Zander's Inside Voice

It’s really funny to me how there’s suddenly so many defenders of women’s sports…men that never once cared about women’s sports and likely spoke out against the US National Women’s Team wanting equal pay. “Why should women expect to get paid as much as the men’s team, which brings in more money??”

How dare they! How dare women think they should be paid the same as men to play a sport! And how dare women think they could make an actual living playing sports. Clearly that’s only something men should be doing, especially football and baseball players.

Oh, but wait??? There’s TRANS WOMEN wanting to play on a women’s team??

These men are suddenly the greatest spokesmen any women’s sports team ever had. “Trans women aren’t real women and should not be able to play against women where they have the unfair advantage! Once you go through puberty as a male, you forever have an advantage over all women!”

Give.me.a.break. If you decided the WNBA was slow and uninteresting, you’re part of the problem. If you don’t think Simone Biles had the right to drop out of those Olympic events, you are part of the problem. If you say stupid shit like “Of course there should be more money devoted to college football than all of women’s sports combined,” you are part of the problem.

Countless gymnasts were abused by Larry Nassar. So many female athletes have fought to play and get the same coverage, marketing, and pay for sacrificing their bodies the exact same as men. So female athletes don’t deserve any support until someone decides they are mad about trans women playing on those same teams?

One of my “friends” said this on FB: “Men should not be competing against women in any sport. Period. If you were born with a weiner, then you compete as a male. I would not be against a women’s sports side and an open sports side (men and women). I’m surprised women aren’t openly fighting this…you are losing everything you fought for.”

Ok, Dude Bro. Scale it back there and take a breath. Women are busy fighting on all fronts so maybe right now there’s no gas for fighting this “cause” that you have decided is so important. Maybe the fight for bodily autonomy is slightly more important than who’s next to you on the field or in the locker room. Or maybe each individual women is too busy proving that she deserves to be in her job field, major, or classes in high school because those are “male-dominated” fields that she’s got to work twice as hard to get half the recognition for. Step back, Bro.

This is the same guy who, upon his daughter’s birth, pledged for her right to always play on a girl’s or women’s team and prevent her from being hurt by trans women taking away her opportunities for sport. Wow, man. Like, you totally believe that will be the biggest fight your daughter will have? Not that she’s half Asian and there’s so much hate against Asians out there? Or that she will be expected to avoid being raped instead of getting to just live her life however she decides? Since she’s only a year old, you haven’t yet experienced the joy that is shopping for clothes for your 7 year old daughter where the shirts aren’t long enough to meet the waistband of the pants she likes, which will likely be tight and mostly uncomfortable. But better yet, so much of the clothing available to her will be too short, too tight, or too whatever for her school dress code. Yes sir, welcome to real life where your daughter is already facing a huge number of disadvantages; none of which have a damn thing to do with playing sports with trans girls.

I just don’t get it. You’re either all in for women’s sports or you’re not. You don’t get to be against women’s sports unless it’s got to do with trans women. If you refuse to watch women’s sports because it’s “boring” but want to voice your opinion on trans women playing, rethink how much you value women’s sports.