Sara's story is a perfect example of the power love, empathy, and most of all, community have to save us in our darkest moments. Check out Sara's other channels @HECKYEAHPickleballAthletics and @SoSara and she's also got a Facebook, but I'm trying to encourage her to come to TH-cam where the cool audience is.
Thank you so much for these kinds of videos, as a 18 year old gay kid it means a whole lot! To hear from people who I look up to for other reasons (like getting me into riding) it’s really great, thanks again and stay safe out there 😁.
Thanks for your incredible courage and bravery in sharing your story. You seem to be a sweet and caring person who wants the best for people. I hope tour life forward is meaningful and happy. As can be of course 😊
I can feel your pain and hurt throughout the years even though I'm a transmasc non-binary person. I'm glad that you shared your story with the world even though it might have been hard to do. You're an incredibly inspiring person and I wish your family and yourself the very best in life. You deserve a lot of love for everything that you do❤
Thank you for proving that while there is pain in our experiences we are more than that, you're an inspiration to me and likely a lot of other trans people!
Hey, as a regular ass white guy, I've obviously never had to deal with such feelings and hardship. I try my best to extrapolate, to recognize "hey yeah they all say this shit sucks, so it truly must be awful and a thing worth fighting for. But hearing it described in such a personal way, it really makes me more tangible in my mind. It puts a true understanding to the feelings, even if I've never felt them myself, and how in how much being an ally in any way, shape, or form really does help people who have such feelings. So for that, I wanna thank you for sharing this very personal story. (I'm sorry if this comes of in anyway poorly written or just bad, I'm a lil high and I just wanted to show my appreciation, fellow Canadian so weed being legal n all lol)
your support for the trans community seems a bit out of the blue but also extremely genuine and thoughtful. you didn’t just speak for us, you gave one of us a chance to speak openly. idk the respect youre showing us throws me off a bit but is much much appreciated. thanks for putting these videos out there. it’s nice stumbling on a gem. seriously wish you the best mate
I'd assume it feels out of the blue and off putting because from what is seen a lot of the time is that trans people are either hated, or fetishized, not really much genuine support. It is always odd seeing someone go against the status quo. So not only seeing an ally, but one as open as AJ is can feel a little odd. I do hope this brought some clarity and validation to how you feel as it is perfectly normal.
Right now, when everything is so dark and when even nominally supportive news outlets aren't actively calling out what is going on? Stumbling into this channel has been a deeply uplifting surprise.
@@sirbilliam3455 That's how I feel, part of me is waiting for "a catch" or when I first saw one of his videos waiting for a joke or a "but", but none of those came so it's definitely surprising but a pleasant surprise and I also appreciate it so so much
It just feels like something's wrong, like there has to be a catch when a cis person is actually genuinely supportive. I was genuinely confused when he said he was cis. We're just trained to expect hate, or at the very least a lack of understanding and sincerity.
Im not much of a competitive sports player, but i FEEL you with that heavy fear of brain damage. I've had so much anxiety about it over the past 6 months, after an injury
I relate to how Sara talks about trying to learn to be a guy and build a character, a persona, an avatar. I describe my pre-transition days as bad performance art. Transitioning was the scariest thing I have ever done and the most rewarding thing I have ever done.
pre-transition, i felt like a clown stuck in a costume. i figured while i was stuck i may as we’ll play the part. even when i didn’t, i was surprised by how easy it was to fool people into thinking i was a girl (i’m ftx/ftm)
I'm pretty sure a lot of trans women "pretended" to be "real men" before accepting themselves and transitioning I remember big leather boots, a leather jacket two sizes too large, and beer - but now It's all wine and cider, cute tops and skirts, and being ME instead of what I thought I should have tried to be. It feels good being myself and learning so much about the world...
@@babs_babs I know a Trans Woman who also describes her pre time as being in costume, and that her best dreams had always started with taking the costume off before they really got going.
As a pre-transition MTF, the part at the end where she talked about her past self hit me like a truck. It’s hard for me to even think about taking steps to get HRT (even though I know I want to), as I would have to come out to pretty much everyone I’m close to, and while I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t hate me for it, I still feel like they would think of me differently and jump to all sorts of conclusions. During that segment, I felt like I was looking at the person that I will become and hearing her say that she didn’t regret who she was before had (and currently has) me crying tears of joy. There’s a voice inside me (and a somewhat common one from my experience online) that keeps telling me that every day I don’t take steps to transition will only hurt me in the long run, but her words really helped me reinforce what I know is true, that being that I shouldn’t feel rushed to transition and whenever I feel like the time is right will be the perfect time for me. I’m very grateful that she was willing to share her experience, and I wish her the best.
dont be afraid to start living your truth...as hard as it gets, i and every other trans person ive run into has zero regrets...good luck :) today is day 1001 since my first E pill and day 795 of actual HRT...
It's all on your terms, your transition. No matter if you do hormone therapy, surgery or nothing, you are a woman. Even if you decide to not dress feminine, grow your hair out or shave your body hair. You are still valid, deserve to be treated with respect and be loved. How ever you decide to continue your journey, please know, you will never be alone. We are here. There's a second family for you out here, that welcomes you with open arms and supports you. You are loved. ❤
As a trans guy, I can assure you it’s worth it. Even if worse case scenario a lot of people reject you, you’ll finally be able to be yourself. As cliche as it sounds, you only have one life. Don’t waste the one chance to be who you are. “The blood of the covenant runs thicker than the water of the womb,” I believe the saying is. I was worried it wouldn’t be worth it, but I’m almost a year on T and working on changing my legal, and it’s the best choice I’ve ever made. Every time you’re brave enough to be who you actually are, you inspire others to do the same. Good luck with becoming the woman on the outside that you are on the inside :)
I'm somewhat similar, but currently find genderqueer fits me better. I know people in my life aren't supportive, some are, but I'm Christian and still go to same church as a few family members, and there are some great allies in the church, but not my family. It's hard to balance what feels best, vs what feels safe, but I have hope that one day people will see me as I am, not for the ideals they project onto me. I've started dressing more androgynously, making my own clothes, and letting myself do things I feel better with, and slowly, over 5 years of questioning, I'm at a point where I'm mostly okay with how I present, even though I haven't come out. But I know not everyone can do that, and it tends to be easier for AFAB people as dressing more masculinely is typically safer (women's suits, wearing unisex jeans, sweaters, etc) where it seems like any femininity shown in someone who isn't seen as a woman, is seen as suspicious or harmful, which is not fair.
25:51 people like that don't respect cisgender women, either. trans folks are just the target du jour. it's shit. congratulations, Sara. to anyone else that's struggling, you are loved. keep pushing. we will all get there together. happy pride. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
I watch TH-cam most days, I never comment on anything. This video is objectively great. You’ve got thousands of people who mainly subscribed because bike go fast watching a 35 minute emotional, human story about the harsh realities of being a trans woman in sports, and they are loving it. This doesn’t impact my life, but I’m really glad you made this content. There are undoubtedly people who’s lives it can and will impact, and more selfishly, I really enjoyed it. 10/10 no notes
Can I offer a life suggestion. Maybe your life wouldn't be so shitty if you didn't hate society and didn't have a picture of a middle finger as your profile pic. Here's a hint. Maybe it's not society, it's you who making society shitty. 🤡
@@Transcreations_ Wow so do a vast majority of trans people just gravitate towards being total as*holes of society. Why are trans people some of the meanest bullies in society. Just curious?
Honestly as a trans woman a lot of parts of her story really resonate with me. The way she discussed her experience is very thoughtful & inspiring. Its wonderful to see her story elevated in this way. She deserves so much love.
Thank you, both of you for making and uploading this video. From Sarah’s (I hope I spelled that correctly) courage, strength and willingness to talk about a very heavy and emotional subject. You for letting over 100k people view it and getting a message out not only saying that all women belong in sports, but those words coming from a cishet male who took the time to truly understand the trans and LGBT+ community from previously not understanding it. People like you are some of the largest helpers trans individuals have against the constant damage transphobes do. So once again, thank you, and enjoy your day / after / evening.
Oh, wow, just after I watched Mila Mulder's (Trans person themselves) take on this subject. It was very insightful. I hope there are interviews and such in this to hear more from the community. Can't wait!!
Now that I'm watching, it's legit platforming Sara instead of just giving your own opinion. Which is perfect. It's so much more real to hear the affected parties themselves. Thanks.
Thank you so much for being such an amazing ally. I'm a transman and I doomscroll A LOT. I often forget that there are good people in this world who fight with us for our rights. Thank you.
@@marviwilson1853 How does using an adjective declassify the meaning of something? If I described someone as “a weak man” does that make him any less of a man?
@@lankthedank6931 A transman is describing a female who became male, a transman cannot be everything that a man can, such as not having a functional male reproductive system. A weak man is a man who is everything a man can be. Just as you say artificial flavoring is fake, a transman is a fake man, a man achieved by unnatural ways.
It breaks my heart as a cis-straight-man to see so much hate and vitriol towards trans people every single day. I can't begin to imagine how painful it is for you. Things will get better.
Its funny, I saw your channel randomly out of the blue not too long ago and I am really proud of your content. I didnt know about Sara Weiss' story because of how negative and toxic the media is towards the transgender community. Its especially apt in this case with how real she was in this video. As a transgender woman I cried as she told her story and assure you that while the details are always slightly different its always the same story. Just hearing what she told me has emboldened me to push even harder and get out of the darkness. Thank you
The "male" category IS ALREADY AN OPEN CATEGORY. The reason you don't see females competing there is because they are unable to perform at the same level as elite male athletes. Every single MALE "trans woman" HAS EVERY RIGHT TO CONTINUE COMPETING AGAINST OTHER MALES - NO ONE IS LIMITING THEM FROM DOING SO - the ONLY issue is that these MALE "trans women" DON'T LIKE LOSING AGAINST OTHER MALES, they literally think they are entitled to "do better " in sports even after their personal choice to go on HRT and make themselves weaker, and being "validated" is more important to them than actually participating in sports - if it weren't the case they'd just continue competing in the open male category instead of LYING that they are being "excluded" etc.
Yeah. That is what struck me and got my Respect. I didn't expect that! After twenty years post transition, it's not something I'm used to. Sure, you get the 'I know that you know that I know ' look along with the forced smile and 'tolerance' of my existence. So big of you to tolerate me! But empathy! Fuck, that's rare!
@@SusannaSaunders it shouldn't be as rare as it is to see someone with empathy because there are lots of people with it but it feels like its been harder to find them lately
@@BugsyBugYT You might be right and I can't speak for the Gen-Zs and Millennials who might have a different experience to me - Shrug. But personally, the number of (cis)men that I have known that accept trans women as being 'women' I can count on 1 finger. Alex may well be another to make two fingers (I haven't asked him whether he would knowingly date a trans woman so I don't know whether that is actually true) but either way, certainly among the cis-male-(white) population that I know of, the percentages are as close to zero as makes no difference! True Empathy is indeed a rare quality.
I’m trans, I found your channel from your first “transphobe to trans ally” video. I just need to say, thank you so much for what you are doing. You are truly incredible, your empathy is off the charts and thats what we need on youtube and social media right now. You are truly changing the world with these videos. Thanks for being awesome!
same here. I am a trans man and saw that video and at first was skeptical but he was legit the real deal. I wish more people would open their minds and eyes and do their own research instead of fanatically believe these radical insane ideals that clearly make zero sense.
I went to a talk and i found that by the time trans women are about 4 years of HRT they lose about 9kg of muscle mass. I found that crazy to even comprehend. My opinion is that team sports should allow trans women as the advantages become less overt and advantageous compared to an individual sport. I think the biggest advantage trans women have over cis women is that trans women have higher hemoglobin levels, meaning we can carry more oxygen and thus have an advantage for endurance. Other characteristics are so nuanced, like bone structure is just hard to comprehend how that could give an advantage. For reference I transitioned just after turning 17 and I'm 5'11" 150lb and do a lot of cardio. I'm 21 now. My build is so much smaller now than what it was before I transitioned. I would love to go into sport again, but i am scared of being harassed for it like Sara. She is so strong, and thank you for the video Ajay
there are still things that make it unfair. stronger bones and even taller; its just unfair. its like making a kid fight an audlt in a basketball game and then wondering why the kids always lose. It makes more sense to have a different category for trans ppl. other countries have done similar with exepections where the person transitions hormone wise before 11
@@Doggy724 agreed but if you care about fairness due to physical characteristics, most sports should have something like weight classes in fighting sports (or height, whatever), not only gender based.
@@Ehal256 Recreational athletics are for everyone, they are inherently inclusive. Competitive athletics are the opposite, exclusionary by nature, where performance is paramount. Gender separation in sport was not for men’s benefit. Without it, female competitive athletes could not exist. Among elite outlier athletes, college and even more so pros, there is not a single woman who could compete with men. The heralded US women’s national soccer team was eviscerated by a 14 year old boys club team. Think about that. This is why no one cares about female to male athletes. The idea of them competing at a high level is farcical
I'm the furthest thing from an athlete, but I am a trans woman, so it means a lot to me to see Sara's story and have it shared by someone who looks like the guys who gave me weird looks in high school. Personally, I feel like trans women in sports in a conversation that can have a lot of nuances to it. Trans women like me who went through a male puberty and transitioned later in life may have a group advantage over other groups of women, but it's a subjective thing. For certain sports it shouldn't really matter, like basketball or tennis or golf I guess (I don't know, I only date jocks, I'm clueless about sports that they don't play lol). Estrogen legit makes you less physically strong. I think it's something only mtf people can really grasp because it's extremely visceral to us. They warn you about it before starting HRT but you don't really understand how wide the gap really is at the time. Like, it didn't even take a year before my 90lb rottweiler could pull me around without even a trying when before going on estrogen he couldn't budge me an inch and my muscle mass barely changed in that year. I have a friend who's a cis woman and works out (I do not, walking my dog is as much exercise as I get) regularly and is like 6" shorter than me and she's way stronger than me now because she wants to be athletic in that way. My height gives me a lot of strength through leverage but that's about it. And if we move past women like me, we need to look at the girls coming out before they start puberty/early enough in the wrong puberty to realize it's not what they want, those trans girls realistically, really aren't any different from cis girls. There's zero reason to keep them out of girls sports and deny them something they love or a future they see for themselves. I didn't give up singing when I started transitioning, it would be like cutting off an arm. It seems so inhumane to me to do that to another human that values their athleticism the way I value my musical ability.
