I confess, I'd missed the re-emergence of the other thread and have just made myself very angry by popping in there to see what was going on.
Those transphobes have no interest in conversation, and are as utterly convinced of their moral and intellectual superiority as they are completely wrong about several things: women's categories in most sports were not created to 'allow' women to compete fairly against each other without men. Women were banned from men's sports for being too much competition for the egos of the big strong manly men they were starting to beat.
Biological sex in mammals has never been a strictly binary question that is possible to determine with 100% accuracy from a visual inspection at birth. External genital presentation is just one of the many factors, and people who don't fall neatly into the pink and blue societal buckets have both always existed and been reasonably common - more so than people with red hair iirc.
Keep the support flying on here, it’s lovely to see. Some people are just angry about life and this is just their latest vehicle, that said, I know it doesn’t make it any easier to take if someone is debating your very existence.
I don't know if COTH is still around to do it, but it might be nice to remove the transphobe thread from the 'related threads' list at the bottom of the page here.
I get that the list is automatically generated, I was just hoping it might be possible to take the nasty thread off it so that folks who find this one first don't follow a link to that one without realising what they're walking into.
Maybe we can add a health warning in the thread description, instead?
I've stayed away from Fetch because I am so angry. I'm part of the Athletics Pride Network, and we tried hard to get them to include us in things and they ignored us completely. I've seen the report itself and they reckon they brought together a load of 'experts' but we can't see any evidence of that.
And my mom is in her last few days, so I have a bigger priority at the moment.
(It's funny how some of the transphobes are benefitting from my running efforts in Trader though).
I've seen you are having a tough time with your mum Vixx and really appreciate your support in popping in here while that is rightly your main focus at the moment.
A thread about how we can encourage and include people in whatever exercise they are interested in and removing barriers to participation.
Glossary -------------------- Amendments/Corrections/Requests just ask for a sidebar edit. This is NOT comprehensive, just some helpful shorthand. ---------------------
Gender Identity ≠ Gender Expression ≠ Anatomical Sex ≠ Sexual Orientation
Anatomical sex = The physical aspects that make you fit into a category based on genitals, chromosomes etc i.e. Intersex, Female, Male... Gender identity = The internal view of gender, the way you see yourself. Gender expression = The way you present to others externally through clothing, behaviours, language and other social signals.
Sexual orientation = Who you are attracted to.
None of the above are dependent on any of the others, individuals may relate one to another in their specific case, but assuming what one might be based on observation of another is not a sound basis for determination.
Transgender (Trans) = When your gender identity does not match your identity assigned at birth based on anatomical sex. Cisgender (Cis) = When your gender identity matches your identity assigned at birth based on anatomical sex. Non Binary (Enby) = When your gender identity doesn't fall into either of the female/male choice. It may exist somewhere on the spectrum between woman and man, either stable of fluctuating between woman-ness and man-ness. This may encapsulate those that may use terms such as genderfluid, agender, demigender et al.
Pronouns = she/her, him/his, them/they etc... How to refer best to someone else. Really simply, follow their lead. Ask if unsure, be polite. If corrected, it's not a problem unless you repeatedly ignore correction.
Transition = The process somebody goes through to alter their physical attributes to better match their gender identity and expression.
Dysphoria = The distress a person feels due to a mismatch between their gender identity and their sex assigned at birth. Can fluctuate and be experienced at varying degrees. Dysmorphia = Discomfort with the shape/form of the body. Present in eating disorders and the like, but can often effect transgender people, with triggers such as body hair presence/absence, chest/genital presentation etc. Deadname - The name a person is assigned at birth, that they no longer use.
Triggers = Things that are known to cause an effect. Typically, X causes a person to experience dysphoria/dysmorphia. Sometimes these can be managed/avoided, other times they are inevitable.
Acronyms: amab = assigned male at birth (originally born anatomically male)
afab = assigned female at birth (originally born anatomically female)
ftm = female to male transitioner mtf = male to female transitioner egg = state of somebody before becoming aware they were transgender i.e. "their egg cracked when they realised and began to emerge" GIC/GIS = Gender Identity Clinic/Service, providing transition services GRS = Gender Reassignment Surgery
General notes: * Not everyone will be comfortable talking about their situation, depending on where they are. * Not everyone has the language to articulate how they feel, what they want to say. Be patient. * These things are NOT static, what you encounter in a person today may evolve into something else later. * Am I trans/cis/enby etc... Frankly, you tell us. Whatever YOU are comfortable with at the time is what we will adopt. It is YOUR identity. * This language is weird. Yup, and we (CreatureOfTheHill) as a plural system talk strange too, it's OK. We (CreatureOfTheHill) are not "normal", never have been. * Am I weird/abnormal? Possibly, but it has NOTHING to do with being here or being trans/enby or whatever. People just are in general, and that is OK, we love you for your quirkiness.
Free training & racing tools for runners, cyclists, swimmers & walkers.
Fetcheveryone lets you analyse your training, find races, plot routes, chat in our forum, get advice, play games - and more!
Nothing is behind a paywall, and it'll stay that way thanks to our awesome community!
Gender identity, please help change
Jun 2021