Laurel Hubbard named sportswoman of the year - but it's not that big of a deal... really
For those of you that are not aware Laurel Hubbard was born male but transitioned to female at some point in his/her life. She went on to be allowed to compete in weightlifting in the Olympics this year with a great deal of controversy surrounding her involvement and being allowed to be there at all. Despite having a massive biological advantage she failed to complete a single lift in her event and was eliminated. I smelled a rat when this happened because I thought it would just add more fuel to the fire for people that want to claim that trans-women don't have an advantage in sports.
src
Now as you would expect there are a lot of people that are upset over this title being given to Laurel but I want people to understand that this wasn't Sports Illustrated or ESPN that gave this award, but rather some otherwise unknown university in New Zealand who might just be trying to get some attention.
The award was given by the University of Otago, which unless you live in New Zealand, or probably even close to wherever that university is, you've probably never heard of it.
I think it is pathetic that this would happen not necessarily because of the obvious media frenzy surrounding Laurel's inclusion in the Olympics, but because of the fact that there were probably a few New Zealand women in the Olympics that actually won that were more deserving. Laurel being given this award is definitely a political statement, and has nothing to do with performance.
src
Isn't she lovely and very girl-looking? Ha! Well to be fair the weightlifting category of the Olympics generally isn't a who's who of fashion models anyway but they do tend to have at least some feminine characteristics.
Twitter of course is alive with activity surrounding all of this with a lot of people saying what I think is obvious in that she (Laurel) doesn't deserve this award. Anyone who does anything other than give huge amounts of praise for her accomplishments is of course, immediately labeled alt-right and anti-trans.
I think that this transcends (pun intended) the notion of her being a biological woman or not. I think it has to do with the fact that generally speaking "athletes of the year" have accomplished something rather amazing performance-wise and Hubbard failed to do that.
At the end of the day seeing as how this award came from one small university in New Zealand that the world should just shut up and let them do whatever they want. If you are opposed to biological males competing in women's sports - and I think most biological woman athletes probably are - then by giving this issue attention you are merely making it stick around longer. Of course that would go against the "hey, look at me!" attitude of social media in general.
I feel as though a lot of the media outlets focusing on this are kind of making this out to be a bigger deal than it actually is. The same thing happened when Caitlyn / Bruce Jenner won the "Woman of the Year" award and people got all worked up about it. The award was given by Glamour Magazine. Who the hell cares what they think?
In the end I suppose I feel bad for actual women athletes that were bypassed for the University of Otago award but then again - is this award at all prestigious? Seeing as how 99% of the world has never heard of the school I can't imagine that it is.
I feel really bad for all of the women that have to deal with this situation and I believe that women's rights and women's sporting competitions need to completely exclude and ban individuals that are neither female as well as they need help for the severe mental health issues leading them into the horrific sexual reassignment surgery.
Imagine having another problem so badly that you go have an elective surgery to turn yourself into something you're not.
I actually know one of the original sexual reassignment surgery individuals. I also know about the decades of mental health issues this individual and pretty near every single one of these trans people has had.
Person that I'm talking about was crying to me about nobody would stay in a relationship with them and how upsetting it was.
You cannot make external changes and think that internally it is going to make you happy. And in fact until you fix your own problems you cannot be in a relationship or fully love and other person.
The next time I happen to see you this individual I got a lot of thanks and appreciation from them for my counsel.
And this individual suddenly was not dressing up like a clown and had switched being androgynous as well as doing massive mental health therapy.
I am lucky to say and report back that this individual now has a much better quality of life and much better mental health mindset. And I can continue to say prayers for their healing and as well there mental health.
We are all traumatized and hurt individuals. And I'm just really happy that this individual was able to go access the help that they needed.
Trans people should not be allowed to compete against their opposite biological gender. Trans people who are going for male to female should have their own categories and be completely excluded from women's sports.
Of this there should be a trans organization where these individuals have a place to compete against other trans individuals within their own division.
Forcing women to compete against a mentally ill biological man? Is some of the worst hypocrisy ever.
I agree with basically everything you said there. There is a lot of information linking gender re-assignment to mental illness for sure. It's a crazy world we live in now huh?