I think this is a really intelligent nuanced take and that is coming from someone that does not think that trans women should participate in women's sports because of the effect of male puberty on the body. While there are some other interesting metrics that seem to be influenced by biological sex like reaction time and motion tracking in space and movement, I do not know if those are influenced by puberty or some other biological factor. The point about trans-women that transitioned prior to puberty is interesting because there really would be no actual advantage in leverage, bone structure, and density past some meaningless bone structure differences (in the context of sport). It would not be logically consistent to oppose it on the merit of puberty and then just make an issue with this point so I feel convinced that there's not a logically consistent reason for me to think trans-women that began transitioning prior to puberty should be excluded from women's sports.
@@skylervelez6877 not that I want to discredit you but what does bone density contribute to performance in sports? Sure muscle strength makes intuitive sense but surely higher bone density just makes you weigh more and break your bones less often?
@@skylervelez6877the bone structure is assumed AT puberty, so those who get blockers have an average female bine structure. As for the difference in motion tracking and spacial reasoning, that has been determined to be a result of the fact that boys are typically encouraged to play with Lego blocks and video games that train those regions of the brain. When including a control group of girls raised with Lego and video games, that patterns disappears.
@@joshuanorman2 for many sports being stronger is an advantage because a stronger person can train harder, run faster,hit harder, jump higher, etc. People think that because large muscular physiques are not needed for many sports that strength isn't an advantage, but there's very few sports if any where a stronger version of you (with respect to sport specific movements ) is not a better version for the sport. Larger bone density allows for larger muscles as the total frame is larger therefore there is more space to pack the same amount of muscle like wrapping fabric around a larger diameter tube. The larger diameter, the larger the circumference and surface area which means more possible muscle can be physically packed on. The ability to build muscle is dependent on so other factors but larger bone density is beneficial for muscle hypertrophy and therefore strength can be improved. Larger bones (and height) also improve leverages as well making it so the athlete has to expend less energy to do the same work which is a benefit in every sport that exists. Plenty of research has been done into world class powerlifters that show that pound for pound, elite cis women are not weaker than elite cis men. The discrepancy in weight moved is largely influenced by the discrepancy in body weight, bone density and leverages and height. If estrogen was the major driving factor then why would females show the same % increases in strength and size as compared to the same level of males at the same competitive level? I know this long, but the tldr is larger bones means more total space for muscle and improved leverages. There isn't a sport I can think of that would not benefit from an increase in power output
@@skylervelez6877 You're conflating larger bones with higher bone density. Bone density is the density of bone mineral in your bone tissue. Having a high bone density does not give you larger or longer bones. The only thing I can find online about bone density in reference to sports is the risk of breaking bones or developing osteoporosis. I am well aware having longer bones is a benefit. Just look at how much taller professional athletes are than normal people, both men and women. Also, I CAN think of many sports that would not benefit from increased power output. Archery, horse riding, skiing, gymnastics, skating, sailing, shooting, most winter sports really, curling and diving to name a few. Even then, plenty of sports that theoretically could benefit from an extra bit of power really wouldn't. Take tennis for example. If doing good at tennis scaled with strength, high level tennis players would be incredibly stacked, when actually they tend to be really lean so they can be more agile. Having more muscle may actually be a disadvantage as it would take longer to accelerate in split moment dashes for the ball. Although trans women lose a lot of their strength when they take HRT, they do remain very slightly above the average woman. Despite this, if both parties agree to participate, there is absolutely no reason they should not be allowed to play. If someone doesn't want to play sports, just don't. In competitive settings, if it's something purely strength related, like power lifting or wrestling or swimming or something equally boring, maybe there should be a requirement for like a year of HRT maybe? But do remember that sports has never been fair. Plenty of genetic factors give athletes insane advantages, I mean have you seen Michael Phelps? He's half man half fish. Guy has so many genetic abnormalities it's insane he's categorised as a mammal.
Thank you Sara and thank you Ajay. I can have a hard time expressing myself over a chat box, but I did want to say thank you. This is important, informational… lifesaving. I’m 22 and starting crying when she advised self love. I was singled out when I was abused by my “loved ones” because I didn’t express my assigned sex at birth. I constant thought of death and how it doesn’t discriminate, I found comfort in it. Like Sara said, I always knew. Around 2 years ago I stopped talking to my abusers, 2 months later I came out as a gender non-conforming person. I have NEVER been happier! Our stories do matter, thank you again Sara and Ajay✌🏽&🫶🏽
@@sarasassboss Thank you and likewise!🥹 I also wanna say you and your family are beautiful! So happy to see them having such a strong(& kind) mama guide them:)
Ajay, thank you so much for you advocacy and support for the lgbt+ community and for trans people specifically- I'm so thankful that we have you and others supporting us- it brings me hope that I'm going to grow up to a world where people may be able to accept me.
I was gonna comment after a couple minutes, but I decided to wait and hear her out, and yeah I don’t really know what I believe anymore. Unlike many pro-trans campaigns and videos and stuff this was actually very thoughtful and made me think. Thank you for this video it was very insightful
Sara is an amazingly kind person! We're going different ways but I so relate to her story. I'm a Russian trans guy nearing my mid 20s and just came out. Apparently my mother is a transmedicalist. At the exact day of that realisation I found out that there's a law being pushed through the government that will essentially ban doctors from providing trans specific healthcare. It's so wierdly uplifting to see a trans person over 30 years in age talk about their situation and show that they were able to thrive despite the circumstances. Seeing Squid being a proper ally is also nice as hell. Good on you for not only realising that being a transphobe wasn't the way to go but actually deciding to uplift the voices that need to be heard. I honestly don't care about motorcycles but I'm more than excited to learn more from such a respectable fellow.
I was raised in a hard right evangelical family and the trans community in sports was the last opinion I had that hadn’t shifted from a right wing to a left wing perspective and stories like hers really helped move that opinion to where it should be. The trick to everything has been empathy for people and I think a lack of empathy is what’s holding most people lack on this subject. Edit: spelling mistake
I have empathy for trans people. But I also have empathy for female athletes who want to compete in leagues that have always existed as protected spaces for female athletes. I'm sure it sucks for the approximately 1% of the population who is trans, but it's pretty hard to justify making things suck for the approximately 50% of the population who is female instead.
That's kind of what I found it's been for me. Once I learned to see things from other people's perspective, the world got a hell of a lot more complicated, but I'd say it's worth it.
@@akisatsuki8444 - Yes, I watched the video. I just don't fold on my beliefs because I see someone crying. "Women's" divisions exist so that people born female don't have to compete against people born male. Just because the semantics around the word "woman" have changed doesn't change that purpose... If you don't think people born female need to be protected from competing in sport against people born male, then let's just eliminate "Women's" leagues entirely, and let everyone compete in an open league. That's the problem here. Either people born female, which is what "woman" always referred to in common parlance until maybe 10 years ago, need a separate league or they don't. So either leave them the one's they have if they do, or eliminate them, and accept that almost no one born female will ever get to play high level sports after puberty kicks in. The lady the video is about literally said, "I'll play in the men's league. Because I just love the sport.", and either that, or a league for trans people is the correct answer. It sucks that being trans is hard, and playing in the Men's/Open league will put them at a disadvantage. But that makes a lot more sense (50x more you might say) than putting 50x more people who were born female at a disadvantage by letting them compete in the "Women's" league... Ultimately, this type of thing always boils down to moral calculus. This is just a trolley problem, with 50x more people on one track. The when the individual suffering is equivalent, you make the smaller number of people suffer.
@@JCPRuckus Most of the time this "advantage" doesn't make a difference, but there are cases when it does. AJ actually does suggest segregating sports in ways that pertain to the sports themselves, not merely by sex - this ensures that not only are trans women not exercising their "advantage" over cis women, but tall women aren't exercising an advantage over shorter women and stronger women aren't exercising an advantage over women who might not be built the same way, etc. Who knows, maybe this will encourage further equality between the genders. :)
@@akisatsuki8444 - That's a terrible idea. If the choices are no separate leagues and essentially infinite separate leagues (because there is no limiting principle to the ways you can subdivide physical traits) then the answer is one open league (not literally one, but rather *only* open leagues). I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to get me to endorse some arbitrary division so that you can say, "Well if you're okay with that arbitrary division, then you should accept an arbitrary division that let's trans women compete against athletes who were born female". But here's the thing, just because two things are both to some extent arbitrary, doesn't mean that they are equally arbitrary. And the reality is that there is generally some supporting logic behind the separate divisions that already exist, because consideration has been given to how to balance physical variation vs "fairness". On the other hand, there is no logic to sorting by gender, because the very recognition of trans athletes is a recognition that gender and physical traits are not indicative of each other. So gender is an irrelevant consideration in terms of sport, which is why I keep putting "Women's" in quotes and referring to athletes who were born female. Because there is a logic to a male/female split in sport (in most cases), but not a gender split (in most cases). I mean, of course, private citizens can create sports leagues with whatever divisions they like, based on whatever logic (or lack thereof) they wish. But I imagine you'll find that in the vast majority of situations people will reject any league that pits similarly sized male and female athletes against one another in a bid for the brand of "fairness" you suggest. Because almost nobody wants that except people who what to see females get rolled over out of morbid curiosity, and people who don't care if females get rolled over in the name of trans inclusion. You basically only share your position with people who want to enjoy watching female athletes "get put in their place" and embarrassed by male athletes. And that's not an unproblematic place to be, even if you get there by trying to be unproblematic in a different way.
As someone who has been back and forth. Even starting hormones and then stopping a few years back. I have not continued transitioning because of the social aspects. However, there is rarely a day that i do not think about it and think about just being a woman. Hearing Sara talk about her past and the many thoughts she had, especially about when being intimate, were exactly 1 to 1 of my thoughts constantly. I know i am trans and i have been comfortable for years identifying as non-binary until i am ready for hormones, but the reality is that I fear to social transition. It was so much hell when i came out as liking men and i lost so so many friends from that. The thought of doing that again but with more intensity feels overwhelming. So thank you Sara for stepping up when you could have tried to continue to be stealth. You are an inspiration for being trans and that there could be a place for me in competitive sports. I just learned how to play pickle ball two weeks ago and i am hooked.
I say go for it it is scary and you should take your time but like all big events in your life you'll have the courage to go thru with it. I hope your able to find a good time and place to embrace yourself as who you are and to transition and be happy. Hoping for the best, thoughts and prayers. 🙏🏽 👍🏽 ❤
yeah . . . it's terrifying, and a lot of it sucks, but for me it's been so incredibly worth it. I don't know your life, and i certainly can't say "do it" or "don't do it", but if that's what you want i hope you can someday myself, i reached a point where i just couldn't **not** come out any more. No matter the consequences, i knew i wanted it so badly i'd risk everything in return. All in all things weren't so bad for me - i lost a few friends, but gained a lot more. My life has gotten so much more challenging, but it's easier to handle than hiding, and i wouldn't trade my transition for the world but everyone's life is different, and you know better than anyone what you need to do to get by. Take care of yourself, stay safe, and good luck friend 🏳⚧
Your happiness is the only thing that matters. If you lose friends due to being honest and living authentically, they weren't ever your friends to begin with. Find people who can actually understand and listen to you: friends, family, therapists, lgbt groups/clubs, and especially other trans people. I'm not going to tell you what to do. People will always make our lives harder just because they can. And it isn't easy, especially not now. But if it's something you want to fight for know that it's worth it.
anti-trans love to point to detransitioning as proof it's a bad idea, completely failing to acknowledge that THEY are the reason for it. i hope you find your happiness, whatever that ends up being ❤️
@thomme8539 Well because historically men got violent and rude to women who competed against them. I think gendered sports are dumb, to be fair, it shouldn't be that hard to respect someone who's better at a sport than you.
@@hilariousactually If you actually believe that, you're insane. You're totally out of touch with the real world. Men and women have always played sports together. And they are playing sports together now. But in competitions there is women's categories, because being biologically female is a handicap. Just like there is weight categories, age categories, etc.
And yet, as a trans man they would want me to be in women’s sports, in which i would have an advantage because i am literally injecting testosterone into my body and gaining more muscle mass than I would be otherwise. Yet they don’t talk about that, they only focus on trans women in sports. Anyways, thank you for this video. You’re openness and active ally ship means the most right now ❤
Yeah cause biological men are at an advanatge. Since transmen are biological women with a boost from testoterone, they would be at an advantage aginst women but disadvantaged aginst men. So, since you went through with procedure you are the one who has to take on the burdon of being at a disadvantage, not everyone else. So transmen have to compete aginst men. Nobody had a problem with that. It's about transwomen being at an advatage
No they don't mention transmen because your not affecting mens sport at all. Your not endangering men, your not taking places from men and your not breaking mens records. Also transmen don't want to be in womens sports anyway
They only focus on trans women in general, they don’t seem to even think trans men exist. The big tell is that they always refer to transitioning as “castration out of weakness” or some bs but it begs the question, how do biological women get castrated?
@@brumtownmiller6130 trans women really are not affecting womens sport in any significant way at all, after hrt for a long time and so many tests to ensure fairness, it really is fair. Read studies, don't blindly trust twitter. Also transwomen don't want to be in mens sports anyway
Hey squid, i dont know if you are still reading comments, but if you are i want to thank you. Im a trans teenage girl who has a transphobic father and a mother that has still not referred to me as a woman. Almost every day of my life for the past several years has felt like a slow trudge to my own death, weather by other Americans that just had a bad day and dont like people like me, or by my own hands if i would be unable to take it one day. Only my close friends know that im a girl, and while i try to hide it and not care, every time i get called a boy or by my deadname, it hurts. My life has been boiled down to waiting until i get home so i can lock myself in my room and try to enjoy a small part of my day, hoping for a better future and dreaming of living a happy life on HRT. Recently thise hopes have started to fade, the USA is starting to stop letting adults get hormones now, and i worry that it might spread to Canada by the time im able to move there. So much hate and cruelty is aimed at people like me, when we just want to live. Sometimes i feel like we wont ever be able to be happy and that a majority of people want us dead. But then i go on discord or vrchat and see others being respectful to me and other trans people, just treating us like normal people. seeing things like this, a cis straight guy helping share saras story, just out of his sympathy for her, and those interactions. They give me some hope. A new generation of adults are going to be coming into power. A generation that acts like you. Thank you. I hope you have an incredible day/night.
