response to 4 makes sense. you're probably right that that was the talking point
do you refute the points Ember was making (not just on number 4, but the others)? Do you think they were valid or no?
Eh. Somewhat? I'm coming around to the sports bodies should be the ones governing eligibility instead of politicians. So in Kansas KSHSAA, in Missouri, MSHSAA etc. If it is as rare as that case with Ember, then yeah, I'll concede politicians ought to focus their energy elsewhere. Most high school sports rules are set by NFHSS and then adopted state by state, I would imagine at some point they'll have to set a standard there for who is eligible for Boys/Girls sports if they haven't already. I will look into that.
As far as a kid like Ember, yeah in the grand scheme of life, some kid playing backup catcher on the girls softball team is pretty harmless, that's fair. I'm still of the opinion that it makes more sense to separate sports by biological sex, but a kid like Ember doesn't really change that opinion for me, sorry. I'm also like, not outraged by it.
As far as the talking point of the true inequity is in facilities/funds for girls vs. boys sports, that to me feels like whataboutism. It might be a totally valid point, but that's not the discussion at hand. My personal experience with my own kids' sports and being around sports in the part of Kansas I live in is it's about the school, not the gender. The girls softball facilities at Blue Valley Southwest or the Volleyball opportunities at St. Thomas Aquinas are really unbelievable, whereas the baseball field at Wyandotte High School has a concrete pad in center field and broken glass in the dugouts. That's what I meant when I said I see the inequity up close.
I have multiple female athletes competing in sports and they are not even aware of this issue. I would suggest unless you have girls competing against trans students you really don't have a dog in this fight. I will decide to be outraged when and if this is a problem for my kids. Not sure why non parents of involved kids are trying to make laws about it.
Eh, there are tons of things that don't impact you personally that you're ok with having opinions on. I get what you mean, but we all weigh in on stuff all the time that don't impact us. No one I know has ever been shot, but I have a lot to say about gun culture etc.
CF3 I would like to ask a couple of questions. First, help walk me through your thought process on the girls who are harmed by trans girls being allowed to participate. So what happens to these girls? In the cases that get the most attention...that girl doesn't win the trophy. or she wins the lesser trophy. Okay. She still makes the team. Extrapolating that out...i suppose that means that there will be the girl that doesn't make the team. or she makes JV instead of varsity.
Now I will admit you know a lot more about the high school girls than i do, but anecdotally speaking, in highschool the kids that don't make the team aren't a bunch of try-hard Dan Ruettigers giving it 110% every play in the hopes of getting off the practice squad and getting to dress for just one game. If those kids don't make the team, they move on. They might be bummed out for a little bit, sure, i mean nobody celebrates NOT making the team, but i think its fair to say its the sort of thing that doesn't alter their trajectory in life, you know? Like i didn't get the part of Hamlet in the high school play, and i'm pretty sure that even if I had, I still wouldn't be a big name Hollywood actor.
So i guess where i'm going with this is...where do you think we should draw the line? If even 1 girl doesn't make the team because the trans girl did is that 1 more than ever should have and we need to start passing laws? Is it 100?
Because i gotta tell you man...even as a heterosexual white male, i still have had plenty of times where - at least in my mind - someone got an unfair advantage to my detriment. I think that's just part of the human condition.
1. Grand scheme of life, sure, not the greatest injustice and most kids will be fine. But the biggest thing to me is these are opportunities and spaces reserved for girls, so they should remain that way. Ember is a unique one because there aren't boys softball teams in Ohio (I think).
2. Yeah probably not worthy of a law. But my line has always been pretty easy and clear. Spaces and opportunities where sex/gender is segregated should stay that way. Prisons, changing rooms, should (IMO) be segregated by sex. Girls sports teams are a space for girls.
Dunno if that answered. Hope it helps.
