, men are faster runners). It doesn't have an impact on lung capacity, muscle twitch time or anything else that make the physical differences between male and female athletes.
You are either happy to invest in fairness or you are not. Sport NZ is clearly not interested in fairness or in safeguarding the bodies of women. Just recently, there was yet another public moan about "why do girls quit playing sports?" Well going forward one reason will be that they know that despite any amount of training, they are never going to win against male bodied competitors who cheat their way to victory.
Who'd have thought that in 2023 the biggest threat to the integrity of Sport in New Zealand is the organisation that is set up to look after sport.
Sport New Zealand are the real problem.
The whole "just lower the testosterone level" is a specious argument. The male sports advantage starts before birth when the basic bits of us are being formed. All puberty does is accelerate, accentuate and cement in these differences between men and women. Less testosterone does not alter the shape of the pelvis, how the hip joints operate (which is why generally speaking, men are faster runners). It doesn't have an impact on lung capacity, muscle twitch time or anything else that make the physical differences between male and female athletes.
You are either happy to invest in fairness or you are not. Sport NZ is clearly not interested in fairness or in safeguarding the bodies of women. Just recently, there was yet another public moan about "why do girls quit playing sports?" Well going forward one reason will be that they know that despite any amount of training, they are never going to win against male bodied competitors who cheat their way to victory.