I'm glad that you've found friends who believe in you, support you, and know you for who you really are. Having parents with their heads in their asses makes support like that even more important, and I really hope you're able to power through despite their bullshit. I'm not American so I don't have the full scope of what's going on there regarding trans healthcare and such, but I very much hope things work in your favour in the future with HRT and more people in your life who uplift you.
I send you love and support. I'm sorry people are ugly but know there is a world out there where people love you not despite who you are but because of who you are.❤
I needed this as in I needed to hear a story like Sarah's I don't have fancy words but I see so few stories of older trans people who have been through it and made it and I really needed to see something like this so thanks.
Facts? You do realize that it is impossible for a biological male to become a biological female? Hence, why the statement "transwomen are woman" is false.
33:00 as an older trans man myself, completely agree. Life doesn't get easier when you love yourself, but how well you can withstand those storms really does. I remember growing up, I was a mess. Always putting myself in bad situations, not taking care of my body, destroying relationships because I wanted to be loved, but not as I was...life changes when you genuinely love yourself. I got sick less frequently, I got more energy to push my transition forward through all the bullshit, more people were willing to stay in my social circle after I came out to them...that energy improves you and uplifts all around you. It's hokey bullshit but as an elder tran, it's also the most real bullshit you'll ever experience.
A woman, is an adult human female, it is not an "identity" or a feeling, dress, attitude etc., that whole line of thinking is regressive in the extreme. Claiming there is some "essence" to "womanhood" that also males can access, but the reality is that women do not have to look or act any certain way, or act out some ludicrously sexist idea of the “social role of a woman”, all females who reach adulthood are women regardless of how they feel or look, and the one thing they ALL have in common, the one experience they ALL share, is that they are FEMALE, they do not have to "identify" as anything, they physically ARE women because they are female. Why should MALES be allowed access to SINGLE-SEX spaces reserved for FEMALES based on their "gender identity"? If sex and gender are separate, then a male announcing his "gender identity" is "trans woman" does nothing to change their sex, they are still MALE - so why should they be afforded rights reserved for the opposite SEX? The movement is regressively sexist, and misogynistic. Why do you believe females do not deserve any spaces free of males? What is hateful about upholding female sex-based rights that were fought long and hard for? Believing sexist stereotypes define men and women, instead of their biological sex, is unquestionably sexist to the core, because you are saying men and women are not actually free to behave however they want but need to conform to these sexist stereotypes in order to be men or women - if you say no they don't have to act any sort of way as a man or woman, and being a man or woman has nothing to do with biology - then what are you describing by calling someone a man or woman? If you think it doesn't describe biology, and doesn't describe anything about their looks or behaviour, then what on earth are you basing defining anyone as a man or woman on??? Why would a man need to become a "trans woman" in order to be their "authentic selves", why can't they just be a very feminine man and dress/act however they want?
If trans ideology isn't sexist, then why would a man ever need to "transition" if either sex is completely free to act however they want? How can you claim to be opposing sexism when the whole basis for anyone feeling the need to transition, literally is sexism?
@ambientjohnny I appreciate your perspective, but I disagree with many of the assumptions and conclusions you have expressed. Firstly, while it is true that the definition of "woman" can be rooted in biology and reproductive ability, it is reductive to suggest that this is the only factor that determines gender identity and expression. Many individuals may feel that their gender identity does not align with their biological sex, and this experience should be respected and validated. Regarding the access to single-sex spaces, I believe there are valid concerns for the safety and comfort of both women and transgender individuals. While the physical characteristics and biology of an individual cannot be changed, gender identity is a deeply personal experience that can impact every aspect of a person's life. To deny someone the right to access a space based on their gender identity can be harmful and discriminatory. Furthermore, the idea that transgender individuals need to conform to sexist stereotypes in order to "transition" is a harmful and inaccurate assumption. Gender expression is not the same as gender identity, and individuals should be free to express themselves however they feel most comfortable, regardless of societal expectations. At its core, the issue of gender identity and expression is complex and multifaceted, and I believe that it's important to approach these conversations with empathy and an openness to learning from the experiences and perspectives of others.
@JohnDoe-ly6bt Well, that depends on if they took HRT. Boxing is actually very skill based (more than many other sports), so they wouldn't have any form of unfair advantage.
Thank you AJ for being an ally. I have just started racing my motorcycle as an amateur. I have a track prepared CBR250R, and I’m racing against other women, both in the 350 cc super sport class, and in the female only Ultra Light Weight class. I’ve experienced nothing but acceptance and encouragement as the races are all about just riding.
I’m interested to see what you have to say. I’m generally very pro trans rights but this one has always seemed a little too problematic for me. Very open to being proven wrong though! Hope you make a good case
@@ObjectivelyCorrect The main issue with this conversation is that "not hurting people" is impossible. Either transwomen get hurt or ciswomen get hurt, but even so, both groups will also inevitably get hurt because that's kinda the thing about sports in general. A lot of athletes never even become pros, or they face a lot of losses. Frankly, I can never worry about who's hurt in sports because then I'd be worrying about literally everyone in sports all the time. However, what I can do is worry about accessibility to opportunities. For transpeople, that means being able to compete in the category that offers closest to the opportunities that most people are granted, which usually means letting them participate with their gender identity if they want to. Most of the time, ciswomen don't actually miss any opportunities, unlike transwomen who would lose them if they participated with their sex assigned at birth. However, that's just me. Unfortunately I can't make everyone desire that transpeople have the best opportunities.
@@xangelmoonx Very well said, especially in smaller leagues like pickle ball or highschool soccer etc the small differences in statistical physical advantage don't matter as much as the purpose of sports to build community and health. We should have a human first approach that allows as many people as much opportunity as possible to be a part of their community. Those small statistical advantages can also be filtered out on a case by case basis, even for cis/intersex people. Even at the highest possible level though hormones also affect cis people. For example, the story of the athlete Caster Semenya who is a cis woman that was born with a sex mutation that caused her to produce high levels of testosterone and thus gave her an advantage in her specific field (running). This is why the Olympic board committees are putting forth hormone brackets for the top level of athletics, none of shit really matters for sports that aren't Olympic level or aren't specifically things like track and field or football where larger frames and lung capacity matter (side-effects of high testosterone male puberty). Pro-longed use of estrogen severely affects your muscle mass and gain; and there is noone on this planet that would transition simply to participate in local sports lol and at a base level everyone deserves to be treated with respect and humanity.
Thank you for sharing Sara's story and also for being you. Sara's story has an eerie amount of overlap with my own, so it really resonated with me. I've met a lot of other trans women in my travels but none with a timeline that similar to mine. It was kind of crazy.
@@CERELEN What I mean is how the trans community are acting like a bunch of bullies after realizing the vast majority of society disagrees with their beliefs. Know how I know that? Look at the comment section under any video (that does not have a bias) discussing trans sports and read some of the comments. The VAST majority of people think male to female trans athletes are cheaters. That's reality.
Great video, on a really important topic. Love that you're using your platform to highlight this and other things LGBTQ related. It's increasingly making me consider how to go about expressing myself more while still riding a motorcycle. As a very male presenting non-binary person, who usually ride in full or almost full gear (mostly leather to go with a cruiser adjacent look), it's kind of been annoying me how masculine coded I usually end up looking. While I do enjoy expressing myself like that occasionally, I'm now looking up and experimenting with the logistics of riding in skirts/dresses. I consider this my femme cruiser squid journey. It's maybe a bit tangential to the video, but I just wanted to thank you for your channel further inspiring me to go through with it.
Hi AJ, fellow ally here (or as I like to call myself, 'collaborator' - HT Jessie Gender). I just wanna say that I'd love to see more long-form ally content from you. You handle the subject with such grace, and every second is informative *and* enjoyable. You seem like a truly good human, and I thank you for it.
thank you so much dude, started watching with the "why I'm a trans ally" video, and have loved what you do ever since, thank you for giving us a voice, we need more people like you in this world. was not originally interested in motorcycles, but might pick it up some time now, you've had some great arguments for why they improve society. anyways, love you dude, you're the best.
I really respect Sara for telling her truth and putting a real, honest, relatable refutation to this manufactured fear narrative around trans people in sports (or just trans people existing). But honestly, I can't get past how humiliating it would be to have to expose my entire personal, private, sexual feelings to the very people who seek to destroy me in the hopes of not having my rights stripped from me. Sara shouldn't have to tell us JACKSHIT. But there are down right insidious people out there spreading lies and hate and fear to the point where people like Sara have to sit down, turn a camera on, and say "Actually, No, I am a person, and to prove it I'm going to tell the world my deepest most personal truths, no matter how private they are." Sara, I send you blessings, and I'm so sorry the world is in such a sorry state that you even had to make these clips. You are an inspiration. (Edited to spell her name correctly 😅)
I felt something inside calling me to share. I really hope my vulnerability here has some sort of positive impact. If even just for 1 person then it's worth it 🙏🏻❤
@@sarasassboss I’m glad you feel that way! I hope we move in a direction as a world where your love of your sport and kindness of spirit is all that matters. Thank you for your advocacy and your story, I really do think it will help people understand. Trans Liberation Now! 🏳️⚧️ ❤
It's so tough. Even if they make it fair for all. When a trans athlete succeeds, they will get diminishing comments on their achievement. Nothing but harassment. Will probably discourage them. Maybe end up not taking part in the first place. How many trans women athletes are there anyway? Very few. It's all a distraction. These people are killing themselves at alarming rates. In a world that feels like no one cares.
The main thing that highlighted to me how silly this "debate" has become was the UK snooker organisation banning trans women for having qn advantage in snooker fucking snooker and to top it off no trans woman was even playing snooker at a high level.
AJ covered this near the first part of his video when he was criticising the motives of the hate group that outed Sara. They don't care about women's rights, they only care about hurting trans people. He said to think about the difference between the number of cis women that get prevented from playing sport because they have to compete with trans women versus the number of cis women whose sport career is harmed because they get pregnant. But this "women in sport" group doesn't give a damn about cis women having access to safe abortion.
Trans guy here. First point... most of the whole trans athletes crap is just that. Crap. People would far prefer to debate (either side) whether or not 0.01% of the population is allowed to compete in elite sport rather than discuss the real, growing, and daily physical, social, financial and political hardship that millions of trans people experience daily. (Made up statistic on how much of the general population is an elite level trans feminine athlete competing in women's sport. But it is a tiny tiny tiny number.) My other point is backing up your comment on how many trans women athletes are there anyways. Here is a thought. The Olympics has allowed trans feminine athletes since 2005 under pretty strict requirements. In almost 20 years literally thousands of Olympic medals have been handed out. Based purely on demographics, allowing that trans people make up about 1-2% of the population, we should have seen 20 to 50+ trans women with medals around their necks. Far more if trans women really do have a significant advantage over cis women. *There has not been even one.* Exactly zero trans women competing in women's events have won any medals. The question should now be, where are all the trans athletes? What is it about being trans that so greatly reduces your chance to succeed in sport? I could posit any number of hypotheses but it seems that few people are even asking the question, let alone trying to answer it.
This. It will always be about their trans identity, and never about their own achievements. It's not "this athelete achieved after training well", its "well obviously they won, they're trans so they have an advantage", even if that's not remotely true. There was a trans woman who placed something like 6000 in a marathon and transphobes lost their fucking minds because some women placed lower than 6000 and therefore, trans woman had BiOlOgIcAl AdVaNtAgEs, and yet no mention of the 6000 women who did better and achieved higher than this trans athlete. Plus transphoboes freaking out over a 'trans person' constantly winning their wrestling matches. What they fail to highlight is that this athlete is a trans man forced to compete in womens matches because they won't let him participate in the mens ones. Literally holding him back from mens sports then whining that he dare win in 'womens spaces'. Can't make up their fucking mind.
Exactly. I used to back-squat 350, clean 200. Now I struggle carrying big boxes 😂 I’m still extremely physically active and fit, though I never was a sports player, but I would get truly obliterated in any male competitions. In high school/college stuff I participated, I usually placed 2-4th in competitive stuff. Always below the true athletes, but well above the level of everybody else, I had the gift, I just felt like an outcast in men’s sports and didn’t know why. I transitioned at the end of my 2nd year into college. I still participated in events with males, partially because there weren’t a lot of women’s events, but mostly because I was literally afraid of being harassed or attacked for participating in one. Guess what happened to me? The only thing that changed were the hormones in my body. 5 months HRT, September rolls around again, I go to play in sports… I’m a fraction as skilled as I was before. I’m always lagging at the bottom, I’m one of the worst players, even losing to guys with no skill or athletic ability, people I would have absolutely crushed just 6 months earlier. I have the technical skills, I have the coordination, speed, strategy, teamwork, focus, I’m still the same very competitive person I was before but… I was a woman. I stood absolutely zero chance against men. And that was just after 5 months! My transition was faster than most, to be fair, I fully passed at 1 year, but imagine what it’s like for a person 9 years post HRT, and especially with the 10 nmol/ml of Testosterone in your blood rule that most sports organizations have (because let me tell you, my T didn’t dip below 30 until much, MUCH later, even taking lots of T-blockers. If I’d have been forced to medically monitor it, getting blood drawn regularly and having to keep it at extremely low levels, because even by cis women standards, many women are over 10 nmol/ml, it would have killed me (ok, maybe not literally, but) I was already losing badly to men, and I didn’t even meet *1,* *Not 1* of the medical criteria for participation in women’s competitive sports.
Thank you thank you thank you so much for this. It super touched me how you understand the trust trans people have to put in someone to tell their story without it turning dangerous for them. Sara seems a beautiful person (inside and out) and getting to hear her story was lovely - it always amazes me how similar our stories of our pasts are.
