• applebusch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 days ago

    maybe some specific ones, but androgens definitely not. theyre like the number one performance enhancer and was one of the first if not the first to be banned in competitive sports. testosterone levels have a huge impact on athletic performance, and opening the door on an acceptable range of testosterone levels would shine a light on the inherent problems of the fundamental philosophy of sports.

    people assume some degree of fairness in sport, but the truth is that sports are in many ways a genetic competition, with some people being naturally gifted. someone might have naturally higher testosterone, have an easier time building and maintaining muscle mass, have a skeletal structure uniquely suited to their sport, or have some other biological advantage that improves their performance in subtle or overt ways. sports are inherently unfair, we just pretend they are because to acknowledge the unfairness is to call into question why we do sports at all.

    so i doubt trans men will get an exception any time soon. theres not many of them, and cis people generally are totally unwilling to acknowledge the nuance of sports competition in the first place.