New poll: 59% of US men support a ban on TiMs in women's sports, but only 46% of women support banning TiMs. Frankly, I'm sick of women who won't stand up for other women.

submitted by BEB from politico.com

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[–]Hypothetical_Concept 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I recently saw an argument for transwomen in women’s sports which claimed that the reason we had women’s sports wasn’t for fair competition, since it was “unfair” that better players beat players who were worse. The reason we had women’s sports was so young girls had role models they could look up to. And since there are trans kids who need role models, transwomen should be allowed in women’s sports.

This bizarre bit of rationalization struck me as the sort of thing a Mommy or Daddy might come up with — that competition is bad because feelings get hurt, but sports stars make nice posters to put on walls to admire. No, little Emily won’t be able to win competitions herself, but she can pretend the same way she might pretend to want to be a rock star. The important thing is that everyone’s self-esteem is supported.

Is this more “Mommy thinking” than “Daddy thinking?” I think so. Women are socialized to eschew competition in favor of learning social skills and “just go out and have fun.” Could be a factor contributing to the statistics.

[–]TulipPoplar 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think it is a personality that is more common in women (particularly late boomer women in my experience, but that could just be my age). The type that doesn't like competition in anything because they believe it is unfair to judge someone negatively when they tried. It was usually this type of women who pushed to not keep score in competitions, or made sure to grade assignments in green pen because red is too negative. Winning is just not as important to them as everyone feeling accomplished since everyone tried.

If competition is seen negatively, but exercise is still obviously good it doesn't matter if you win anything as long as you ran around a bit. So a sports star is a role model who exercises, not necessarily a role model who wins competitions.