I'm a 30 year old transwoman(HRT for 5 years) and i've had very similar experiences growing up to what Sara described. But I grew up in a conservative southern town, i had to hide being feminine at a young age to prevent getting bullied more than i already had.. Going through puberty were probably the worst moments of my life. I wanted to play sports sooo badly. But i couldnt bring myself to join the boy's sports... i wanted to play softball and basketball with the other girls. My childhood really was hell, knowing that i was changing into a man and couldnt like the things that i liked because i'd get bullied or beat up. As soon as i found out there were others like me, i immediately came out as trans openly to the world but i was instantly shunned to the point of it being difficult to go outside or to find employment. I didnt expect so many people (that were once polite to me) to hate me like this. I wish i could find the courage to be my authentic self without worries of being treated badly by others. I wish i could get some light FFS someday. But i cant seem to even get out of this town. i have $2 to my name and nobody will hire me lol. My parents are pretty against my transition as well and tell me its just a waste of time. I guess all im saying is that i wish all of this prejudice towards Transgender people would stop. It's so bad in the South. People have screamed slurs at me and and hit me in public(even infront of cops a few times) with no repercussions just because im trans. I just wish life was more fair.
Sara is such a strong woman and human being, i absolutely hate the online space where this shit goes down its so draining and depressing to see these things. i hope for nothing but freedom and joy to come her way, atleast some sort of peace.
This was a fantastic video, hats off to you and Sara. As a cisgendered guy, this video was great to better my understanding transgender existence. Your content is great man, keep it up!
I'm just feeling so lucky to have people like Sara in the world who have already gone through everything for us. I wouldn't be able to ever achieve self-love if I hadn't seen how people like me have been able to achieve it. I thank you so much for bringing this story to the forefront, I am forever grateful. And yes you have convinced me that women belong in women's sports.
as a former athlete who is is currently undergoing HRT, there's not a single chance i can perform close to what i used to. i cant run a sub 5 minute mile, i cant run a 10 second 100 meter dash. going on estrogen makes you lose so much of your muscle and endurance, and normies dont really understand that. also, the fastest mile when i was in high school wasw ran by a girl. your gender doesnt give you an advantage unless its literally dick having contest.
You are just denying science if you say it doesn't give you an advantage, sure it does make you weaker than you were but that doesn't change the fact that you are just effectively a weaker man afterwards.
Then why are almost all sports world records held by men? Why are 15 year old boys sprint times faster than or as fast as grown womens Olympics records. Also why is it that a lot of trans women in sports are champions and world record holders even tho they make up such a small percentage of competitors and that no trans men are dominating mens sport?
@@th0tp0lice666 lia Thomas, swimmer, Austin killps, Austin bridges, Tara seplavy and Rachel mackintosh in cycling, anne andres, mart Gregory and laurel hubbad in weight lifting, hannah mouncey in handball. Thats just some and just at the semi and elite level, lower levels there's more
Glad you made this. A basically identical thing recently happened in Disc Golf. It’s nice to see true support for the community outside of the typical “lanes”. Thanks man ❤
I’ll be honest I’ve just been following it in shorts/TikTok. th-cam.com/video/41jd5I5gf9A/w-d-xo.html here’s a random link that seems not to just be a straight up hate channel. But yea basically they (the PGDA) banned her from competing in the women’s divisions because she’s Trans gender.
@@Viral9 trans women are women. Full stop. Natalie can and should be able to play in the women's league. I don't care what kind of waves you think it makes. Trans people exist and have always existed. Separate but equal was done before the civil rights movement and look how good of an idea that was.
@@Viral9 You have not studied biology since you went to highschool. Her performance is in line with other female athletes. She does not have an advantage or we'd see that on the course. You are not protecting women. You are alienating people who ARE women from women's sports. Maybe like idk read a book on the topic. She does not have any advantage that you can prove. Trans women fought for women suffrage. Trans men and women fought for Gay Marriage a decade ago. Trans men and women worked to save lives during the aids crisis. Yes I do think our society should work in a way that they also can compete in the sports leagues that match their desires and ability. Natalie is a woman, performs like a woman, and obviously isn't out there trying to cheat. Her denial from that league is purely because some people out here like you just don't understand what the fuck you are talking about. And you can take your 1% bullshit and fuck right on off with that. Are you saying that millions of people don't have a right to exist unhampered by society just like you probably have? If not you should maybe look at yourself in the mirror my guy and ask "why am I on the same side of this argument as literal nazis?" 🦑 until then I don't give a fuck any more. I will bash your dumb opinion openly and in public. Trans women ARE WOMEN. And you should be ashamed of yourself.
I tried really hard to be straight/not-LGBT, too. It just wasn't something I could shake. It's wild how it feels to really find yourself, and yet be absolutely terrified to look yourself in the eye and just be you. Hearing all of this and having a special trans individual whom I love so much makes me also want to give you hugs too AJ. I remember having my first non-straight romantic relationship and it was super sh***y, but it felt so bone-rattlingly right. My heart felt like how happy a dog is when after being cooped up in a cage for so long immediately gets the zoomies and stretches it's legs and just loves the moment and themselves.
aj you are so real for this one a lot of times it feels like cis people only wanna listen to other cis people about trans issues (at least where i live) which sucks, but this video and others like it is actually giving me like, a Cis Voice Source™️ for me to hand out on flyers lmao. i love your take on this and i appreciate your allyship so much. the fact that it isnt just passive virtue signally bs laden with a bunch of casual transphobia is just... so refreshing. seriously. i hear so much of that from "allies" lmao. i totally love your channel and your active and forward advocacy and allyship to people like me makes me feel just a bit less angry at the world... much love from a random trans dude on the internet, bro
It's so sad that right now, people still prefer listening to straight white men even about issues that least concern them, but we appreciate you advocating for us to the people who would rather listen to you. Here's to hoping for a future where this won't be necessary anymore.
The best solution I have heard for this is instituting the weight classes used in boxing into any other appropriate forms in other sports. Thanks to Suris on TH-cam for that one. Strictly sex-separated sports are a deeply flawed shorthand. Cis women in track and field who have been found with too high testosterone naturally were not therefore moved to the men's team. They just couldn't play. Also, key point, I must sarcastically remark that it is VERY empowering to say that all it means to be a woman is how she is born. Lol. Edited for typo.
Sara’s story is so amazing. I feel so bad for her, her struggles were so avoidable if she had a lot of the resources we have now. Truly a courageous woman, I’m so proud of her and her story.
I used to be a little mouthpiece for my homophobic transphobic racist parents and I am now a pansexual demisexual leftist. I just want to put more love in the world than the hate that I previously put it
thank u for posting this, I'm not a transphobe myself but I always saw the sport space with trans people as a different picture and after this video I can say, that trans people belong everywhere they want, also one more thing that I'm interested about, I have 4 trans friends in my art class, they don't let them take pills or do anything to become trans , we went on a trip, i was in a room with my friend that was trans and I fully comfortable with him, and we where only 2 in the room, my other guy friend not coming so it was just me and him, Everyone was kinda mad and kinda happy at the same time, cause we didn't know if they would let him be in the boys room which lucky turned out good but the other trans people they didn't let cause they looked more feminine, they all did the same thing, dressed like boys talked like boys all the stuff, but just because one had less of the feminine side they let into my room, It was kind of weird cause i was the only one mad about it, the other already predicted it all this story comes to this I had a talk with this girl once She came out really transphobic and I tried my best to change her mind and she told me a story Im this kinda confused about it was about a trans girl in her highschool that tried to get into there lockers and, the trans girl looked very manly, they didn't let her in, I believe that most trans people in highschool are regular to not being respected by the school it self, only other school mates showing more respect, idk where I was going with all of this maybe how the law and schools treat trans people now personal stuff I believe that all transphobic people haven't talked to a trans person in there life and if they got to know one they would probably stop being transphobic, idk I find at least all the trans people that I have meet to be way more knowledgeable about life just wish stuff could be different
this comment section gives me hope and I love all the love here! Love yourselves! It feels good to see so much love and support and empathy and everyone getting what you're going through
It means a lot that you are sharing somebody's story like this. As a trans athlete it warms my heart to see her passion, dedication, and love for pickle ball. Luckily I've never had to face any backlash for competing in sports, I'm in a very privileged position as a trans man who doesnt get clocked, but I believe it's so incredibly important to make sports as accessible as possible to anybody. I'm glad to hear about Sara's joy and resilience.
The way she felt as a kid is so relatable! It’s pretty much identical to mine. I’ve known for as long as I can remember that there’s something wrong with me. I was VERY feminine, gentle and quiet as a kid. I only had girl friends and could never relate to boys. The only time I was truly happy was when I played with Barbies, wore girl’s clothes, pretended to have long hair, and was accepted as one of the girls, etc… When puberty hit, I was forced to be someone I wasn’t. I was shamed whenever my real personality accidentally slipped out. I’ve now transitioned, and I feel so much more comfortable in my body. This is also why it is common for Trans people to be quite “childish”; because they’re trying to relive the childhood they wanted but couldn’t have. Have the bedroom they always wanted but couldn’t have.
Thanks AJ , for raising awareness of Sara’s Story, and the Absolutely dark Truths, LGBTQueer Athletes have been and are still dealing with to Date❤ Hope to hear and view more of these in the Future too? ❤
Not american, so ive not got much knowledge on this. What exactly do trans athletes deal with? All ive seen are males participating in female sports, and winning, unsurprisingly.
@@kayalool3451 i did, and all i heard was about this transwomans backstory. And i also heard about how he was too short to compete with tall athletes. Um guess what? So? Whats your point? Theres a reason why im asking this question. Its because i watched the video, and i dont understand. So please answer me if you can, or dont. Thats all i want, theres no hate against transpeople here. I couldnt care less if youre a transwoman with a buldge, id say thats pretty kinky. But i dont get what this video is telling me.
@oraoraoora8797 The difference is that short people aren't harassed by thousands of people for playing a sport. Also, the advantages trans women have over cis women do decrease after 1 and half yrs on hrt.
@@kayalool3451 to address the first part of your reply: theres no minimum or maximum bar to participate in sports. there are only rules that prohibit drug intake or gender segregation. it doesnt matter if youre tall or short, if you can win, good for you. why would short people be targeted etted for playing a sport? Lionel Messi plays football, and hes one of the best players in the world. so is your point that being shorter doesnt get any hate because the shorter player isnt ruining the balance of the sport, and that males participating in female sports get hate because they bring an unfair balance to the sport. is that what youre trying to say? let me ask you this, even as a guy, im embarrassed to see some 6 foot giant swimming against females. if you were a girl, wouldnt you feel even more upset knowing some transwoman whos gone through male puberty, has higher bone density, more muscle growth, competes with other girls? Hello? >Short people dont ruin sports by bringing an unfair balance, because they are below the average bar of players, and use wits and skill to rise above it >Males bring unfair balance to female sports and ruin them because they are biologically stronger, faster, and have better endurance than females. get a random female and a random male to arm wrestle, or get them to wrestle on the floor and see who wins. Lastly, just take a look at thomas, she is a mammoth of a swimmer with an chest span thats twice as wide as a females. theres a reason why there are differences and segregation between male sports and female sports. watch videos of males playing football, basketball, running, swimming, wrestling, against females. the girls almost never win unless theyre playing against handicaps or 11 year olds. This youtuber doesnt address the issue by giving scientific statistics that can mitigate the unfairness caused by transathletes, he just lets sara talk about the hate she faced and the bad childhood she had. its rambling and a waste of time to watch. im not against debate, so hit me with your best rebuttal.
I haven't seen many creators approach the subject of trans women in sports so I'm glad you've put out this video. Great work, let's debunk some transphobes on the internet and have some good discussions! 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
I always argued that separating sports by gender is stupid anyway. Considering biological differences take place in literally every level of sport regardless. So to make it less controversial I always thought we could come up with a different system of separation entirely that's inclusive and fair
@@Cakeses so you think a man and woman of the same height and weight are physically equal? Then why are all strength and speed records are held by men?
Everybody telling their story, I am a 67 year old white man, chronologically and visually. I was raised to be open minded about humans, and will always thank my parents to have raised me so. People are people; give your fellow humans that!! Allow them to be who they are, not who you think they ought to be. Even if they're your kids. I never had any kids, and that breaks my heart and hurts my soul. I love the promise that is young people, they are our only hope. Treat kids, (and frikkin' everybody!!!) with respect, and objectivity. You may know a person now, today, but you have no idea what trauma they may have experienced in their past. Leave them be. Only kindness and patience make progress, NOT hate and cruelty and exclusion. I don't even have a GF, and just got some cool frisbee's. Bowling, or Bocce, or juggling, skateboarding, surfing, speed typing.....there are tons of sports that would make no difference the gender of the player!! LOVE is in SHORT SUPPLY, as is compassion and empathy and patience and understanding. And it doesn't cost a thing. Life is very short, as it is. Life shouldn't have to suck.
I feel like you having conversations with people, especially younger men, could make a difference in a lot of people's lives. even if you don't have children, both your empathy and open mindedness combined with the loneliness, confusion, and frustration of a lot of young men these days could help make an impact, you don't need biological kids to help guide youth !!!
You're again missing the point entirely. No one says that males and females can't play sport together casually. The issue is whether there should be women's categories in competitions that are about biological sex. Everyone is already playing sports with everyone else outside of competitions.
Honestly im kinda glad i heard her story it kinda caused me to have a mini awakening and just went through a rabbit hole about trans fem people and i realized i kinda resonated with alot of things they said if not all before they came out and well it made me realize kinda who i am and honestly thinking all this through is kinda terrifying and even though its scary it makes me feel brave too hopefully enough to where i can come out to my parents and start so thank you
The design of competitive Sports, unfortunately, may have been outdated to accommodate our society’s needs today. Competitive sports was designed in a binary system. 50% for men, 50% for women. Never had a place for trans people - this is fact. And society as a whole, needs to fix that. But how? Trans, men, women. Let’s work together to find a solution.
ok..i watched this video based purely on the title because i want to expose myself to the best argument in favour of trans competing in women's sports because i consider myself a logical person with an open mind, i don't just echo the mob. well there is a lot of padding in this fairly long video ... essentially there are three main points relating to the video title, one is that the trans likes sports a lot ..community ect ect, another is that sports is elevates genetic differences even within the same sex and that each trans athlete should be considered on a case by case basis. i don't disagree with any of this but i hope trans will be prepared for the word "no" to the case by case consideration and not turn a rejection into yet another you tube video. for example lia thomas ...or in fact just about every trans athlete that ever swept the board or slashed the records would also be told "no". one thing that we must bear in mind is that sports in its purest form is not about socialising ...it's about being the best and yes that includes your genetics, the woman's category was only brought in because women weren't getting a look in ...so when giving it the social argument just dont ...that's just like everyone in class getting a medal ...suddenly the competition loses all meaning when well to do people try to interfere.
