Originally published at: World chess organization bans transgender players from women's events because of "unfair advantages" | Boing Boing
…
World chess organization bans transgender players from women's events because of "unfair advantages"
7 Likes
Just proves that men think with their balls.
13 Likes
Did they learn nothing from The Queen’s Gambit? SMH
19 Likes
39 Likes
Now we get to watch the TERFs deal with another uncomfortable choice. Do they go with “Perhaps our ideology is flawed” or “Men are inherently superior”
36 Likes
This is the only way this makes any sense (in a very loose sense) to me. That they are assuming men are inherently more (choose all that apply) aggressive, strategic, intelligent, forward-thinking, etc? Perhaps it would help them to clarify their bigotry if they were asked to specify exactly what “inherent advantage” trans women have in chess?
33 Likes
I understand that part of the problem here is that FIDE has only two sorts of events - “Open” (which can be entered by anyone) and “Women” (which can only be entered by women.) Strictly speaking, it doesn’t have “Mens” events (unlike, say, soccer or tennis or whatever.)
And the latter events were only created because the men were so toxic in a competitive environment that the women didn’t feel safe.
This is not to excuse their behaviour in any way, shape or form. It’s clearly absurd and in their contortions they have shown how absurd it is everywhere else. But their contortions have been produced as a result of having a system that was originally trying to be much fairer than most similar organisations…
10 Likes
Oh, that’s easy. The loudest and angriest organisations and influencers will throw women under the bus of male superiority every time, just so long as they get to demonise and exclude transwomen.
17 Likes
The bit that especially puzzles me is the retroactive removal/reclassification of titles.
Even if there were an impeccable case that it’s the hormones that make the grandmaster it is…puzzling at best…why what someone is taking in the future would possibly be relevant to games played in the past.
This could also just be lack of detail(or perhaps FIDE doesn’t have the same access to WADA’s bodily essence inquisitors that muscle sports do?); but the policy appears to be triggered by legal gender changes, which may or may not indicate any biological change at all depending on jurisdiction and individual trajectory.
20 Likes
OK, so “men are assholes, therefore, trans women are assholes as well?” That’s not better. Like, at all. I think it would be better to require sportsmanship from men. Hell, even in football (American and real) they have rules about sportsmanship that will get you thrown out if you violate them. A “civilized and cerebral” sport like chess should be at least that good at policing itself.
25 Likes
What do they do with the estimated 1.7% of the population born intersex?
9 Likes
Is the implication here that testosterone enhances one’s chess playing ability? Or is it just that the chess community has a deep-seeded problem with gender equality?
Insert ‘Why not both?’ gif - they probably think the first, and undoubtedly the second is true.
10 Likes
I wonder if Russian influence is a factor.
4 Likes
Seems like the time is ripe for a new international chess organization, the old dinosaurs need to go away.
5 Likes
The existence of Open and Women’s comps implies that there is some difference in chess-playing ability between sexes. If sex were not a factor, then everyone would be in the open comp. So the premise, that they need to work out where trans (and intersex) competitors fit, is valid.
The little I know of pro-level chess, I know that endurance is a factor. So it’s a mixture of a mental and physical game.
1 Like
And women lack in which of these areas, please?
29 Likes
I’m sure that doesn’t help, but there’s plenty enough transphobia and misogyny in the US and the UK to accomplish this nonsense without the influence of the Russians.
14 Likes
I don’t know, ask the women who chose to compete in the womens’ division rather than the open.
1 Like
It doesn’t, actually. What it implies is that chess has long been considered a thing men are better at, because misogyny. As a result, boys who want to play chess have more and easier access to training and mentorship and encouragement, and so, overall, the development of male chess players is accelerated compared to women. It puts women, as a whole, at a competitive disadvantage, not because of the lack of inherent skill and ability but because of societal bullshit. Trans woman are subject to much of that same societal bullshit, therefore this ruling is bullshit.
24 Likes
That does clear up my main question, i.e. “why are there gender-based divisions in chess at all?”.
It seems like any chess players who weren’t assholes would immediately form a new organisation and deprive these putzes of their little platform. After all, it can’t be that hard to run a chess tournament without descending into far-right political agitation.
12 Likes
