this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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Does anyone know the bs reasons they gave to ban trans women? I don't understand how one of the least by gender divisible games pulled that off.
I suspect that even they know that this is their own projected insecurities and that they don’t have any real justification. Better question: why do we separate players by sex in chess? Why does that matter? Just make one group and call it done.
FIDE has two competitive circuits - the open circuit where men and women (cis or trans) can compete, and the women's circuit. Players can (and commonly do) compete in both circuits. Ultimately the goal of the women's circuit is to boost recruitment of female players and make competitive chess less of a boys' club. Opinions are divided on whether it's the most effective method.
The recent decision affects AMAB people who want to play in the women's circuit, but does not bar them from the open circuit.
It's a pretty shit decision as far as I can see, but it's good to make judgments on the facts.
It mostly boils down to male fragility
https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-gender-imbalance-in-top-level-chess-150637
Out of curiosity, how did you get male fragility from that?
Reading through it there were several effects mentioned.
Testosterone makes men more likely to push to the highest level.
Women are discouraged from playing chess, and so less are set on a course to be amongst the best.
Women perform worse when they know they are competing against a man (thought to be a self fulfilling prophecy from stereotypes). Men don't seem affected by this.
None of those seem to be male fragility.
Unless you're trans?
One reason I’ve heard that sports divide into groups by gender is that men are afraid they’ll get beaten by women. It happened in early baseball IIRC. (source: hazy memory. Disclaimer: I am male)
FIDE probably thinks women are dumber than men. I don't see any other reason
That's basically what they said. They also claimed that women have less stamina than men, so aren't up to the long games of chess that men play.
Bingo, people are going to make some argument about how it's because they do it to offer women fair opportunities but the real answer is that they think women are stupid or at the very least that men are smarter, realistically they think both.
You’re probably right.