@@SquidTips well it wasn't originally about socialising .. rather its roots are in combat and military gaming, and then the ancient greeks were pitting themselves physically against each other with rules as a benchmark ...this wasn't a meet and greet exercise although i am sure there were a few flamboyants in the crowd who wish it was.
Man here. I was on the high school track team and my times would've put me second in the female category in the Olympics with hardly any training. Also my Triple Jump would've broken the Olympic record for females and I would've placed first at the most recent Olympics in Triple and Long jump. How on earth would it be fair to change my gender which has a Larger heart, greater lung capacity, greater muscle mass, more red blood cells and less body fat. Those things can't be changed and give biological men an unfair advantage over actual females which strips them of their records, sponsorships, and scholarships. I'm not opposed to them having a separate category or competing against their biological sex though.
Man here. I'd probably lose against trained women when it comes to speed. However, I'm 1,65m (roughly 5ft6") and particularly slow. A guy virtually "born for" running would probably outrun most women without even training much.
@@bradybeijes3232 Try going on HRT for five or more years and then join an Olympic level competition. The evidence suggests you'd get your ass handed to you. There are really only around 40-100 transwomen athletes competing on a pro level, I wonder why we've only ever heard about like three of them? Maybe it's because they really aren't dominating and might, at best, be pretty okay or pretty decent. Lia Thomas is an interesting case because everybody who argues against Transwomen competing haven't looked at her actual stats. I am going to drop a snippet I copied from an article I'll link. "All statistics in this article are for "short course yards" races, meaning they were done in a 25-yard pool. Ms Thomas won the women's 500 yard freestyle race in 4m 33.24s. She came fifth in the 200 yard race, with 1m 43.40s, and eighth in the 100 yard race with 48.40s. These were impressive results, but they weren't record-breaking. Though the overall competition saw 27 all-time NCAA records broken, Ms Thomas's times weren't among them." It's important to note that Lia broke exactly zero women's records. During that same competition, 27 records were broken, none by a trans woman. She did win, in one singular race. One...single...race. Hardly dominating the sport. If we want to talk about dominating in swimming, Michael Phelps is basically one step away from being Kevin Costner in Waterworld, but I have never heard anyone actually say it's unfair for him to compete in swimming competitions. Sports are inherently unfair, the people with the greatest biological traits will inherently perform better. The gap will grow or maintain itself if they train hard regularly. It's also important to note that nobody actually gave a shit about women's sports until the Trans argument came out from, let's face it, bigots. Women's sports are struggling much more from low financial support and low viewership. That's a much more important issue than "Can 100 people compete in a sport?" www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/lia-thomas-trans-swimmer-ron-desantis-b2091218.html
I really appreciate TH-cam recommending this video. I am not into motorcycles, I was never a kid who was into sports, I was a soft kid, haven't really been aware of the LGBTQ struggle until recently and I am not trans, but I am only recently openly genderfluid. Sara's story really hit hearing someone else having similar thoughts to what I have had and frustrations. I am comfortable and happy when being and identifying with my male self, but I have so much frustration that I can't have the appearance my female identity wants or experience all of the things I wish I could. I wish my body could change as easy it is to change my clothes. I don't think I would ever transition because it won't give me what I truly want because I would be giving up a part of me that I love. But I am so happy to so other people be able to be who they truly are and will happily stand with those against the people trying to take that away from them.
as a trans women, this sort of thing is the reason that i feel like i will never be able to do anything because there will always be that person to pull me back down. wether it’s media, bad reporting, or just general misinformation, i will never be permitted to live as myself. thank you for making this video, awareness is always good! all of you have a great day, and keep going!
I don’t have a problem with trans people. In fact, I support them for being themselves. But they shouldn’t compete in their transitioned genders sports, it gives an unfair advantage. This is in no way discrimination against them, its just they still have features from whence they transitioned.
Which features?? Strength? I can barely do 10 push ups and I'm an athlete lol endurance?? I don't play singles in pickleball because it legit exhausts me. I'm not sure what featurs you believe I have that give me an advantage because that has not been my experience 🤔
If you don't have evidence to support the assertion that trans women have an unfair advantage against cis women. Then preventing them from participating in women's sport because you think there might be an advantage, is discrimination against them.
@@bobthebox2993 Look at Lia thomas. Unless there have been studies showing that trans women/men are on the same playing field of their cis counterparts?
Wow, as a straight white male in my mid 50s who has always been accepting and supportive of the gay and trans community, I must say I still received a great education from this video and Sara's story. I'm still not sure where I stand on how trans folks can participate in pro and non pro sports but I do have an open mind about it. As long as the medical side and officiating side states a certain athlete doesn't have any unfair advantage over another beside the tiny biological perks (I'm think of the hurdles story) then I will go along with it, certainly over the hateful rhetoric you hear from the anti trans movement. I will certainly share this video with anyone needing some educating on the topic and hopefully they will also see how non threatening trans people are. Sara comes across as a wonderful, beautiful and kind woman and anyone would be lucky to have her in their life.
As a state champ wrestler, in a weight based sport it isn't fair for someone on hrt to compete with their "old" gender but it definitely isn't fair for them to compete with the "new" gender either. In college I did a lot of jujitsu on the off season when I wasn't wrestling and I tumbled with a trans fem and she was undeniably stronger than other women I would tumble with despite her not lifting trying to atrophy and them lifting consistently. I understand we need to recognize trans people as their preferred gender but I also don't think letting them compete as the new gender is the solution either. I think we might just need mens, womens, and trans wrestling idk it's a tough situation but if I were a female wrestler it would seem extremely unfair to me too
Thanks for sharing in good faith. I can only speak for myself here, but the ladies I play against in pickleball all comment that they will gladly continue to compete against me. I'm not very strong at all which I'm experiencing now that I'm back at the gym to try and t least get some kind of strength. My advantage is playing smart and my height and reach. Ps I'm Sara from the video. So I do believe that case by case should be the way
sports are built on advantage, michael phelps has a triple jointed ankle that helped him become an insanely talented swimmer. what you care about isnt unfair advantages, what you care about is the fact that trans women are different. if you want to encourage fairness? advocate to get rid of gendered sports, replace them with weight classes, strength classes, height classes, etc.
@@delilah1377 Yes sports are built on advantages and individual cases of advantages happen all the time besides Phelps. That being said you have a straw man fallacy. I'm in no way arguing that I want sports to be 100% fair, however I am arguing trans women are biologically different yes. Also saying if I truly want fair sports we should get rid of sports entirely and have height classes ect is another leap in logic being a black and white fallacy. My true argument is that despite every sport having advantages and disadvantages based on genetics, women are biologically at a disadvantage in wrestling. I wrestled lots of women because I wrestled before women's wrestling was sanctioned. I watched women fight for women's wrestling not because they didn't want to wrestle men but because they wanted a greater opportunity to have success at things like state championships. Sports will never be 100% fair you're correct but that doesn't change that transitioning to female from male is a pretty big advantage offensively that none of them women can ever get based on genetics unless they are born as men. It won't be 100% fair but that doesn't mean we should abolish things we have it place to make it more even, if that were the case wrestling would have 295 pound people wrestling people who weigh 106 pounds. But like Sarah, she said case by case, I can get behind that, if the advantage isn't extreme then I say it's fine.
your advocacy for queer and trans people is genuinely so comforting. As a trans man, it's so difficult to avoid/ignore the violent hatred towards trans people every day. I can't thank you enough. It's so refreshing to see an ally in an uncommon place.
Sara's story is a perfect example of the power love, empathy, and most of all, community have to save us in our darkest moments.
Check out Sara's other channels @HECKYEAHPickleballAthletics and @SoSara and she's also got a Facebook, but I'm trying to encourage her to come to TH-cam where the cool audience is.
wait it says the vid came out 6 hours ago but this comment was written 9 hours ago?
Thank you so much for these kinds of videos, as a 18 year old gay kid it means a whole lot! To hear from people who I look up to for other reasons (like getting me into riding) it’s really great, thanks again and stay safe out there 😁.
@@TheJasperEffect Video was privated before releasing it publicly, thats how the comment is older than video release.
@@mofik26 okay thanks
Neither of Saras channels are available. Is she okay?
Thank you AJ for sharing my story so elegantly, you're an amazing ally to people who need you. I am beyond grateful for you ❤
Thanks for your incredible courage and bravery in sharing your story. You seem to be a sweet and caring person who wants the best for people. I hope tour life forward is meaningful and happy. As can be of course 😊
@Charisma Hornum-Fries life is an amazing adventure ✨️ never a dull moment lol 😆
I can feel your pain and hurt throughout the years even though I'm a transmasc non-binary person. I'm glad that you shared your story with the world even though it might have been hard to do. You're an incredibly inspiring person and I wish your family and yourself the very best in life. You deserve a lot of love for everything that you do❤
Thank you for proving that while there is pain in our experiences we are more than that, you're an inspiration to me and likely a lot of other trans people!
Hey, as a regular ass white guy, I've obviously never had to deal with such feelings and hardship. I try my best to extrapolate, to recognize "hey yeah they all say this shit sucks, so it truly must be awful and a thing worth fighting for. But hearing it described in such a personal way, it really makes me more tangible in my mind. It puts a true understanding to the feelings, even if I've never felt them myself, and how in how much being an ally in any way, shape, or form really does help people who have such feelings.
So for that, I wanna thank you for sharing this very personal story.
(I'm sorry if this comes of in anyway poorly written or just bad, I'm a lil high and I just wanted to show my appreciation, fellow Canadian so weed being legal n all lol)
your support for the trans community seems a bit out of the blue but also extremely genuine and thoughtful.
you didn’t just speak for us, you gave one of us a chance to speak openly. idk the respect youre showing us throws me off a bit but is much much appreciated.
thanks for putting these videos out there. it’s nice stumbling on a gem. seriously wish you the best mate
I'd assume it feels out of the blue and off putting because from what is seen a lot of the time is that trans people are either hated, or fetishized, not really much genuine support. It is always odd seeing someone go against the status quo. So not only seeing an ally, but one as open as AJ is can feel a little odd. I do hope this brought some clarity and validation to how you feel as it is perfectly normal.
Right now, when everything is so dark and when even nominally supportive news outlets aren't actively calling out what is going on?
Stumbling into this channel has been a deeply uplifting surprise.
@@sirbilliam3455 That's how I feel, part of me is waiting for "a catch" or when I first saw one of his videos waiting for a joke or a "but", but none of those came so it's definitely surprising but a pleasant surprise and I also appreciate it so so much
It just feels like something's wrong, like there has to be a catch when a cis person is actually genuinely supportive. I was genuinely confused when he said he was cis. We're just trained to expect hate, or at the very least a lack of understanding and sincerity.
He actually has a whole video about his journey into an ally, it's great if recommend giving it a watch, have a great day!
Great video. Actually a nuanced take that I hadn't thought about before (the hurdle bit) kind of eye opening
Im not much of a competitive sports player, but i FEEL you with that heavy fear of brain damage. I've had so much anxiety about it over the past 6 months, after an injury
I think it's awesome to use your platform like this. Please keep it up in the future.
I relate to how Sara talks about trying to learn to be a guy and build a character, a persona, an avatar. I describe my pre-transition days as bad performance art. Transitioning was the scariest thing I have ever done and the most rewarding thing I have ever done.
pre-transition, i felt like a clown stuck in a costume. i figured while i was stuck i may as we’ll play the part. even when i didn’t, i was surprised by how easy it was to fool people into thinking i was a girl (i’m ftx/ftm)
Amen! So worth it 🙏🏻❤
I'm pretty sure a lot of trans women "pretended" to be "real men" before accepting themselves and transitioning
I remember big leather boots, a leather jacket two sizes too large, and beer - but now It's all wine and cider, cute tops and skirts, and being ME instead of what I thought I should have tried to be.
It feels good being myself and learning so much about the world...
Yooooo we picked the same name!!!
@@babs_babs I know a Trans Woman who also describes her pre time as being in costume, and that her best dreams had always started with taking the costume off before they really got going.
As a pre-transition MTF, the part at the end where she talked about her past self hit me like a truck. It’s hard for me to even think about taking steps to get HRT (even though I know I want to), as I would have to come out to pretty much everyone I’m close to, and while I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t hate me for it, I still feel like they would think of me differently and jump to all sorts of conclusions.
During that segment, I felt like I was looking at the person that I will become and hearing her say that she didn’t regret who she was before had (and currently has) me crying tears of joy.
There’s a voice inside me (and a somewhat common one from my experience online) that keeps telling me that every day I don’t take steps to transition will only hurt me in the long run, but her words really helped me reinforce what I know is true, that being that I shouldn’t feel rushed to transition and whenever I feel like the time is right will be the perfect time for me.
I’m very grateful that she was willing to share her experience, and I wish her the best.
Thank you I wish you the very same ❤❤❤
dont be afraid to start living your truth...as hard as it gets, i and every other trans person ive run into has zero regrets...good luck :) today is day 1001 since my first E pill and day 795 of actual HRT...
It's all on your terms, your transition. No matter if you do hormone therapy, surgery or nothing, you are a woman. Even if you decide to not dress feminine, grow your hair out or shave your body hair. You are still valid, deserve to be treated with respect and be loved.
How ever you decide to continue your journey, please know, you will never be alone. We are here. There's a second family for you out here, that welcomes you with open arms and supports you.
