Transgender Chess Ban

[Anonymous]

The International Chess Federation is banning trans-women from competing in women's chess tournaments. A woman who holds a chess title and then transitions to male will have their title "abolished." However, if the gender change is from male to female the titles will remain intact.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/17/sport/fide-bans-transgender-women-chess-spt-intl/index.html

When restrictions are placed on trans-women competing in something like swimming, I at least understand the rationale. Hormones can arguably provide a physical advantage for biological males who transition to become women. (Although my understanding is that the evidence for this is not as robust as one might think.) But what the hell is the rationale here for chess? You don't need a big old bicep to move the bishop across the board.

[Anonymous]

That’s some kind of tortured reasoning. They are just being bullies. It’s acceptable to harass transgender people and so now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

I simply don’t understand how anyone can be so cruel. There’s not a lot of acceptance of being transgender as it is and it’s gratuitous to keep piling on.

[Anonymous]

Chess is generally a coed sport, but there are categories for men and for women for a reason. Right? Since there are those categories, then they should be upheld and supported.

The majority of chess tournaments are open to all participants regardless of gender. Very few, if any, international tournaments are restricted to men, but a few are restricted to women, most prominently the Women's World Chess Championship and the Women's Chess Olympiad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_chess#

[Anonymous]

I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chess is generally a coed sport, but there are categories for men and for women for a reason. Right? Since there are those categories, then they should be upheld and supported.

The majority of chess tournaments are open to all participants regardless of gender. Very few, if any, international tournaments are restricted to men, but a few are restricted to women, most prominently the Women's World Chess Championship and the Women's Chess Olympiad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_chess#

I don't think there's any very good reason for the categories. Just tradition and inertia. Certainly not a rationale that provides any compelling reason for going out of the way to exclude trans-women. The cost/benefit here is almost entirely on the cost side of the ledger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

“Oh no - Occupy Wall Street has people noticing the bankers … time to ramp up the hyped up overblown pointless social distractions!”

Think about all that’s happened since people started “noticing” in the aftermath of the financial meltdown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

Because after gay marriage was finally legalized, trans people started asking that their identity also not be used as a slur and that they not be mocked for existing, and people found that SO burdensome they made bullying trans people a core tenet of their political beliefs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

Trans people have become more visible in the last several years. This has led to them being accepted and demonized a lot more. I don't know which of those is chicken and which is egg.

It has also become a proxy war over gender relations generally. The people who want to exclude trans people from things tend to also be people who want society to enforce gender roles more rigidly for cis-men and cis-women. The people who want to be more welcoming of trans people tend to also be people who want society to relax or abandon gender roles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chess is generally a coed sport, but there are categories for men and for women for a reason. Right? Since there are those categories, then they should be upheld and supported.

The majority of chess tournaments are open to all participants regardless of gender. Very few, if any, international tournaments are restricted to men, but a few are restricted to women, most prominently the Women's World Chess Championship and the Women's Chess Olympiad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_chess#

I don't think there's any very good reason for the categories. Just tradition and inertia. Certainly not a rationale that provides any compelling reason for going out of the way to exclude trans-women. The cost/benefit here is almost entirely on the cost side of the ledger.

The reason that womens-only spaces like this exist are due to historic discrimination and unwelcoming environment. That still exists in areas like chess. But excluding transwomen doesn't make any sense, because they also belong to a marginalized group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

Trans people have become more visible in the last several years. This has led to them being accepted and demonized a lot more. I don't know which of those is chicken and which is egg.

It has also become a proxy war over gender relations generally. The people who want to exclude trans people from things tend to also be people who want society to enforce gender roles more rigidly for cis-men and cis-women. The people who want to be more welcoming of trans people tend to also be people who want society to relax or abandon gender roles.

Trans people have become more numerous. The numbers have skyrocketed. That's why they are more visible, there are many more than there were 5 years ago, and many many more than there were 10 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

Trans people have become more visible in the last several years. This has led to them being accepted and demonized a lot more. I don't know which of those is chicken and which is egg.

It has also become a proxy war over gender relations generally. The people who want to exclude trans people from things tend to also be people who want society to enforce gender roles more rigidly for cis-men and cis-women. The people who want to be more welcoming of trans people tend to also be people who want society to relax or abandon gender roles.

Trans people have become more numerous. The numbers have skyrocketed. That's why they are more visible, there are many more than there were 5 years ago, and many many more than there were 10 years ago.

Yes, people tend to come out of the closet more readily when they see other people doing the same.

[Anonymous]

It us because less than 15% percent of U.S. chess players are female. In 2020, among the 1,600 chess grandmasters, only 37 were female. So to encourage female players there are women only tournaments. Maybe the issue came up because in Kenya a male wore female body covering so his face and body couldn’t be seen to try and win a chess tournament.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chess is generally a coed sport, but there are categories for men and for women for a reason. Right? Since there are those categories, then they should be upheld and supported.

The majority of chess tournaments are open to all participants regardless of gender. Very few, if any, international tournaments are restricted to men, but a few are restricted to women, most prominently the Women's World Chess Championship and the Women's Chess Olympiad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_chess#

I don't think there's any very good reason for the categories. Just tradition and inertia. Certainly not a rationale that provides any compelling reason for going out of the way to exclude trans-women. The cost/benefit here is almost entirely on the cost side of the ledger.

The reason that womens-only spaces like this exist are due to historic discrimination and unwelcoming environment. That still exists in areas like chess. But excluding transwomen doesn't make any sense, because they also belong to a marginalized group.

Three reasons: historic discrimination, unwelcoming environment, and not winning.

Excluding transwomen may not make sense. But including them doesn't make sense either, when most chess competitions are open competitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

Trans people have become more visible in the last several years. This has led to them being accepted and demonized a lot more. I don't know which of those is chicken and which is egg.

It has also become a proxy war over gender relations generally. The people who want to exclude trans people from things tend to also be people who want society to enforce gender roles more rigidly for cis-men and cis-women. The people who want to be more welcoming of trans people tend to also be people who want society to relax or abandon gender roles.

Trans people have become more numerous. The numbers have skyrocketed. That's why they are more visible, there are many more than there were 5 years ago, and many many more than there were 10 years ago.

Yes, people tend to come out of the closet more readily when they see other people doing the same.

That's one explanation. There are others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the whole trans issue would just go away. Why is there more talk of trans stuff in the last three years than there was in the last 50?

Trans people have become more visible in the last several years. This has led to them being accepted and demonized a lot more. I don't know which of those is chicken and which is egg.

It has also become a proxy war over gender relations generally. The people who want to exclude trans people from things tend to also be people who want society to enforce gender roles more rigidly for cis-men and cis-women. The people who want to be more welcoming of trans people tend to also be people who want society to relax or abandon gender roles.

Trans people have become more numerous. The numbers have skyrocketed. That's why they are more visible, there are many more than there were 5 years ago, and many many more than there were 10 years ago.

Yes, people tend to come out of the closet more readily when they see other people doing the same.

Chicken and egg, indeed. Trans isn't a biological existence so one does wonder how much of it is driven by cultural phenomena and personal beliefs and enabling people. Which, of course, gets to the heart of the matter as the gender divisions in sports is based on biological differences between the genders. Still, the scarcity of older people coming out as trans compared to coming out as gay or lesbian when gay rights became more established is telling.