and yet they definitely have a genetic advantage over the vast majority of women, to the point where certain events could conceivably be dominated by people with their condition
Do you have a source for this? Here is a study that came to a very different conclusion.
Key Biomedical Findings
- Biological data are severely limited, and often methodologically flawed.
- There is limited evidence regarding the impact of testosterone suppression (through, for example, gender-affirming hormone therapy or surgical gonad removal) on transgender women athletes’ performance.
- Available evidence indicates trans women who have undergone testosterone suppression have no clear biological advantages over cis women in elite sport.
The category was literally made to exclude a segment of the population from competing (men).
Women’s sports weren’t invented to exclude men, they were invented to include women. This may seem like a minor distinction, but I don’t believe it is because of the clear connection between cis women being excluded from sports due to misogyny, and trans women being excluded from sports due to transphobia.
(I made this comment on my lemmygrad account originally, but realized you wouldn’t see it then, so I’m reposting it on this account.)
Regardless, women’s sports were definitely created to exclude men, if not explicitly, then by necessity, since prior to that there was only one category that men or women were allowed to compete in, but women couldn’t truly compete in those sports against the men.
I’m pretty sure we are talking about the same thing here, but you are attributing it to women being physically unable to compete versus men, which while it can be a relevant concern depending on the sport, was historically not really the reason they were excluded. Women were heavily discouraged by men to participate even though they were technically allowed to. There’s actually some really interesting connections between women’s sports and feminist movements that help make this connection more apparent, particularly biking and the suffragette movement. I don’t have anything to link on hand but I definitely recommend reading about it. It’s still easy to see this in the modern day if you look at competitive activities where there is no possible argument of a biological advantage, like e-sports or chess, where women could easily be just as successful as men, if the cultures of those games weren’t so dominated by men who view those spaces as theirs, and who view women who come to participate as invaders.