You are loved. ❤
As a trans guy, I can assure you it’s worth it. Even if worse case scenario a lot of people reject you, you’ll finally be able to be yourself. As cliche as it sounds, you only have one life. Don’t waste the one chance to be who you are. “The blood of the covenant runs thicker than the water of the womb,” I believe the saying is. I was worried it wouldn’t be worth it, but I’m almost a year on T and working on changing my legal, and it’s the best choice I’ve ever made. Every time you’re brave enough to be who you actually are, you inspire others to do the same. Good luck with becoming the woman on the outside that you are on the inside :)
I'm somewhat similar, but currently find genderqueer fits me better. I know people in my life aren't supportive, some are, but I'm Christian and still go to same church as a few family members, and there are some great allies in the church, but not my family. It's hard to balance what feels best, vs what feels safe, but I have hope that one day people will see me as I am, not for the ideals they project onto me. I've started dressing more androgynously, making my own clothes, and letting myself do things I feel better with, and slowly, over 5 years of questioning, I'm at a point where I'm mostly okay with how I present, even though I haven't come out. But I know not everyone can do that, and it tends to be easier for AFAB people as dressing more masculinely is typically safer (women's suits, wearing unisex jeans, sweaters, etc) where it seems like any femininity shown in someone who isn't seen as a woman, is seen as suspicious or harmful, which is not fair.
25:51 people like that don't respect cisgender women, either. trans folks are just the target du jour. it's shit.
congratulations, Sara.
to anyone else that's struggling, you are loved. keep pushing. we will all get there together.
happy pride. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
I watch TH-cam most days, I never comment on anything.
This video is objectively great. You’ve got thousands of people who mainly subscribed because bike go fast watching a 35 minute emotional, human story about the harsh realities of being a trans woman in sports, and they are loving it. This doesn’t impact my life, but I’m really glad you made this content. There are undoubtedly people who’s lives it can and will impact, and more selfishly, I really enjoyed it. 10/10 no notes
Glad to hear it!
@@SquidTipsmake new rules plz or ur gay
Came for the motorbikes, stayed for the advocacy. Thanks to both of you for making my pretty shitty life a little bit brighter ❤
Can I offer a life suggestion. Maybe your life wouldn't be so shitty if you didn't hate society and didn't have a picture of a middle finger as your profile pic. Here's a hint. Maybe it's not society, it's you who making society shitty. 🤡
gay
@@AhmedPlays_ so?
Love the profile pic!!
@@Transcreations_ Wow so do a vast majority of trans people just gravitate towards being total as*holes of society. Why are trans people some of the meanest bullies in society. Just curious?
Honestly as a trans woman a lot of parts of her story really resonate with me. The way she discussed her experience is very thoughtful & inspiring.
Its wonderful to see her story elevated in this way. She deserves so much love.
Thank you ❤ so do you 😘
@@MickeyMouse-lm6zjas someone once said:
shut the fuck up
@@MickeyMouse-lm6zj lol shut up troll
@@Amazonkiller65 ^doesn't know what trans man means
@@Echo-tl7wh what a pathetic moron lol
Thank you, both of you for making and uploading this video. From Sarah’s (I hope I spelled that correctly) courage, strength and willingness to talk about a very heavy and emotional subject. You for letting over 100k people view it and getting a message out not only saying that all women belong in sports, but those words coming from a cishet male who took the time to truly understand the trans and LGBT+ community from previously not understanding it.
People like you are some of the largest helpers trans individuals have against the constant damage transphobes do. So once again, thank you, and enjoy your day / after / evening.
Oh, wow, just after I watched Mila Mulder's (Trans person themselves) take on this subject. It was very insightful. I hope there are interviews and such in this to hear more from the community. Can't wait!!
I like Mia!
i saw that one too
Now that I'm watching, it's legit platforming Sara instead of just giving your own opinion. Which is perfect. It's so much more real to hear the affected parties themselves. Thanks.
Thank you so much for being such an amazing ally. I'm a transman and I doomscroll A LOT. I often forget that there are good people in this world who fight with us for our rights. Thank you.
@@marviwilson1853 How does using an adjective declassify the meaning of something?
If I described someone as “a weak man” does that make him any less of a man?
@@marviwilson1853 What? You’re just spewing gibberish.
@@lankthedank6931 A transman is describing a female who became male, a transman cannot be everything that a man can, such as not having a functional male reproductive system. A weak man is a man who is everything a man can be. Just as you say artificial flavoring is fake, a transman is a fake man, a man achieved by unnatural ways.
@@lankthedank6931 Gibberish is about all they got to go on.
It breaks my heart as a cis-straight-man to see so much hate and vitriol towards trans people every single day. I can't begin to imagine how painful it is for you. Things will get better.
Its funny, I saw your channel randomly out of the blue not too long ago and I am really proud of your content. I didnt know about Sara Weiss' story because of how negative and toxic the media is towards the transgender community. Its especially apt in this case with how real she was in this video. As a transgender woman I cried as she told her story and assure you that while the details are always slightly different its always the same story. Just hearing what she told me has emboldened me to push even harder and get out of the darkness. Thank you
You deserve happiness 🙏🏻❤
“It’s silly, it’s fun, fuck off” 😂 greatest attitude to have towards anything
The "male" category IS ALREADY AN OPEN CATEGORY. The reason you don't see females competing there is because they are unable to perform at the same level as elite male athletes. Every single MALE "trans woman" HAS EVERY RIGHT TO CONTINUE COMPETING AGAINST OTHER MALES - NO ONE IS LIMITING THEM FROM DOING SO - the ONLY issue is that these MALE "trans women" DON'T LIKE LOSING AGAINST OTHER MALES, they literally think they are entitled to "do better " in sports even after their personal choice to go on HRT and make themselves weaker, and being "validated" is more important to them than actually participating in sports - if it weren't the case they'd just continue competing in the open male category instead of LYING that they are being "excluded" etc.
hm yes a human being with empathy.. seeming increasingly rare
sadly
Yeah. That is what struck me and got my Respect. I didn't expect that! After twenty years post transition, it's not something I'm used to. Sure, you get the 'I know that you know that I know ' look along with the forced smile and 'tolerance' of my existence. So big of you to tolerate me! But empathy! Fuck, that's rare!
@@SusannaSaunders it shouldn't be as rare as it is to see someone with empathy because there are lots of people with it but it feels like its been harder to find them lately
@@BugsyBugYT You might be right and I can't speak for the Gen-Zs and Millennials who might have a different experience to me - Shrug. But personally, the number of (cis)men that I have known that accept trans women as being 'women' I can count on 1 finger. Alex may well be another to make two fingers (I haven't asked him whether he would knowingly date a trans woman so I don't know whether that is actually true) but either way, certainly among the cis-male-(white) population that I know of, the percentages are as close to zero as makes no difference! True Empathy is indeed a rare quality.
@@SusannaSaunders fair
I’m trans, I found your channel from your first “transphobe to trans ally” video. I just need to say, thank you so much for what you are doing. You are truly incredible, your empathy is off the charts and thats what we need on youtube and social media right now. You are truly changing the world with these videos. Thanks for being awesome!
same here. I am a trans man and saw that video and at first was skeptical but he was legit the real deal. I wish more people would open their minds and eyes and do their own research instead of fanatically believe these radical insane ideals that clearly make zero sense.
I went to a talk and i found that by the time trans women are about 4 years of HRT they lose about 9kg of muscle mass. I found that crazy to even comprehend.
My opinion is that team sports should allow trans women as the advantages become less overt and advantageous compared to an individual sport. I think the biggest advantage trans women have over cis women is that trans women have higher hemoglobin levels, meaning we can carry more oxygen and thus have an advantage for endurance. Other characteristics are so nuanced, like bone structure is just hard to comprehend how that could give an advantage.
For reference I transitioned just after turning 17 and I'm 5'11" 150lb and do a lot of cardio. I'm 21 now. My build is so much smaller now than what it was before I transitioned.
I would love to go into sport again, but i am scared of being harassed for it like Sara. She is so strong, and thank you for the video Ajay
there are still things that make it unfair. stronger bones and even taller; its just unfair. its like making a kid fight an audlt in a basketball game and then wondering why the kids always lose.
It makes more sense to have a different category for trans ppl.
other countries have done similar with exepections where the person transitions hormone wise before 11
@@Doggy724 agreed but if you care about fairness due to physical characteristics, most sports should have something like weight classes in fighting sports (or height, whatever), not only gender based.
@@Ehal256 Recreational athletics are for everyone, they are inherently inclusive. Competitive athletics are the opposite, exclusionary by nature, where performance is paramount.
Gender separation in sport was not for men’s benefit. Without it, female competitive athletes could not exist. Among elite outlier athletes, college and even more so pros, there is not a single woman who could compete with men. The heralded US women’s national soccer team was eviscerated by a 14 year old boys club team. Think about that.
This is why no one cares about female to male athletes. The idea of them competing at a high level is farcical
I'm the furthest thing from an athlete, but I am a trans woman, so it means a lot to me to see Sara's story and have it shared by someone who looks like the guys who gave me weird looks in high school.
Personally, I feel like trans women in sports in a conversation that can have a lot of nuances to it. Trans women like me who went through a male puberty and transitioned later in life may have a group advantage over other groups of women, but it's a subjective thing. For certain sports it shouldn't really matter, like basketball or tennis or golf I guess (I don't know, I only date jocks, I'm clueless about sports that they don't play lol).
Estrogen legit makes you less physically strong. I think it's something only mtf people can really grasp because it's extremely visceral to us. They warn you about it before starting HRT but you don't really understand how wide the gap really is at the time. Like, it didn't even take a year before my 90lb rottweiler could pull me around without even a trying when before going on estrogen he couldn't budge me an inch and my muscle mass barely changed in that year.
I have a friend who's a cis woman and works out (I do not, walking my dog is as much exercise as I get) regularly and is like 6" shorter than me and she's way stronger than me now because she wants to be athletic in that way. My height gives me a lot of strength through leverage but that's about it.
And if we move past women like me, we need to look at the girls coming out before they start puberty/early enough in the wrong puberty to realize it's not what they want, those trans girls realistically, really aren't any different from cis girls. There's zero reason to keep them out of girls sports and deny them something they love or a future they see for themselves.
I didn't give up singing when I started transitioning, it would be like cutting off an arm. It seems so inhumane to me to do that to another human that values their athleticism the way I value my musical ability.
I think this is a really intelligent nuanced take and that is coming from someone that does not think that trans women should participate in women's sports because of the effect of male puberty on the body. While there are some other interesting metrics that seem to be influenced by biological sex like reaction time and motion tracking in space and movement, I do not know if those are influenced by puberty or some other biological factor.
The point about trans-women that transitioned prior to puberty is interesting because there really would be no actual advantage in leverage, bone structure, and density past some meaningless bone structure differences (in the context of sport). It would not be logically consistent to oppose it on the merit of puberty and then just make an issue with this point so I feel convinced that there's not a logically consistent reason for me to think trans-women that began transitioning prior to puberty should be excluded from women's sports.
@@skylervelez6877 not that I want to discredit you but what does bone density contribute to performance in sports? Sure muscle strength makes intuitive sense but surely higher bone density just makes you weigh more and break your bones less often?
@@skylervelez6877the bone structure is assumed AT puberty, so those who get blockers have an average female bine structure.
As for the difference in motion tracking and spacial reasoning, that has been determined to be a result of the fact that boys are typically encouraged to play with Lego blocks and video games that train those regions of the brain. When including a control group of girls raised with Lego and video games, that patterns disappears.
@@joshuanorman2 for many sports being stronger is an advantage because a stronger person can train harder, run faster,hit harder, jump higher, etc. People think that because large muscular physiques are not needed for many sports that strength isn't an advantage, but there's very few sports if any where a stronger version of you (with respect to sport specific movements ) is not a better version for the sport.
Larger bone density allows for larger muscles as the total frame is larger therefore there is more space to pack the same amount of muscle like wrapping fabric around a larger diameter tube. The larger diameter, the larger the circumference and surface area which means more possible muscle can be physically packed on. The ability to build muscle is dependent on so other factors but larger bone density is beneficial for muscle hypertrophy and therefore strength can be improved.
Larger bones (and height) also improve leverages as well making it so the athlete has to expend less energy to do the same work which is a benefit in every sport that exists.
Plenty of research has been done into world class powerlifters that show that pound for pound, elite cis women are not weaker than elite cis men. The discrepancy in weight moved is largely influenced by the discrepancy in body weight, bone density and leverages and height. If estrogen was the major driving factor then why would females show the same % increases in strength and size as compared to the same level of males at the same competitive level?
I know this long, but the tldr is larger bones means more total space for muscle and improved leverages. There isn't a sport I can think of that would not benefit from an increase in power output
@@skylervelez6877 You're conflating larger bones with higher bone density. Bone density is the density of bone mineral in your bone tissue. Having a high bone density does not give you larger or longer bones. The only thing I can find online about bone density in reference to sports is the risk of breaking bones or developing osteoporosis. I am well aware having longer bones is a benefit. Just look at how much taller professional athletes are than normal people, both men and women.
Also, I CAN think of many sports that would not benefit from increased power output. Archery, horse riding, skiing, gymnastics, skating, sailing, shooting, most winter sports really, curling and diving to name a few.
Even then, plenty of sports that theoretically could benefit from an extra bit of power really wouldn't. Take tennis for example. If doing good at tennis scaled with strength, high level tennis players would be incredibly stacked, when actually they tend to be really lean so they can be more agile. Having more muscle may actually be a disadvantage as it would take longer to accelerate in split moment dashes for the ball.
Although trans women lose a lot of their strength when they take HRT, they do remain very slightly above the average woman. Despite this, if both parties agree to participate, there is absolutely no reason they should not be allowed to play. If someone doesn't want to play sports, just don't. In competitive settings, if it's something purely strength related, like power lifting or wrestling or swimming or something equally boring, maybe there should be a requirement for like a year of HRT maybe? But do remember that sports has never been fair. Plenty of genetic factors give athletes insane advantages, I mean have you seen Michael Phelps? He's half man half fish. Guy has so many genetic abnormalities it's insane he's categorised as a mammal.
