Thread by @RogerPielkeJr

Here I find myself 100% in agreement with @Scienceofsport on the scientific issues but largely in disagreement about the policy issues

A good example how it is that science doesn’t always/often settle policy disagreements - sometimes it starts them

https://twitter.com/scienceofsport/status/1407249318189449217

Our policy differences result from different views of “competitive sport”

Ross see it to “reward performance excellence” based on “physiology”
Well, yes
This is true like the stock market exists to “reward business excellence” based on “economics”
But there’s a lot more going on

Competitive sport actually has a history
And we can look at history to see justifications provided when it was created
And it turns out, it’s a pretty complicated & sordid history, reflective of the broader society of which sport is a part
That’s right - Sport is part of society

It’s important to understand that everything - absolutely everything - abt sport is a human invention

5000m? Why not 6000? 3741.2?
11 a side in soccer? Why not 10? 34?

You get the point
We make up all rules governing sport

Sport is a social construction from start to finish

One of the key rules in sport is who gets to participate & where

The processes and jurisprudence for the application of such rules is complicated (eg, the Canadian boxer denier a spot in Tokyo because she took time off to have a kid)
And these rules changed & evolve, as rules do

If you want to see classification decision-making in even more complexity, look at the Paralympics

Here is classification difficult, messy, contested, political?
You bet

Do the Paralympics work?
You bet

Are there constant trade-offs among inclusion, fairness, safety?
You bet

So @Scienceofsport concludes trans athletes should be banned from mainstream sport bc we can’t simultaneously optimize inclusion, fairness, safety doesn’t really make sense historically or logically
Of course we can’t maximize all values at once
Hence politics, in sport & society

For my part
Sport is a part of society and thus must reflect that society
It is not a special carve out where discrimination & exclusion get to run free (though that indeed is a part of its history)
If society accepts trans individuals in mainstream activities, sport must follow

How to achieve inclusion, balancing fairness and safety?
Sport is up for it
If it can pull off the Paralympics it can certainly handle classification challenges of trans athletes
But if not, I know some smart people who can help them out!

Will inclusion make some people uncomfortable?
Will it challenge preconceptions and bespoke definitions of the “purpose of sport”?
Yes and yes

In this way sport is no different than any other area where values collide - it can be messy

Get used to it

Finally

The issue of trans athletes in sport is really about what kind of world we want to live in

For me, I want to live in a world where human diversity in all of its forms is treated with dignity

And that means inclusion, even when it is challenging

😎👍