Thread by @mariliacout

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 1 / Okay, @Kateismyfate , I will be very gentle here and I will start by asking what your educational background is to modulate my response. I am not condescending, but one thing is to debate with an endocrinology-trained sports physiologist and another with a lawyer.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 2 / You can look me up wherever you want but I will start by confirming that yes, I am a trained scientific researcher, my background is in evolutionary biology, biochemistry with a Ph.D. in sociology of science and medicine. I am politically a left-leaning liberal.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 3 / My brother, Laerte Coutinho, is possibly the transgender person with the highest visibility in Latin America. I am letting you know all this because: a. you can ask me any question: if I don't know, I will look it up; b. I am in the middle of the transgender debate since day1

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 4 / I am also an athlete. In fact, not only I'm a powerliftibg world champion and world record breaker, but even after stopping to compete I am still ranked high in the all time numbers. I know a lot of transgender athletes. I will start talking about strength.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 5 / In the first edition of "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning", a well known textbook, Kraemer & Fleck used world record numbers for the squat, bench press and deadlifts for the same bodyweight classes to compare men and women.bit.ly/2XHXFNt

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 6 / The interesting thing was that, pound per pound, men were consistently stronger. A few years later, the use of AAS among female lifters was not tested in several federations and has been a performance enhancement tool for years. Still, the difference remains.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 7 / Why is that? Let's decompose strength in its manifestations and components. Strength is usually divided in "static" (maximal and isometric), "dynamic" (power) and "yielding" (eccentric actions) strength herehttp://fpio.org.ru/data/50-powerlib/Science_and_Practice.pdf

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 8 / Strength is also made of components:
- peak force
- peak power
- rate coding
- rate of force development

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 9 / So strength is not ONE thing and not ONE gene but several genetic and epigenetic phenomena. Once puberty kicks in and testosterone production in males exceeds females, ALL these variables are affected towards higher values for males.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 9 / The problem is that it seems that a. all these strength manifestations are genetically determined (and then developed or not); b. may not be reversible once triggered at puberty; c. may precede pubertyhttps://bit.ly/2VD6iXt

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 10 / The problem is that: a. all these phenomena are enhanced by puberty-triggered testosterone but may produce irreversible neurological and muscle changes; b. may antecede puberty
bit.ly/2VD6iXt

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 11 / "(....) suggesting sex differences in muscle functional development. These findings support the idea that fast-twitch motor units are being increasingly employed as children, boys in particular, go from prepubescence to adolescence"
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 12 / Blimkie CJ. Age- and sex-associated variation in strength during childhood: Anthropometric, morphologic, neurologic, biomechanical, endocrinologic, genetic, and physical activity correlates. In: Gisolfi CV, editor. Perspectives in Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, =>

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 13 / Vol. 2: Youth, Exercise and Sports. Vol. 2. Indianapolis, IN: Benchmark Press; 1989. pp. 99–163.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 13 / What any decent scientist will agree on is that DATA IS INCONCLUSIVE. Is is possible and probable that some traits are irreversible, as the studies I linked suggest. Other traits may be reversible. We don't know: that's the truth.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 14 / What any decent scientist will agree on is that DATA IS INCONCLUSIVE. Is is possible and probable that some traits are irreversible, as the studies I linked suggest. Other traits may be reversible. We don't know: that's the truth.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 15 / Recently, a group of transgender strength athletes created an organization just for transgender people. I celebrate this initiative. Otherwise, they will be met with skepticism and resentment, =>

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 16 / since the chances that trans-female do retain biological advantage in strength and power is high. I'd say I'm just waiting for the critical studies to show these retained advantages to be non controversial.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 17 / As an experienced science sociologist, I'd say the reason we don't have this consensus yet is that it is political suicide to pursue that research agenda. First, requesting grants to study it will create a serious problem for the researcher and the department.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 18 / Second, it won't be funded. Nobody wants to be the scapegoat. Everybody likes their job. That's the talk among sports physiologists. You see, we all lose in an emotionally charged environment where it shouldn't be:

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 19 / Transgender athletes lose: genetic females will continue to be unwilling to fight, play against or compete against trans-women. I'm a strong LGBTQ advocate but as an athlete, honestly, I wouldn't: I'm also a scientist and all the lights are blinking in favor of retained =>

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 20 / => advantage. The article that started this thread is anecdotal. Who cares about anecdotal evidence: it means zero in terms of science. And anybody with strong genetic, biochemical and evolutionary training will just nod and wait.

@EaterSouls @Kateismyfate @PinkNews @Margie02536602 @threadreaderapp unroll