Thank you Sara and thank you Ajay. I can have a hard time expressing myself over a chat box, but I did want to say thank you. This is important, informational… lifesaving. I’m 22 and starting crying when she advised self love. I was singled out when I was abused by my “loved ones” because I didn’t express my assigned sex at birth. I constant thought of death and how it doesn’t discriminate, I found comfort in it. Like Sara said, I always knew. Around 2 years ago I stopped talking to my abusers, 2 months later I came out as a gender non-conforming person. I have NEVER been happier! Our stories do matter, thank you again Sara and Ajay✌🏽&🫶🏽
🫂
You are a walking miracle and we are all blessed that you are here ❤
@@sarasassboss Thank you and likewise!🥹 I also wanna say you and your family are beautiful! So happy to see them having such a strong(& kind) mama guide them:)
@@trinityabrego Thank you they are my everything ❤
@@UseYourBrain-bh5zn Why do you say that?
Ajay, thank you so much for you advocacy and support for the lgbt+ community and for trans people specifically-
I'm so thankful that we have you and others supporting us- it brings me hope that I'm going to grow up to a world where people may be able to accept me.
I was gonna comment after a couple minutes, but I decided to wait and hear her out, and yeah I don’t really know what I believe anymore. Unlike many pro-trans campaigns and videos and stuff this was actually very thoughtful and made me think. Thank you for this video it was very insightful
Sara is an amazingly kind person! We're going different ways but I so relate to her story. I'm a Russian trans guy nearing my mid 20s and just came out. Apparently my mother is a transmedicalist. At the exact day of that realisation I found out that there's a law being pushed through the government that will essentially ban doctors from providing trans specific healthcare. It's so wierdly uplifting to see a trans person over 30 years in age talk about their situation and show that they were able to thrive despite the circumstances.
Seeing Squid being a proper ally is also nice as hell. Good on you for not only realising that being a transphobe wasn't the way to go but actually deciding to uplift the voices that need to be heard.
I honestly don't care about motorcycles but I'm more than excited to learn more from such a respectable fellow.
My condolences. Its just a shame how much nature can fuck you over in so many ways. I hope things go well for you my dude
I was raised in a hard right evangelical family and the trans community in sports was the last opinion I had that hadn’t shifted from a right wing to a left wing perspective and stories like hers really helped move that opinion to where it should be. The trick to everything has been empathy for people and I think a lack of empathy is what’s holding most people lack on this subject.
Edit: spelling mistake
I have empathy for trans people. But I also have empathy for female athletes who want to compete in leagues that have always existed as protected spaces for female athletes.
I'm sure it sucks for the approximately 1% of the population who is trans, but it's pretty hard to justify making things suck for the approximately 50% of the population who is female instead.
That's kind of what I found it's been for me. Once I learned to see things from other people's perspective, the world got a hell of a lot more complicated, but I'd say it's worth it.
@@akisatsuki8444 - Yes, I watched the video. I just don't fold on my beliefs because I see someone crying. "Women's" divisions exist so that people born female don't have to compete against people born male. Just because the semantics around the word "woman" have changed doesn't change that purpose... If you don't think people born female need to be protected from competing in sport against people born male, then let's just eliminate "Women's" leagues entirely, and let everyone compete in an open league.
That's the problem here. Either people born female, which is what "woman" always referred to in common parlance until maybe 10 years ago, need a separate league or they don't. So either leave them the one's they have if they do, or eliminate them, and accept that almost no one born female will ever get to play high level sports after puberty kicks in.
The lady the video is about literally said, "I'll play in the men's league. Because I just love the sport.", and either that, or a league for trans people is the correct answer. It sucks that being trans is hard, and playing in the Men's/Open league will put them at a disadvantage. But that makes a lot more sense (50x more you might say) than putting 50x more people who were born female at a disadvantage by letting them compete in the "Women's" league... Ultimately, this type of thing always boils down to moral calculus. This is just a trolley problem, with 50x more people on one track. The when the individual suffering is equivalent, you make the smaller number of people suffer.
@@JCPRuckus Most of the time this "advantage" doesn't make a difference, but there are cases when it does. AJ actually does suggest segregating sports in ways that pertain to the sports themselves, not merely by sex - this ensures that not only are trans women not exercising their "advantage" over cis women, but tall women aren't exercising an advantage over shorter women and stronger women aren't exercising an advantage over women who might not be built the same way, etc. Who knows, maybe this will encourage further equality between the genders. :)
@@akisatsuki8444 - That's a terrible idea. If the choices are no separate leagues and essentially infinite separate leagues (because there is no limiting principle to the ways you can subdivide physical traits) then the answer is one open league (not literally one, but rather *only* open leagues).
I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to get me to endorse some arbitrary division so that you can say, "Well if you're okay with that arbitrary division, then you should accept an arbitrary division that let's trans women compete against athletes who were born female". But here's the thing, just because two things are both to some extent arbitrary, doesn't mean that they are equally arbitrary. And the reality is that there is generally some supporting logic behind the separate divisions that already exist, because consideration has been given to how to balance physical variation vs "fairness". On the other hand, there is no logic to sorting by gender, because the very recognition of trans athletes is a recognition that gender and physical traits are not indicative of each other. So gender is an irrelevant consideration in terms of sport, which is why I keep putting "Women's" in quotes and referring to athletes who were born female. Because there is a logic to a male/female split in sport (in most cases), but not a gender split (in most cases).
I mean, of course, private citizens can create sports leagues with whatever divisions they like, based on whatever logic (or lack thereof) they wish. But I imagine you'll find that in the vast majority of situations people will reject any league that pits similarly sized male and female athletes against one another in a bid for the brand of "fairness" you suggest. Because almost nobody wants that except people who what to see females get rolled over out of morbid curiosity, and people who don't care if females get rolled over in the name of trans inclusion. You basically only share your position with people who want to enjoy watching female athletes "get put in their place" and embarrassed by male athletes. And that's not an unproblematic place to be, even if you get there by trying to be unproblematic in a different way.
As someone who has been back and forth. Even starting hormones and then stopping a few years back. I have not continued transitioning because of the social aspects. However, there is rarely a day that i do not think about it and think about just being a woman. Hearing Sara talk about her past and the many thoughts she had, especially about when being intimate, were exactly 1 to 1 of my thoughts constantly. I know i am trans and i have been comfortable for years identifying as non-binary until i am ready for hormones, but the reality is that I fear to social transition. It was so much hell when i came out as liking men and i lost so so many friends from that. The thought of doing that again but with more intensity feels overwhelming. So thank you Sara for stepping up when you could have tried to continue to be stealth. You are an inspiration for being trans and that there could be a place for me in competitive sports. I just learned how to play pickle ball two weeks ago and i am hooked.
So you are saying I should try pickleball
I say go for it it is scary and you should take your time but like all big events in your life you'll have the courage to go thru with it. I hope your able to find a good time and place to embrace yourself as who you are and to transition and be happy. Hoping for the best, thoughts and prayers. 🙏🏽 👍🏽 ❤
yeah . . . it's terrifying, and a lot of it sucks, but for me it's been so incredibly worth it. I don't know your life, and i certainly can't say "do it" or "don't do it", but if that's what you want i hope you can someday
myself, i reached a point where i just couldn't **not** come out any more. No matter the consequences, i knew i wanted it so badly i'd risk everything in return. All in all things weren't so bad for me - i lost a few friends, but gained a lot more. My life has gotten so much more challenging, but it's easier to handle than hiding, and i wouldn't trade my transition for the world
but everyone's life is different, and you know better than anyone what you need to do to get by. Take care of yourself, stay safe, and good luck friend 🏳⚧
Your happiness is the only thing that matters. If you lose friends due to being honest and living authentically, they weren't ever your friends to begin with. Find people who can actually understand and listen to you: friends, family, therapists, lgbt groups/clubs, and especially other trans people. I'm not going to tell you what to do. People will always make our lives harder just because they can. And it isn't easy, especially not now. But if it's something you want to fight for know that it's worth it.
anti-trans love to point to detransitioning as proof it's a bad idea, completely failing to acknowledge that THEY are the reason for it. i hope you find your happiness, whatever that ends up being ❤️
All I'm saying is that Michael Phelps has a biological advantage over his competition, but he's allowed to compete with them.
Then why do men and women even compete seperately in the first place?
@thomme8539 Well because historically men got violent and rude to women who competed against them. I think gendered sports are dumb, to be fair, it shouldn't be that hard to respect someone who's better at a sport than you.
He's competing in the open division. He's not competing in the master's division with old people. Or in the children's division.
@@hilariousactually
If you actually believe that, you're insane. You're totally out of touch with the real world. Men and women have always played sports together. And they are playing sports together now. But in competitions there is women's categories, because being biologically female is a handicap. Just like there is weight categories, age categories, etc.
My dude you are quickly becoming my absolute favorite #1 guy on this site. Great video. Thank you for all of this.
the slight bitterness towards being below 6ft is so relatable 😂
Be happy that there are more and more trans guys out there in the world. Us short kings (I'm 5'5") make all you middling height cis guys look taller!
@@CorwinFound who are you calling cis??
no way you mean me 😂😂😂
@@babs_babs Sorry! Cis-normativity strikes even the best of transes sometimes.
@@CorwinFound lmao no worries man
happy pride 🩷🩵🤍🩵🩷
@@CorwinFound But you're also subtracted from available females, so that balances out.
And yet, as a trans man they would want me to be in women’s sports, in which i would have an advantage because i am literally injecting testosterone into my body and gaining more muscle mass than I would be otherwise. Yet they don’t talk about that, they only focus on trans women in sports. Anyways, thank you for this video. You’re openness and active ally ship means the most right now ❤
Yeah cause biological men are at an advanatge. Since transmen are biological women with a boost from testoterone, they would be at an advantage aginst women but disadvantaged aginst men. So, since you went through with procedure you are the one who has to take on the burdon of being at a disadvantage, not everyone else. So transmen have to compete aginst men. Nobody had a problem with that. It's about transwomen being at an advatage
@@CJT49 so it isn’t about it being fair.
It’s just exclusion.
You’re half way there, I believe in you!
No they don't mention transmen because your not affecting mens sport at all. Your not endangering men, your not taking places from men and your not breaking mens records. Also transmen don't want to be in womens sports anyway
They only focus on trans women in general, they don’t seem to even think trans men exist.
The big tell is that they always refer to transitioning as “castration out of weakness” or some bs but it begs the question, how do biological women get castrated?
@@brumtownmiller6130 trans women really are not affecting womens sport in any significant way at all, after hrt for a long time and so many tests to ensure fairness, it really is fair. Read studies, don't blindly trust twitter. Also transwomen don't want to be in mens sports anyway
Hey squid, i dont know if you are still reading comments, but if you are i want to thank you. Im a trans teenage girl who has a transphobic father and a mother that has still not referred to me as a woman. Almost every day of my life for the past several years has felt like a slow trudge to my own death, weather by other Americans that just had a bad day and dont like people like me, or by my own hands if i would be unable to take it one day. Only my close friends know that im a girl, and while i try to hide it and not care, every time i get called a boy or by my deadname, it hurts. My life has been boiled down to waiting until i get home so i can lock myself in my room and try to enjoy a small part of my day, hoping for a better future and dreaming of living a happy life on HRT. Recently thise hopes have started to fade, the USA is starting to stop letting adults get hormones now, and i worry that it might spread to Canada by the time im able to move there. So much hate and cruelty is aimed at people like me, when we just want to live. Sometimes i feel like we wont ever be able to be happy and that a majority of people want us dead. But then i go on discord or vrchat and see others being respectful to me and other trans people, just treating us like normal people. seeing things like this, a cis straight guy helping share saras story, just out of his sympathy for her, and those interactions. They give me some hope. A new generation of adults are going to be coming into power. A generation that acts like you. Thank you. I hope you have an incredible day/night.
Hey girl you should join my discord
I'm glad that you've found friends who believe in you, support you, and know you for who you really are. Having parents with their heads in their asses makes support like that even more important, and I really hope you're able to power through despite their bullshit. I'm not American so I don't have the full scope of what's going on there regarding trans healthcare and such, but I very much hope things work in your favour in the future with HRT and more people in your life who uplift you.
@@SlamDunkPyro it's gotten so bad in some places that people who had been taking hormones for yeard had their prescriptions canceled.
I send you love and support. I'm sorry people are ugly but know there is a world out there where people love you not despite who you are but because of who you are.❤
@LordLaureate womp womp
I needed this as in I needed to hear a story like Sarah's I don't have fancy words but I see so few stories of older trans people who have been through it and made it and I really needed to see something like this so thanks.
The mountains are worth the climb 🙌🏻
You know when SquidTips uploads a video about trans people, it’s about to be nothing but facts. Love ya, man
Facts? You do realize that it is impossible for a biological male to become a biological female? Hence, why the statement "transwomen are woman" is false.
@@jaws392 lmfao gender and sex are different dumbass
@@jaws392 shut up dude
@@jaws392what's the difference between gender and sex ?
@@aaronaaronsen3360 Sex is biological. Gender is societal stereotypes.
33:00 as an older trans man myself, completely agree. Life doesn't get easier when you love yourself, but how well you can withstand those storms really does. I remember growing up, I was a mess. Always putting myself in bad situations, not taking care of my body, destroying relationships because I wanted to be loved, but not as I was...life changes when you genuinely love yourself. I got sick less frequently, I got more energy to push my transition forward through all the bullshit, more people were willing to stay in my social circle after I came out to them...that energy improves you and uplifts all around you. It's hokey bullshit but as an elder tran, it's also the most real bullshit you'll ever experience.
A woman, is an adult human female, it is not an "identity" or a feeling, dress, attitude etc., that whole line of thinking is regressive in the extreme. Claiming there is some "essence" to "womanhood" that also males can access, but the reality is that women do not have to look or act any certain way, or act out some ludicrously sexist idea of the “social role of a woman”, all females who reach adulthood are women regardless of how they feel or look, and the one thing they ALL have in common, the one experience they ALL share, is that they are FEMALE, they do not have to "identify" as anything, they physically ARE women because they are female.
Why should MALES be allowed access to SINGLE-SEX spaces reserved for FEMALES based on their "gender identity"? If sex and gender are separate, then a male announcing his "gender identity" is "trans woman" does nothing to change their sex, they are still MALE - so why should they be afforded rights reserved for the opposite SEX? The movement is regressively sexist, and misogynistic.
