It all boils down to

Et tu Trevor Noah?

I’m going to have to watch all 13.37 minutes of misery.

Noah starts with oh oh it’s so hard to talk about trans issues, people tense up, that’s why it’s good you’re here: we can talk about it.

Well, yes, they can talk about it, but here’s why its bad that Rhys McKinnon is on The Daily Show: it’s because he’s a cold-blooded ruthless liar and a bully who cheats women in cycling.

McKinnon starts with the Olympics motto that sport is a human right, then says people say it’s complicated, it’s a complicated issue, but he thinks it’s not.

It all boils down to do you think trans women and intersex women are really female, or not. And if you do, it’s really simple: just stop policing who counts as a real woman.

Ah. Well yes, that is really simple, and it’s also really stupid. That would mean throwing the women’s category open to everyone, which would mean women would be forced out entirely. So much for “sport is a human right.” Also it’s not really “policing” to notice that Rhys the Hulk McKinnon is a man.

Because this has had history of racism built into it over the years, it’s not an accident that the intersex athletes who get singled out are women of color from the Global South

All one of them, he means. Powerful statistic.

because who gets singled out for scrutiny is based on white women’s conception of femininity.

Says the hulking white man who stole medals from women.

And that’s being weaponized against trans people too. So it’s a fear of [air quotes] protecting the fragile cis white woman from the rest of us.

Meaning himself and Trevor Noah, a person of color from the Global South. They’re the same! They’re victims of racism buddies! There’s a smattering of applause for this disgustingly cynical move.

Noah then does point out, with much hemming and hawing and “it’s complicated” and “some would say,” that Rhys has an advantage over women and that makes the sport unfair and how would you respond to that?

Yeah there’s lots of ways to respond to that. So the first is, the very language of [looking imploringly at the ceiling] you are born and I’m not biological somehow, like I don’t think I’m a cyborg, so, like this idea that like oh you’re not a biological woman, well I am a woman, that’s a fact, I am female, so all my identity records, my racing license, my medical records all say female, right, and I’m pretty sure [waving his hands up and down in front of his abdomen] I’m made of biological stuff, so I’m a biological female as well, so [gazing wildly at the ceiling again] this question of do trans women have an advantage over

Ok I have to interrupt here – he never comes to a complete stop in all that and still hasn’t, so I’m interrupting to address that “argument.” It’s pathetic. “Look it says right here: I’m a woman!!” Yes, we know, because there’s been an intense campaign to allow people who say they are trans to change their records, and the record-keepers have bowed to the pressure. That’s all that is. It’s not an argument nor is it evidence that Rhys McKinnon is in fact a woman. It’s a ridiculous attempt at an argument, especially from a former academic philosopher.

this question of do trans women have an advantage over cis women – we don’t know.

Finally he ends the sentence.

Yes we do know. Of course we do.

Um in fact there’s basically no published research on this question

That will come as quite a surprise to some researchers I know of.

however there’s good reason to think that there isn’tbut I think it’s irrelevant because we allow all kinds of competitive advantages within women’s sports.

Therefore we have to allow men to compete against women…but of course only some men, not all men, because if all men did it, where would McKinnon be?

He cites a high jump in which one of the women was taller than one of the other women, therefore trans women don’t have an unfair advantage. Trevor Noah goes “uh huh” encouragingly at intervals.

So if there’s an advantage, and I’m not saying there is, it’s not an unfair advantage.

Also, he whines, we’ve been competing for ages and we’ve hardly won anything. Trevor Noah does more uh-huh-ing.

So this idea that trans women are suddenly gonna take over women’s sport is an irrational fear of trans women, which is the dictionary definition of transphobia.

Full stop at last. There’s a tepid smattering of applause, at which McKinnon smirks.

That’s the first 5 minutes. Taking a break from the torture.

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