..
It's about time science got involved in this mess, their silence has been infuriating
Scientists appeal to IOC over transgender guidance
Top medical experts have warned that Olympic bosses' decision on
testosterone levels threatens the integrity of female sports
A lineup of 38 medical experts and sports insiders have signed a statement criticizing the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) new framework on transgender athletes, issuing a warning over fairness as part of the debate.
After pledging to revise the guidelines amid fierce controversy over the issue at the Olympic Games in 2021, the governing body concluded that trans women would not be required to lower their testosterone to compete against rivals born as women – one of the cornerstones of the row for those who argue that transitioned athletes have an advantage over their opponents.
The reappraisal appeared to have been partly made in response to high-profile cases including Laurel Hubbard, the New Zealander who briefly competed at the Games in super-heavyweight weightlifting.
Testosterone level regulations have come in for further questioning because of the rise of Lia Thomas, a former male competitor who has broken records at college level as a female swimmer in the US in recent months.
Some campaigners for a change to the rules have suggested that groups and individuals are afraid to speak out publicly because they fear repercussions from others who passionately claim that more restrictive measures threaten the basic rights of transgender athletes.
Now the group of scientists and sports professionals, including members of World Athletics and World Triathlon, have written to the IOC to say that the framework is more focused on inclusion than science around gender and performance.
The authors, who are said to be associated with the International Federation of Sports Medicine and European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations, appealed to the IOC to revisit the guidance in the British Medical Journal Open Science & Exercise Medicine.
They say that the presumption of transgender athletes having no presumed advantage offers a "stark contrast" to the previous ruling by the IOC in 2015, scientific evidence and the findings of various groups and research.
Trans women could be allowed to compete in female sport, the scientists say, by lowering testosterone.
Thomas took testosterone suppressants for a year before being backed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the US to compete.
Cycling and rowing chiefs are among the leaders urging the IOC to set standards based on fairness and science.
While some scientists argue that the evidence around transgender athletes having advantages is inconclusive, others are convinced that trans individuals benefit in competition when they are born as men, with many going through puberty before transitioning.
Professor Jurgen Steinacker told Sportsmail that transwomens' choices to compete should be respected but that fairness had to be "bi-directional".
"In this case, I think what they are doing is unfair on females," the chair of World Rowing’s Sports Medicine Commission said.
"Sport is inclusive but it is inclusive until it comes to winning medals. If you want to compete as a female in sport, you face biological disadvantages compared to cisgender males that must be mitigated against.
"We need to set a limit that respects the right of females to compete on equal terms. If you create a definition of gender that is based on social rather than biological differences, then you effectively destroy the female category."
Professor Steinacker's remarks echoed the views of a reported letter from parents of Thomas's rivals which warned that the integrity of women's sports is at risk over the issue.
Former international pentathlete Kirsti Miller, who competed for Australia and later revealed she was transgender while working at a jail in 2000, issued a lengthy social media response to one report of the petition.
Miller said that the last nine Olympic Games had featured two openly transgender athletes, neither of whom threatened to earn a medal.
"Sadly, [one report of the petition] still doesn't get that there is no relationship between unaltered endogenous testosterone in males or females and sport performance," she claimed.
"In fact, there is no clear biological list of features that allow us to even remotely cleanly separate men from women."
Seriously?
Lawsuits in several US states have achieved varying levels of success in bids to bar transgender athletes from competing in female college sports.
The new IOC framework is set to be implemented after the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, which run from February 4-20 2022.
=====================================================================================
In the "It was just a matter of time" category...
Jordan Peterson drops tenured professorship, blasts ‘stunningly corrupt enterprise’
“Diversity, inclusion and equity” are destroying academia, the conservative author has warned
© Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson has announced he is resigning as a tenured professor at the University of Toronto, citing concerns with academia’s shift towards “Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity mandates,” which he appreciates as “DIE.” The abbreviated term is one of reasons behind Peterson’s resignation, which he announced in a Wednesday piece for the National Post.
“The appalling ideology of diversity, inclusion and equity is demolishing education and business,” Peterson wrote.
The now-former professor said he “loved” his job and students, but voiced frustration that his “qualified and supremely trained heterosexual white male graduate students … face a negligible chance of being offered university research positions, despite stellar scientific dossiers.”
Impossible-to-meet diversity and political correctness standards are affecting both students and fellow staff members. Peterson refers to himself as “persona non grata” in his field because of his “unacceptable philosophical positions.”
“How can I accept prospective researchers and train them in good conscience knowing their employment prospects to be minimal?” he wrote, later adding that his colleagues “must craft DIE statements” to get research grants today.
“They all lie,” he said of many modern professors, adding they “teach their students to do the same.”
“They do it constantly, with various rationalizations and justifications, further corrupting what is already a stunningly corrupt enterprise,” he added about many of his colleagues, blasting teachers for undergoing modern “so-called anti-bias training.”
Accrediting boards for Canadian graduate clinical psychology training programs will refuse accreditation programs unless they include a “social justice orientation,” according to Peterson.
“All of you going along with the DIE activists, whatever your reasons: this is on you,” he added. “Cowering cravenly in pretence and silence. Teaching your students to dissimulate and lie. To get along. As the walls crumble.”
In a lengthy thread later posted on Twitter, Peterson highlighted students and professors confirming his concerns about ‘wokeism’ standards destroying academic standards.
You can't pray to God in California schools, but you could pray to Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl
Parents Successfully Sue California to Stop Aztec Prayers,
Chants in Public Schools
January 18, 2022
A law firm representing angry California parents who objected to an ethnic studies curriculum that encouraged students to participate in prayers and invocations to Aztec gods has settled with the state, effectively putting an end to the controversial program.
