This week, transgender activist Schuyler Bailar strained a muscle in the insane reach to claim that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps’ “long torso” is the same advantage as biological men participating in women’s sports against biological women.
What? WHAT!? That is literally two completely different things. Apples and oranges.
Bailar argued that if Phelps isn’t banned from using his “long torso” to win races against his male opponents, then biological men parading as transgender women should not be banned for using their stronger bodies to beat their biological female opponents.
Of course this painful argument was given during a podcast with controversial trans swimmer Lia Thomas on the former’s “Dear Schuyler” podcast on Monday.
“And I know most people will just go straight for the ‘biological advantage’ argument, saying that some alleged biological advantage makes it unfair for trans women to compete with other women. But let’s consider a few points. Biological diversity exists everywhere in sport, in every demographic of people and every demographic of women,” Bailar exclaimed.
We agree with Lia Thomas on one thing:
“You can’t really have that sort of half-support”We do not in ANY way support the injustice of male participation in women’s sports. We are all in for female athletes. Not half. ALL in. pic.twitter.com/zprRMq5sA4
— ICONS (@icons_women) April 26, 2023
He continued, “That’s kinda what sports are based on. I mean if everybody was exactly the same, there would be no competition. Sports depends on the fact that bodies are different and they perform differently. When those differences exist in the men’s category, most people don’t care. In fact, they praise those differences.”
That’s when he brought Phelps into the equation.
“Let’s look at Michael Phelps – winningest Olympian of all time. You probably know who he is. He’s super tall. He’s got this really long torso and he’s got a really wide wingspan – all specifically advantages in swimming. He also produces half the levels of lactic acid than the average athlete. Not the average person, the average athlete,” Bailar argued.
Speaking of Michael Phelps, Bailar asks 'do they disqualify him for height, wingspan, etc.? No, "They let him have his body as it is."
You just argued the other side, idiot. Men and women should compete with their bodies as they are!https://t.co/5LYYJrEiK6
— Carlos2112 ®️ ???????? (@Carlos2112jr) April 26, 2023
“And all of these things give him a massive biological advantage. But his biological differences are celebrated,” he asserted. “When they look at him, they say, ‘wow, what an amazing biological anomaly.’ Does he have biological advantages? Absolutely. But do people say that is grounds for disqualification? ‘Oh, Michael Phelps is too tall’ or ‘wingspan is too long’ or ‘his lactic acid is too low, therefore we should disqualify him.’ No, people don’t do that. They let him have his body as it is.”
“Michael Phelps is allowed to keep his body as it is and in fact, he’s celebrated for all of his biological advantages. But Caster Semenya and other women like her are excluded. This extends to transgender women, too. When a trans woman is different, immediately it’s called unfair,” Bailar continued.
#SchuylerBailar comparing @MichaelPhelps to a transgender is how far society has drifted towards the edge
When will women make a stand? After they’re considered nothing more than a modified version of MEN!?— PAH PAW (@JamesMechley) April 26, 2023
“But the reality is there are so many women who might be ‘too tall’ or ‘too strong’ or ‘too fast’ and so this debate is actually not about fairness. The attempt to exclude transgender women means you actually have to know which ones are trans and that endeavor requires that you police the entire women’s category, which means you police all women. The legal forces of policing women’s bodies in sport will destroy the women’s category. Not the inclusion of transgender women,” he concluded.
