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F2M Harvard swimmer

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  • Harvard swimmer switches to male team.

    I really want to see this guy doing well and getting noticed:

    http://www.boston.com/news/sports-news/2016/04/11/harvard-swimmer?s_campaign=bcom

    With positive role models like this maybe places like North Carolina will start to have second thoughts about their silly bathroom/changing room laws.

    This post was edited by Lucy Diamond at April 12, 2016 3:50 PM BST
      April 12, 2016 9:14 AM BST
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  • I hope so, as the US is going backwards in it's human rights/LGBT issues. 

    I'm curious to see if he attracts the same negativity as a transsexual woman does; ie.e accused of having an unfair advantage. 

    Every woman is beautiful, some show it with their faces, others show it with their hearts.
      April 12, 2016 7:30 PM BST
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  • Nikki, going off your point of unfair advantage for transsexual women, can you believe there was a controversy brewing regarding naturally high testosterone women in sports? Should they be banned? "Should ‘High T’ determine eligibility for women’s sports?"
    http://reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0L22IN20150129

    Lucy's article about the swimmer touched me, I can relate to him being closer to the end of the other males now, because when I was in the Army, I told myself that I was going to be able to keep up with the weakest male, so no one would be able to say that I was holding them back. In my very first topic post here on GS I mentioned that my basic training was the first co ed basic training ever in the US, and I had overheard one of the males saying that the females were holding him back, and another male agreed. They weren't saying it to be mean, they were all great, friendly guys. But that stuck with me, and on every PT test in my 6 years in the army, instead of doing the 18 required push ups for females, I did 52 or 54, the passing number for males! I also ran my 2 miles in record time, every time I passed up a male, I internally yelled YES! So I passed the male standards on all aspects of the PT test.

    Is it because of mind over matter and determination or because I'm a high T woman? Maaaybe a little bit of both. But how can it be an unfair advantage? People are all born differently...how can you help how you are born? And sometimes just pure mind over matter and determination beats nature/other advantageous athletes any day.
      April 14, 2016 7:01 PM BST
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  • As far as the Olympic commitee are concerned, a transsexual woman can enter any event as long as she has been on hormone therapy for a minimum of two years and is post op. I don't know what the stance is for transsexual men though. 

    I regularly compete in triathlons and I choose to make my past known to the organisors. The only issue I have had to date is to be denied a top three medal. That could be contested but I can understand their point of view and I am content to go along with that. If I was a lot younger and competing semi-professionally, then I would contest it but as an amateur athlete, I can live with it. 

    Every woman is beautiful, some show it with their faces, others show it with their hearts.
      April 24, 2016 6:12 PM BST
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  • Nikki,

    Thank you for that bit of information about the Olympic committee, I didn't know, and I'm glad they are fair.

    You are very understanding (about not contesting it). If you have the same hormone levels as any other female, then you've won fair and square. It's your height, level of training, determination and willpower that got you there.

    If I trained hard and competed next to you, I'd give you a run for your money, but perhaps your height would be an advantage (I'm only five feet tall). In the army I definitely learned to widen my stride and keep up with the guys...like I mentioned, even passing many of them (older men, and men with a bit of a pot belly showing). It would be rare but still possible for me to pass up a short or medium statured twenty something male.

    As of now...I'm totally out of shape and let my muscles completely atrophy over the years. I just started strength training again, doing push ups and light weights. Let me see if I can post a recent picture of me flexing... I do consider myself lucky, I've barely worked out so far and am showing some definition. My childhood friend would pine after my muscle tone, we were both skinny, stick thin teenagers, but she noticed definition in my calves, biceps, etc. I've totally embraced having slightly higher than normal T levels, and if I did a test, it might be even higher than yours! (I've embraced it because I have no ill effects besides a lifetime of acne...I'm not the bearded lady...I know other genetic women suffer with illnesses that cause high T levels which is a detriment to their health, and I feel bad for them...) This post was edited by Former Member at April 27, 2016 4:58 PM BST
      April 27, 2016 4:56 PM BST
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