'Disingenuous and disgusting': Lia Thomas slammed for saying feminists push 'transphobic beliefs'
Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has blasted her “feminist” opponents as misogynistic transphobes. Talking to trans swimmer Schuyler Bailar, Thomas complained that her University of Pennsylvania teammates apparently displayed flawed beliefs on feminism when they asked NCAA to bar her from the competition.
In an episode of Bailar’s new podcast 'Dear Schuyler,' she said, "They’re like, ‘Oh, we respect Lia, as a woman, as a trans woman or whatever, we respect her identity, we just don’t think it’s fair'. You can’t really have that sort of half-support where you’re like, ‘Oh, I respect her as a woman here, but not here'."
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'Using the guise of feminism to push transphobic beliefs'
“They’re using the guise of feminism to sort of push transphobic beliefs. I think a lot of people in that camp sort of carry an implicit bias against trans people, but don’t want to, I guess, fully manifest or speak that out. And so they try to just play it off as this sort of half-support," Thomas added.
In the interview, Lia claimed how false feminists are apparently disrupting women's progress by speaking up against trans women. She said trans-exclusionary radical feminists are defining women by reducing them only to the value of their reproductive abilities. Bailar, the first openly transgender NCAA Division I swimmer, agreed, saying, "They think about how twisted “feminism” has become their arguments. In order to exclude anybody in the trans category, you have to reduce women to reproductive capacity, which is, in my opinion, extremely anti-feminist."
Women who spoke up against including trans women in sports
Thomas competed for three years at Penn as a man, Will Thomas, before the transition. Thomas breaking women’s records has, like always, raised questions about how fair it is when people who are born as men compete as women. There has been a lot of debate surrounding what is fair on the field, the court, the track, and in the pool. Among many who have spoken up against Thomas and including trans women in sports are Riley Gaines and Samantha Ponder.
Last month, Gaines slammed ESPN for including Thomas in their segment dedicated to Women's History Month. Gaines competed against Thomas in the NCAA championships in March 2022 and has since been associated with the campaign against transgender sports. Ponder, too, said a few days ago that the Joe Biden administration's proposed reform of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and education programs that receive funding from the federal government, "would take away so many opportunities for biological women and girls in sports."
'Sports are not about feelings'
Many slammed Thomas for her remarks in the recent interview, with one user writing on Instagram, "I would consider myself a feminist and I think the more the merrier! I wish all people could see that this is all just another ploy to divide us with hate". Another said, "Transphobia is inexcusable, but to then claim your “feminism” is the reason for pushing your transphobic beliefs is in my view particularly harmful, disingenuous and disgusting. It’s what’s allowing certain British writers to claim they’re holding a “legitimate” position (when it’s just bigotry) and accrue followers/supporters who say “oh yes I’m a feminist so this must be an opinion I should share” without actually thinking about what it means in reality. It’s so so harmful in terms of the reach and perceived validity of the message. You’re doing such important work talking about this".
"If you're a Trans woman it's best if you stick to traditional female hobbies because CISgender women don't want you competing with them when it comes to sports. Sorry but it's the truth," one user said. "Babe it's not transphobic to not want someone who's had years of male puberty to compete with females professionally. I'm pretty sure females who have too much testosterone are banned. I'm trans. I dropped out of competitive swimming like 8 years ago for precisely these reasons. Live your life as a woman in society, hopefully that feels a reality for you, do sports recreationally, maybe find people to compete with thats fairer competively. At the end of the day you're a trans woman. Not a female. There's differences. That's not transphobic. Maybe unfair if you'd prefer to be born female but is what It is. There are also transphobic people but it feels so narcissistic acting like everyone's transphobic they don't want a male who competed most of male puberty to compete with females. Gurl bye. You make us look bad. I quit swimming competively 8 years ago for multiple reasons including some of these, just for you to have me grouped in with ppl like you & ppl hating me more," wrote one user.
"Your generation needs to learn that feelings are not facts. Sports are not about feelings; they are about competition on a level playing field. One person's truth is not THE truth. While there is plenty of "hate" on both sides, using that word to describe the entire other side of the argument (also "supposed feminism") not only only inflames tensions but also flies in the face of intelligent argument. Before puberty, it's not an issue to include trans girls. The science absolutely supports that it IS unfair, however, to include transgirls/ women if they've been through male puberty," one user wrote in part, while another said, Okay you want change. Create your own sports league for transgender sports. If your transgender trans sports that's it!!!! There you go."
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