When California first launched its 900-page Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) it was touted as an ambitious framework to bring the stories of marginalized students to the classroom, but its inclusion of Aztec religious rituals raised concerns.
As attorney Paul Jonna of the Thomas More Society told The Epoch Times, the curriculum “instructed students to chant the prayers for emotional nourishment after a ‘lesson that may be emotionally taxing or even when student engagement may appear to be low.’ The idea was to use them as prayers.”
The prayers, he explained, “were not being taught as poetry or history” but rather sought blessings from Aztec deities.
The ESMC included a section on “Affirmation, Chants, and Energizers” which included invocations to Aztec gods such as Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl.
“The pagan prayers address the deities both by name and traditional titles, recognize them as sources of power and knowledge, invoke their assistance, and offer thanks,” the Times notes.
Whoever wrote this into the curriculum ought to be ostracized from ever contributing to education again, ever.
The plaintiffs assert that the invocations are unconstitutional and amount to a state endorsement of the Aztec religion.
The state, without agreeing on this point, did concede to remove the invocations from the curriculum and to pay the plaintiffs $100,000 for legal fees.
Notices will also be issued at all California school districts, charter schools, and county education offices about the change to the ESMC policy and informing them that the chants and invocations may not be used.
Frank Xu, president of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CERF) celebrated what he called an “important, hard-fought victory.”
“Our state has simply gone too far in attempts to promote fringe ideologies and racial grievance policies, even those that disregard established constitutional principles. Endorsing religious chants in the state curriculum is one glaring example,” he said in a statement.
“To improve California public education, we need more people to stand up against preferential treatment programs and racial spoils. At both the state and local levels, we must work together to re-focus on true education!”
=====================================================================================
Was trans swimmer trying to manipulate USA Swimming standards?
Trans swimmer plotted to lose, teammate claims
Lia Thomas was beaten by Yalie Iszac Henig earlier this month
A biological female teammate of University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has voiced beliefs she colluded with a fellow trans athlete to be beaten at a recent Ivy League swim meet.
Born Will and competing in UPenn's male swimming team before the pandemic, Thomas has sparked debate in the US after she smashed a number of records at women's swim events with figures such as Caitlyn Jenner insisting that "biological boys should not be playing in women’s sports."
On January 8, however, Thomas was beaten by Yale's Yalie Iszac Henig, who topped her in the 100-yard and 300-yard women's freestyle races.
Henig is currently transitioning from male to female, and is allegedly still allowed to compete on Yale's women's team due to not starting testosterone treatment yet.
But as Thomas' female teammate alleged to OutKick while keeping her identity secret, foul play has been suspected in the upset after Hening won the 100 freestyle race with a time of 49.57 compared to Thomas' 52.84 seconds.
"Looking at [Lia’s] time, I don’t think she was trying," the teammate said.
"I know they’re friends and I know they were talking before the meet. I think she let her win to prove the point that, 'Oh see, a female-to-male beat me'.”
"I do," she answered when asked if she believed the duo had fixed the result. "I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I found out that was 100% true," she added.
"I was on deck and said to a friend, 'She’s literally not trying.’ You could just tell," the teammate claimed, accusing Thomas of not giving her all in the 200-yard freestyle won with a time of 1:48.73 during the meeting with Yale and Dartmouth.
"It was blatantly obvious. I was watching the 200 free and she was literally keeping pace with the other girls.
"She was number one in the country at one point. These are definitely talented swimmers, but they’re not the caliber of being at the top in the country or anything like that," the teammate went on.
"You can tell when someone is dying and they’re swimming slow. You can also tell when someone is not trying and I could see [in the 200-yard freestyle] that Lia was not trying," she concluded.
The UPenn team headed to Florida to train before the early January meet and, according to the anonymous source, were accompanied by two private security guards of each sex described as possibly ex-SWAT agents.
Swimmers received instructions from their college not to wear UPenn apparel in a bid to avoid causing trouble with those who might be following Lia Thomas' story and disapprove of her participation in women's events.
As most of the clothing such as hoodies and shirts has the word 'PENN' emblazoned across it, teammates allegedly resorted to covering it up with tape. But not Thomas.
"It was crazy. People were wearing shirts with Duct Tape on them and had bags duct-taped while Lia was wearing gear with big letters," the teammate said.
Next up for UPenn's women's swim team is a trip to Harvard, where a dual meet will take place on Saturday.
In the meantime, the under-fire National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has announced that individual national governing bodies such as USA Swimming will determine participation requirements for transgender athletes such as Thomas with immediate effect to fall in line with the International Olympic Committee's own fresh stance.
It seems South Korea is not yet ready to 'normalize' drag queens
Tech giant pulls drag queen ad after backlash
Samsung apologizes for ‘offensive’ video featuring Muslim mother
supporting LGBTQ son
South Korean electronics giant Samsung has pulled an advertisement that featured a real-life Singapore family, in which the hijab-wearing mother expressed her support for her drag-queen son by hugging him.
They were one of four families that appeared in the ad under the slogan “Listen to your Heart,” which was meant to promote Samsung’s new smart watch. The device has a heart-rate monitor and noise-canceling earbuds.
The ad triggered anger online, with some accusing Samsung of trying to promote LGBTQ ideology and being insensitive to the Islamic faith. According to Singapore’s 2020 census, 15.6% of the country’s population identify as Muslim.
Samsung published a statement online on Wednesday, admitting that the production may be perceived as “insensitive and offensive,” adding that they had removed the video from all public platforms.
The drag queen in the video is known as Vyla Virus and has been described online as one of Singapore’s most prolific drag performers. He has since appeared on his Instagram platform to say the footage was all about a mother’s love and nothing more.
No comments:
Post a Comment