I scream, you scream, we all scream for…umm, “ice cream.” Some of us guys more girlishly than others.
The Damage Caused by Trans ‘Inclusion’ In Female Athletics: a Massachusetts Case Study
A single biologically male high-school student has invaded female categories in at least four different sports—negatively affecting hundreds of girls and women in the process.“A 6’ Tall, Bearded Trans Basketballer Arrogantly Slams a Young Girl to the Ground—She Collapses in Agony,” was how Britain’s Daily Mail headlined the latest transgender sports scandal. Some may roll their eyes at the Mail’s sensationalist (and uniquely verbose) headline style. But in this case, at least, no one can accuse the newspaper’s copy editors of getting the facts wrong.
The author of that article was one Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimming star who now helps lead the campaign to protect women’s sport from transgender-identified males. It’s a cause I happen to support. As this Massachusetts high-school basketball controversy attests, male participation in female sports categories isn’t just unfair to girls and women. It’s often dangerous, as well.
One argument that’s commonly invoked in support of male-bodied “inclusion” in female sports categories is that, as Minnesota-based activist group Gender Justice asserts, “trans women are very much underrepresented in sport,” and “professional trans women athletes are extremely rare.” The idea here is that, no matter the obvious advantages that men have over women in athletics, few female athletes will be negatively affected by the handful of trans-identified males who choose to compete in categories that align with their gender identity.
And, to give these activists their due, it is quite true that most elite male athletes, even those afflicted with gender dysphoria, understand that they don’t belong in protected female spaces. It requires either a blinding sense of arrogance, or perhaps social cluelessness, for a man competing as a woman to fail to understand how disdained (and, in some cases, reviled) he will become if he insists on persistently invading female athletics—notwithstanding the forced displays of camaraderie and acceptance that affected women typically feel obligated to put on for the cameras.
Hey, anybody out there remember back at the beginning of this sudden surge—UNEXPECTED!©—of “concern” about the “rights” of “transgenders,” some of us saying that canonizing this mental disorder as if it were all not just perfectly normal and above-board but actually admirable would provide opportunities for loser-perv Manwomen to invade female sports locker rooms, Ladies restrooms, and other restricted spaces in order to indulge their own predatory urges?
Nah, me neither, musta dreamed it or something.
And it’s not just a question of who gets to go home with the medals. As demonstrated by the case of the aforementioned “bearded trans basketballer”—Massachusetts high-school senior Lazuli Clark—just a single male athlete who chooses to invade protected female athletic spaces can antagonize, intimidate, or endanger dozens, or even hundreds, of female co-competitors.
Thanks in large part to The Independent Council on Women’s Sport, an American-based advocacy group, almost 9-million people have seen the infamous video clip of Clark injuring a female opponent during a February 8 high-school basketball game. Clark, a student at KIPP Academy in Lynn, MA, also reportedly hurt two other girls during that same game. Following the third injury, the coach of the opposing team, Collegiate Charter of Lowell, MA, chose to forfeit the game rather than risk losing more players.
Basketball isn’t Clark’s only sporting pursuit. By my count, Clark has opted into female categories in at least four separate sports. (I am making a deliberate attempt to avoid describing Clark with pronouns, as it isn’t clear which ones apply. While many public news accounts of Clark’s exploits use “she” and “her” descriptors, a Saugus, MA-based Tae Kwon Do studio recently appears to have described Clark, who is apparently a “black belt student,” as “them,” suggesting a non-binary identity.)
Recently, Quillette received a leaked copy of an October 12, 2022 letter sent to the United States Rowing Association (commonly known as USRowing), the sport’s national governing body, in which 15 parents of elite female Massachusetts-resident rowers detailed their concerns about Clark.
In an interview with Quillette, one of the signatories reported that Clark joined the female rowing club in 2021, after placing poorly (“near the bottom,” by this parent’s account) with the club’s corresponding male team. Clark reportedly didn’t bother to shave or otherwise maintain the outward aesthetic pretenses of female gender identification, and even continued to wear the male club’s uniform.
In one documented 2022 incident, it is alleged, Clark walked into the girls’ changing room, spotted a female rower who was topless, and made a lewd comment about her breasts (“Oooh, titties”). As a result, documents reviewed by Quillette indicate, Clark was reported by team officials to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a congressionally mandated body dedicated to “ending sexual, physical, and emotional abuse on behalf of athletes everywhere.” After SafeSport took action in late 2022, Clark never rowed for the club again—in either gender category. (Efforts to contact Clark or adult members of Clark’s family about these allegations, as well as other events described in this article, were unsuccessful.)
Bold mine, because…well, I really don’t have to say it again, do I?
3
1
- Entries
The push back to the Right is in full swing.
The proper reaction to assholes like this is a blanket party.
That would require present fathers and un-emasculated fellow students, both a rare commodity in Massholia.
But I don’t think a mere blanket party goes anywhere near far enough, and my solution would involve use of an icepick and a straight razor.
And certainly to include an intervention with same on the parents of “it”, as well.
Mr Clark ought to have been expelled from the school – not just the sporting program – and charged with criminal assault and battery – and a civil suit filed against him. And it’s obvious that he’s male, so this pronouns nonsense doesn’t apply. Back in the olden days, if the girl had male siblings, Mr Clark would have been in for an ass-kicking. Perhaps that style should come back into vogue…
Yes but NC was vilified by college sports authorities for their “Bathroom Law” and had tournaments moved out of state etc
*checks pockets and under the couch cushions* Nope, still can’t find any fucks to give. I’m a man, so I have no business inserting myself in women’s issues. Remember that? And “There’s nothing at all that men can do better than women.” And “I’m a bad bitch! I can beat any man on the planet!”
But tell ya what. When I see a bunch of women agitating to get women out of men’s spaces, maybe I’ll start caring about men in women’s spaces.