Mary Gregory, a transgendered weightlifter, recently took to Instagram to announce her accomplishment of winning 9 out of 9 events and breaking four world records at a recent competition in the United States.
"What a day, 9 for 9! Masters world squat record, open world bench record, Masters world dl record, and Masters world total record!" Gregory announced on her Instagram account.
I, for one, am not as impressed with the "accomplishments". This is a biological man competing as a woman against biological women and as such this makes this competition inherently unfair for the women that have trained for years to compete in this sport and break these records.
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It is well-known that (generally) men are bigger and physically stronger than women. That's not a misogynistic viewpoint, that is just a biological fact. Mary Gregory entering this competition against biological females already has her at a distinct advantage over her competition. Here are some world record information in various sports between men and women to prove the difference.
Weightlifting - 69 KG Weight Class - Men
Snatch
LIAO Hui - China - 166 kg
Clean and Jerk
LIAO Hui - China - 198 kg.
Now let's compare that to women in the 75 KG class.
Snatch
ZABOLOTNAYA Natalya - Russia - 135 kg
Clean and Jerk
Kim Un Ju - China - 164 kg.
Now let's look at a less strength oriented sport such as the running. Florence Griffith-Joyner holds the women's world record at 10.49 seconds, which is no doubt a blazing fast time. However, in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics men's 100m final, the 8th place finisher, Trayvon Bromwell of the United States finished in 10.06 seconds and in the first round of heats there were 61 times that would have beaten Flo-Jo's world record.
Now let's imagine for a moment that a male runner that ran a 10.3 preliminary time comes out as transgender and decides to race against the women. Florence Griffith-Joyner's world record is immediately broken and likely to only ever be broken again by another transgendered woman.
This is not about denying transgender rights, and it's not about transphobia (don't get me started on buzzwords like Transphobia), it's about the fairness of sport and athletes knowing they go into competition with at least somewhat of a level playing field.
There are always going to be people that are bigger, faster, stronger, and more skilled than others. That's a fact of life. But when we start manufacturing unfairness under the guise of being fair and inclusive then that is where we have definitely started to go off the rails.
So what is the answer? I believe the only fair way to do it is to open up two new categories so that people can compete in either men, women, transgender men, and transgender women category. That way, the integrity of the competitions are maintained and there is an opportunity for new records to be set and new competitions to be won.
Unfortunately, in the mainstream, there is very little appetite for this kind of opinion, and anyone who shares such an opinion is instantly labeled a bigot or a transphobe. I am, however, neither of those things, but I am a champion of what I believe to be fair and just.
I'm Scotty Gee
![scotty gee headshot.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQw9ZcSsKsa2M1agEAsKVPMLmor7qKNvi86UK94NBTerC/scotty%20gee%20headshot.png)
Check out the various things that I do.
My books of poetry on Amazon - We Own the Sunset -- We Own the Sky and Last Chance Town
The Scotty Gee Show on Youtube
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