That was good of you to stand by your friend. I hope everything is ok.
Actually my friend is doing more phenomenal than they have done their entire life. It is wonder what happens when you start taking care of yourself instead of making superficial external changes thinking that a new paint layer on the exterior is going to cover up the issues underneath the surface.
If we can all start caring for each other a little bit more this world will be an amazingly better place.
Dude, totally agree with this. When did we all start being so mean? and for no good reason too.
Like Dave Chappelle said you just need to validate people for being people. When you start helping others and watch them help themselves things turn into a new world.
Not a fan and this kind of thing actually disgusts me as not the sex change, but the being able to compete as a woman when clearly this is a man with no balls. That is the truth in many ways however you try and sugar coat it. I remember your competition a year or two ago about spot the Ladyboy and how difficult that was.
Interesting subject that you bring up, since this is much more political than anything else, because as you said, this is a statement and the precedents are being sown so that in the future, who knows what may happen.
Do not pay much attention to what they say on twitter that is the sewer of internet.
This is weightlifting, imagine now a "transitioned" dude beating the crap out of a woman like it happened a month ago in MMA...
Then there's a fucking problem and we need to speak out.
yeah i saw that MMA thing. I don't think it should be allowed. I'm saying that the award Laurel received is an insignificant one by a source that is perhaps just trying to get some press for themselves.
Well everyone is entitled to their opinion but mine is that I don't think transgenders should be allowed to compete in some sports as many will feel that some have a lot of advantage over the other sex in the sports. i for one will feel bad if a transgender is competing in a game I know quite well that the opposing sex have much advantage in
Yes, i don't think they should be allowed either. Isn't it a bit strange that we don't have any woman to man trannies competing? I wonder why that is? hmmmmm
I think this is a huge issue in the sporting world for a lot of like minded people. I feel it creates a core issue with validity since sports are often based on a level of fairness. Since this brings that into question it creates a level of question to the validity of the results for some people. If you can't find the validity to something then why even waste time participating in that sport. That's the real tragedy in my opinion.
As with most things I tend to think the solution is for the creation of new sporting leagues and organizations that follow the alignment of their membership. This becomes even more possible in the future as DAOs can be organized that set rules based on the participants decisions.
If the Olympics want to base their gender selections on identification versus chromosome determination then I think that's fine but it's an amazing opportunity for a new organization to stand in with a strong mission focused on principles that align opposite of the Olympic committee and see which wins out. Likewise if a league wants to stand for principles that limit participation to membership based on chromosome gender then I encourage the creation of a league with opposite principles that would be inclusive of identification. Everyone should have a home to enjoy sport.
The market will decide where most people have interest in the results and create the larger economic league. The amazing part is that I'd imagine the market would determine that both can still survive and each pool of people can still enjoy the sport based on their league's rules without pushing people away from the sport all together. One may be rewarded more handsomely than the other based on the larger leagues economic output but both will still allow everyone to enjoy the sport in their own way.
A very political response and solution on your part. I don't know if there would be enough competitors for a tranny league but it certainly would be interesting. I'd like to see a league where all PED's are allowed so we could see what the human body is truly capable of. Of course a lot of people would die but that is their decision!
If there's not then you have to grab your balls and wait till you can get enough to play if you want to set your league's own rules. That being said I would be blown away if they couldn't find enough to put it together. It doesn't have to be just tranny's but could also be anyone aligned with the love of their ruleset to play along.
The PED is where I base the thought for this. I've always wanted a PED approved league where, as you said, test the capabilities and lengths of the human anatomy in competition. I don't have issue with users seeking whatever advantage they can as long as the rules are not broken. If they want to organize under a new ruleset that enough competitors believe in then I'm all about it.
On a futuristic side I'm really excited for robotic leagues if they come around during my lifetime. I'd love to watch a baseball game where balls are being pitched near the speed of sound and destroyed by a robotic batter with matching speed and prowess. There's no chance a human would be able to compete in that league unassisted but just like the tranny league it can have it's own rules that match it's participants that keep things balanced. I just love the concepts of competition and how participants work around the rulesets to grow.