While responding to the controversy surrounding “transgender” men competing in women’s sports, many internet commenters have long opined, “They should just create a separate ‘transgender’ category.” Well, now it has finally happened — in the sport aficionados call “the sweet science.”
Per The Telegraph:
Boxing will put out a call for transgender athletes to come forward in 2023 with the World Boxing Council looking to introduce a new category solely for trans fighters.
Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, believes the sport needs to look closely at the issue for “safety and inclusion” reasons, revealing his plan to Telegraph Sport.
In an exclusive interview, Sulaiman says his proposal is that:
- The WBC will next year issue a “global call” for trans athletes to come forward if they want to compete, with the aim of setting up their own separate league or tournament
- Trans athletes will not be allowed to compete against non-trans fighters
- The sport would look to adopt the “at birth” rule, meaning a trans fighter born a man would only be able to compete against a fellow trans fighter born a man
According to ESPN, the same standard would apply to women: Female MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, aka “transgender”) individuals would be allowed to compete only against other female MUSS fighters.
The WBC, “through its medical committee and technical committee, reached a determination after studies and an important talk during the WBC annual convention, an absolute and total confirmation was reached to not allow fights between people born men against people born women regardless of their current gender,” Sulaiman told ESPN.
“On the other hand, a program is opened — with a committee — to allow transgender people to participate in boxing if they wish,” Sulaiman added. “It is an inclusion program, and the WBC rejects any type of discrimination.”
That last statement is a falsehood. Like everyone else, the WBC “discriminates” continually. For example, it does so when prohibiting men from competing in the women’s category and when forbidding a heavyweight who identifies as a 135-pounder from fighting as a lightweight.
But lightweight is exactly how some might describe the WBC’s reasoning, as comments under the Telegraph article evidence. For instance, “[A]re there really enough trans boxers to make up these extra divisions, especially when you consider the range of weight classifications?” asks “Rob WA.” “These boxers…could end up in a weight division that includes no-one but themselves! Would the WBC simply declare that person world champion if there is no-one else to fight?”
Then, “RU Serieux” noted another reality. “Cannot wait to see the trans activists[’] response to this,” he wrote. “They aren’t going to like it. Trans women are women[,] don’t you know[?]”
In reality, Sulaiman acknowledged the possible lack of participants. “We do not yet know the numbers that there are out there,” he also told the Telegraph, “but we’re opening a universal registration in 2023, so that we can understand the boxers that are out there.”
The WBC isn’t alone, either, in tackling the MUSS-fuss pugilism perturbation. The British Boxing Board of Control has also confirmed that it’s examining its MUSS policy and is committed to embracing the “at birth” standard.
Sulaiman is, of course, trying to find a compromise position. Yet as the second commenter above noted, this won’t satisfy MUSS activists. A central tenet of their ideology — and it is ideology, not science — is that if a person claims opposite-sex status, he must thus be treated, completely and totally, no questions asked. So a man claiming womanhood would, under this theory, have to be given access to women’s private facilities, sports teams, and everything else “female only,” just like “any other woman.” MUSS activists want their illusions buttressed by the wider society.
Nonetheless, perhaps most concerned about this matter’s legal aspects, the boxing organizations may believe that offering separate MUSS categories will help avert lawsuits and a continued male invasion of women’s athletics. Whether it will ultimately pass legal muster remains to be seen. But there is something for sure:
When conservatives suggest, as they sometimes do, separate MUSS sporting categories, it’s another example of a tendency to compromise our way to insanity.
It’s not just that this half measure won’t placate zealous MUSS activists. It is, more importantly, that making such concessions is to tacitly acknowledge at least part of the MUSS agenda’s validity in the most significant way possible: through actions — which speak louder than words.
Consider: Along with “gender dysphoria” — strong and persistent feelings of cross-sex identification — there’s also “species dysphoria,” the sense that you’re an animal “stuck” in a human body. Now, if someone insists he’s an antelope or giraffe, would we let him live in the zoo? If a boy passionately claims canine status, would we allow him to be a contestant in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show?
Actually, if the political, social, media, and corporate pressure to do so became great enough, well, you never know. Why, teachers across America are already pandering to children who identify as “furries” and attend class “wearing tails, fake animal ears and even leashes,” reported The New American last February.
The moral of this story: You don’t compromise with unreality. You can’t have “trans” sports categories because there’s no such thing as “transgenderism” because you can’t transition to the opposite sex, period. And accepting a severe psychological problem as a “lifestyle choice” or just another “identity” is bat crazy itself.
