It hurts me to see so much transphobic commentaries on FB about XY Females competing in sports.
First and foremost please remember there are actual human beings at the other end of this issue.
There is much research that has not been highlighted on this issue.
First of all it isn’t about testosterone which many seem to believe, it is more complex than that.
May I recommend “Woman Enough: How A Boy became a Woman to change the World of Sport” By Kristen Worley.
Also look up the leading Neuroscientist, Dr. Dick Swaab.
I never competed as a woman so I can only offer my opinion from the lenses that are my own.
What I have learned is that everyone is different and have a different make up to sustain them.
I have learned first hand in regards to T-Cells and my own HIV/ Aids journey.
Why would my partner die when he had a reported, to me, 800 T-Cells when I was diagnosed with 200?
What was explained to me was we need to know what you started with, so gathering that information at birth, maybe I started with less and that was “normal” for me. Everyone is different.
Our individual bodies absorb substances differently, we all have different metabolisms that may be, or not, incorporated into our bodies.
Also there seems to be a double standard to an XX Male in sports. I haven’t heard any speculation on that.
When ever I bring up this topic I get asked, “Well what if someone using anabolic steroids breaks you records?”
This is the first time I am going on the records to say, “AWESOME! That is great! You broke my records! I am SO grateful to have lived to see it!
I know what it felt like but I would LOVE to see and be witness to it and celebrate!”
Many skeptics would say, “You don’t mean that!” “They cheated!”
I wouldn’t care, because I feel as we continue to push boundaries we are challenging human performance, even if that performance is enhanced by substances created by other humans.
As elite athletes we are used to be human guinea pigs, from oxygen uptake and recovery, to muscle biopsies, body composition, max effort to failure, too many other painful means to collect data to see how we work.
I know I also come from a very different perspective about my records.
I experienced first hand the EGO that can be displaced and misused onto a young sixteen year old athlete to preserve his coaches record.
After the shame of failing to preserve said record, the worthlessness and humiliation I felt, suicide attempts not even being able to hold that Silver Medal for decades without a nauseous feeling of guilt that I WAS worthless.
This is a heavy price to pay and horrible burden for a young person to carry.
I have learned through this experience, first, to forgive to love the person responsible who now I see was only exerting and exposing his own insecurities, but to celebrate those who come behind in joy not envy.
Every Athlete out there puts in their time to get to where they are, the so called “performance enhancing drugs” are just that, drugs.
World Class Athletes are just that, World Class Athletes.
Winning can be a combination of determination, luck and an others opinion of that day, depending on the sport.
Ultimately the performer has to perform, they can’t “phone-in” their performance and quite frankly “shit happens.” Or what I prefer to think “life happens.”
I would celebrate with whomever breaks my records, and some have definite beaten my scoring records, I LOVE seeing that!
Even when I was competing, we thought of a 10 was defined as “Perfect” and today when getting certified it is denoted as “Excellent.”
I marvel at the tricks being done today, far from what I had done.
But that is progress, and isn’t that what we are cheering each other on for?
I don’t care what country you are from, or what religion you are, I appreciate excellence and aesthetics.
Does it really matter if someone feels the need to smoke a doobie the night before a big event?
I don’t think it is any different from drinking till four in the morning before a big event.
Obvious to me, a way to shut the thinking brain down for a bit to allow the body to do what it was trained to do, but is SO keyed up it needs some help shutting down.
Even after my athletic career I continued on being a guinea pig, with HIV/ Aids drug testing.
I would rather they test on me, as a rat or other animals can’t articulate to a Doctor or Researcher, “Hey, that really sucked!” Or “This is more tolerable.” Or any number of helpful responses to have to live thru the experiences of real life.
Just as in the case of the Transgender dialog in the so called performance enhancing drug issue, there are real human beings attached.
I am not opposed to enhancing performance whether it is in an exercise routine, or a pill or a shot.
The Athlete ultimately has to put in the work, or they wouldn’t be where they are.
Also the Transgender populous is such a tiny minority we don’t seem to want to take the time to understand the endocrine system well enough to integrate this marginalize minority.
So I am of the belief as a Gay, Polynesian Male, I can raise my voice to lift people up instead of tearing them down.
Rather than sling crap you may not have a full grasp of.
It might help you and others to educate yourselves and not hold so tightly to your EGO.
EGO’s kill, they almost killed me.
Namaste, Greg