Why do you believe females do not deserve any spaces free of males? What is hateful about upholding female sex-based rights that were fought long and hard for?
Believing sexist stereotypes define men and women, instead of their biological sex, is unquestionably sexist to the core, because you are saying men and women are not actually free to behave however they want but need to conform to these sexist stereotypes in order to be men or women - if you say no they don't have to act any sort of way as a man or woman, and being a man or woman has nothing to do with biology - then what are you describing by calling someone a man or woman? If you think it doesn't describe biology, and doesn't describe anything about their looks or behaviour, then what on earth are you basing defining anyone as a man or woman on??? Why would a man need to become a "trans woman" in order to be their "authentic selves", why can't they just be a very feminine man and dress/act however they want?
If trans ideology isn't sexist, then why would a man ever need to "transition" if either sex is completely free to act however they want? How can you claim to be opposing sexism when the whole basis for anyone feeling the need to transition, literally is sexism?
@ambientjohnny I appreciate your perspective, but I disagree with many of the assumptions and conclusions you have expressed.
Firstly, while it is true that the definition of "woman" can be rooted in biology and reproductive ability, it is reductive to suggest that this is the only factor that determines gender identity and expression. Many individuals may feel that their gender identity does not align with their biological sex, and this experience should be respected and validated.
Regarding the access to single-sex spaces, I believe there are valid concerns for the safety and comfort of both women and transgender individuals. While the physical characteristics and biology of an individual cannot be changed, gender identity is a deeply personal experience that can impact every aspect of a person's life. To deny someone the right to access a space based on their gender identity can be harmful and discriminatory.
Furthermore, the idea that transgender individuals need to conform to sexist stereotypes in order to "transition" is a harmful and inaccurate assumption. Gender expression is not the same as gender identity, and individuals should be free to express themselves however they feel most comfortable, regardless of societal expectations.
At its core, the issue of gender identity and expression is complex and multifaceted, and I believe that it's important to approach these conversations with empathy and an openness to learning from the experiences and perspectives of others.
So where is the argument for transmen to compete in men’s sports? I don’t see it. You know why? Because there are clear advantages between men n women
@@JBurnz001No, It's most likely because there aren't enough trans men interested in sports, to remove them based on GAB
@JohnDoe-ly6bt Well, that depends on if they took HRT. Boxing is actually very skill based (more than many other sports), so they wouldn't have any form of unfair advantage.
Thank you so much to both of you! This means a lot to me.
Thanks to yall for creating a positive perspective of trans athletes. It means a lot.
Thank you AJ for being an ally.
I have just started racing my motorcycle as an amateur. I have a track prepared CBR250R, and I’m racing against other women, both in the 350 cc super sport class, and in the female only Ultra Light Weight class. I’ve experienced nothing but acceptance and encouragement as the races are all about just riding.
Today I learned that pickle ball is apparently a thing. Stay strong Sara. We love you.
I’m interested to see what you have to say. I’m generally very pro trans rights but this one has always seemed a little too problematic for me. Very open to being proven wrong though! Hope you make a good case
yep same, i always juggle in my brain how to make it fair vs not hurting anyone
Same here!
@@ObjectivelyCorrect The main issue with this conversation is that "not hurting people" is impossible. Either transwomen get hurt or ciswomen get hurt, but even so, both groups will also inevitably get hurt because that's kinda the thing about sports in general. A lot of athletes never even become pros, or they face a lot of losses.
Frankly, I can never worry about who's hurt in sports because then I'd be worrying about literally everyone in sports all the time. However, what I can do is worry about accessibility to opportunities. For transpeople, that means being able to compete in the category that offers closest to the opportunities that most people are granted, which usually means letting them participate with their gender identity if they want to. Most of the time, ciswomen don't actually miss any opportunities, unlike transwomen who would lose them if they participated with their sex assigned at birth.
However, that's just me. Unfortunately I can't make everyone desire that transpeople have the best opportunities.
@@ObjectivelyCorrect the hrt requirement generally would keep things fair as muscle mass and even bone density change on hrt.
@@xangelmoonx Very well said, especially in smaller leagues like pickle ball or highschool soccer etc the small differences in statistical physical advantage don't matter as much as the purpose of sports to build community and health. We should have a human first approach that allows as many people as much opportunity as possible to be a part of their community. Those small statistical advantages can also be filtered out on a case by case basis, even for cis/intersex people.
Even at the highest possible level though hormones also affect cis people. For example, the story of the athlete Caster Semenya who is a cis woman that was born with a sex mutation that caused her to produce high levels of testosterone and thus gave her an advantage in her specific field (running). This is why the Olympic board committees are putting forth hormone brackets for the top level of athletics, none of shit really matters for sports that aren't Olympic level or aren't specifically things like track and field or football where larger frames and lung capacity matter (side-effects of high testosterone male puberty).
Pro-longed use of estrogen severely affects your muscle mass and gain; and there is noone on this planet that would transition simply to participate in local sports lol and at a base level everyone deserves to be treated with respect and humanity.
Thank you for sharing Sara's story and also for being you. Sara's story has an eerie amount of overlap with my own, so it really resonated with me. I've met a lot of other trans women in my travels but none with a timeline that similar to mine. It was kind of crazy.
❤
Nice job cheering on a cheater. Your movement is dying.
@@jaws392 Sorry, what movement are we referring to?
@@CERELEN What I mean is how the trans community are acting like a bunch of bullies after realizing the vast majority of society disagrees with their beliefs.
Know how I know that? Look at the comment section under any video (that does not have a bias) discussing trans sports and read some of the comments. The VAST majority of people think male to female trans athletes are cheaters. That's reality.
@@jaws392 Man I love it when my right to exist is a political ideology and not just a given fact of life. Stfu, learn empathy.
Great video, on a really important topic.
Love that you're using your platform to highlight this and other things LGBTQ related.
It's increasingly making me consider how to go about expressing myself more while still riding a motorcycle. As a very male presenting non-binary person, who usually ride in full or almost full gear (mostly leather to go with a cruiser adjacent look), it's kind of been annoying me how masculine coded I usually end up looking. While I do enjoy expressing myself like that occasionally, I'm now looking up and experimenting with the logistics of riding in skirts/dresses. I consider this my femme cruiser squid journey. It's maybe a bit tangential to the video, but I just wanted to thank you for your channel further inspiring me to go through with it.
Hi AJ, fellow ally here (or as I like to call myself, 'collaborator' - HT Jessie Gender). I just wanna say that I'd love to see more long-form ally content from you. You handle the subject with such grace, and every second is informative *and* enjoyable.
You seem like a truly good human, and I thank you for it.
thank you so much dude, started watching with the "why I'm a trans ally" video, and have loved what you do ever since, thank you for giving us a voice, we need more people like you in this world.
was not originally interested in motorcycles, but might pick it up some time now, you've had some great arguments for why they improve society.
anyways, love you dude, you're the best.
I really respect Sara for telling her truth and putting a real, honest, relatable refutation to this manufactured fear narrative around trans people in sports (or just trans people existing). But honestly, I can't get past how humiliating it would be to have to expose my entire personal, private, sexual feelings to the very people who seek to destroy me in the hopes of not having my rights stripped from me. Sara shouldn't have to tell us JACKSHIT. But there are down right insidious people out there spreading lies and hate and fear to the point where people like Sara have to sit down, turn a camera on, and say "Actually, No, I am a person, and to prove it I'm going to tell the world my deepest most personal truths, no matter how private they are."
Sara, I send you blessings, and I'm so sorry the world is in such a sorry state that you even had to make these clips. You are an inspiration.
(Edited to spell her name correctly 😅)
I felt something inside calling me to share. I really hope my vulnerability here has some sort of positive impact. If even just for 1 person then it's worth it 🙏🏻❤
@@sarasassboss I’m glad you feel that way! I hope we move in a direction as a world where your love of your sport and kindness of spirit is all that matters. Thank you for your advocacy and your story, I really do think it will help people understand. Trans Liberation Now! 🏳️⚧️ ❤
It's so tough. Even if they make it fair for all. When a trans athlete succeeds, they will get diminishing comments on their achievement. Nothing but harassment. Will probably discourage them. Maybe end up not taking part in the first place.
How many trans women athletes are there anyway? Very few.
It's all a distraction. These people are killing themselves at alarming rates. In a world that feels like no one cares.
This!
The main thing that highlighted to me how silly this "debate" has become was the UK snooker organisation banning trans women for having qn advantage in snooker fucking snooker and to top it off no trans woman was even playing snooker at a high level.
AJ covered this near the first part of his video when he was criticising the motives of the hate group that outed Sara. They don't care about women's rights, they only care about hurting trans people. He said to think about the difference between the number of cis women that get prevented from playing sport because they have to compete with trans women versus the number of cis women whose sport career is harmed because they get pregnant. But this "women in sport" group doesn't give a damn about cis women having access to safe abortion.
Trans guy here. First point... most of the whole trans athletes crap is just that. Crap. People would far prefer to debate (either side) whether or not 0.01% of the population is allowed to compete in elite sport rather than discuss the real, growing, and daily physical, social, financial and political hardship that millions of trans people experience daily. (Made up statistic on how much of the general population is an elite level trans feminine athlete competing in women's sport. But it is a tiny tiny tiny number.)
My other point is backing up your comment on how many trans women athletes are there anyways. Here is a thought. The Olympics has allowed trans feminine athletes since 2005 under pretty strict requirements. In almost 20 years literally thousands of Olympic medals have been handed out. Based purely on demographics, allowing that trans people make up about 1-2% of the population, we should have seen 20 to 50+ trans women with medals around their necks. Far more if trans women really do have a significant advantage over cis women. *There has not been even one.* Exactly zero trans women competing in women's events have won any medals.
The question should now be, where are all the trans athletes? What is it about being trans that so greatly reduces your chance to succeed in sport? I could posit any number of hypotheses but it seems that few people are even asking the question, let alone trying to answer it.
This.
It will always be about their trans identity, and never about their own achievements. It's not "this athelete achieved after training well", its "well obviously they won, they're trans so they have an advantage", even if that's not remotely true. There was a trans woman who placed something like 6000 in a marathon and transphobes lost their fucking minds because some women placed lower than 6000 and therefore, trans woman had BiOlOgIcAl AdVaNtAgEs, and yet no mention of the 6000 women who did better and achieved higher than this trans athlete.
Plus transphoboes freaking out over a 'trans person' constantly winning their wrestling matches. What they fail to highlight is that this athlete is a trans man forced to compete in womens matches because they won't let him participate in the mens ones. Literally holding him back from mens sports then whining that he dare win in 'womens spaces'. Can't make up their fucking mind.
Exactly. I used to back-squat 350, clean 200. Now I struggle carrying big boxes 😂 I’m still extremely physically active and fit, though I never was a sports player, but I would get truly obliterated in any male competitions.
In high school/college stuff I participated, I usually placed 2-4th in competitive stuff. Always below the true athletes, but well above the level of everybody else, I had the gift, I just felt like an outcast in men’s sports and didn’t know why. I transitioned at the end of my 2nd year into college. I still participated in events with males, partially because there weren’t a lot of women’s events, but mostly because I was literally afraid of being harassed or attacked for participating in one. Guess what happened to me? The only thing that changed were the hormones in my body. 5 months HRT, September rolls around again, I go to play in sports… I’m a fraction as skilled as I was before. I’m always lagging at the bottom, I’m one of the worst players, even losing to guys with no skill or athletic ability, people I would have absolutely crushed just 6 months earlier. I have the technical skills, I have the coordination, speed, strategy, teamwork, focus, I’m still the same very competitive person I was before but… I was a woman. I stood absolutely zero chance against men. And that was just after 5 months!
My transition was faster than most, to be fair, I fully passed at 1 year, but imagine what it’s like for a person 9 years post HRT, and especially with the 10 nmol/ml of Testosterone in your blood rule that most sports organizations have (because let me tell you, my T didn’t dip below 30 until much, MUCH later, even taking lots of T-blockers. If I’d have been forced to medically monitor it, getting blood drawn regularly and having to keep it at extremely low levels, because even by cis women standards, many women are over 10 nmol/ml, it would have killed me (ok, maybe not literally, but) I was already losing badly to men, and I didn’t even meet *1,* *Not 1* of the medical criteria for participation in women’s competitive sports.
Thank you thank you thank you so much for this. It super touched me how you understand the trust trans people have to put in someone to tell their story without it turning dangerous for them. Sara seems a beautiful person (inside and out) and getting to hear her story was lovely - it always amazes me how similar our stories of our pasts are.
❤❤❤
I’m waiting for someone who disagrees to say something actually smart in the comments, I think I’ll be waiting forever. great video
I'm a 30 year old transwoman(HRT for 5 years) and i've had very similar experiences growing up to what Sara described. But I grew up in a conservative southern town, i had to hide being feminine at a young age to prevent getting bullied more than i already had.. Going through puberty were probably the worst moments of my life. I wanted to play sports sooo badly. But i couldnt bring myself to join the boy's sports... i wanted to play softball and basketball with the other girls. My childhood really was hell, knowing that i was changing into a man and couldnt like the things that i liked because i'd get bullied or beat up. As soon as i found out there were others like me, i immediately came out as trans openly to the world but i was instantly shunned to the point of it being difficult to go outside or to find employment. I didnt expect so many people (that were once polite to me) to hate me like this. I wish i could find the courage to be my authentic self without worries of being treated badly by others. I wish i could get some light FFS someday. But i cant seem to even get out of this town. i have $2 to my name and nobody will hire me lol. My parents are pretty against my transition as well and tell me its just a waste of time. I guess all im saying is that i wish all of this prejudice towards Transgender people would stop. It's so bad in the South. People have screamed slurs at me and and hit me in public(even infront of cops a few times) with no repercussions just because im trans.
I just wish life was more fair.
You're gorgeous
@@queen4life676 thankyou so much 🥰
Loved your video! I will definitely be sharing this with peeps!
Her story of transitioning really resonates with me and honestly almost made me cry
What a special channel! I love seeing pro-trans videos come from a straight white male biker! Like, I NEVER thought that would be a possible sentence!
Sara is such a strong woman and human being, i absolutely hate the online space where this shit goes down its so draining and depressing to see these things. i hope for nothing but freedom and joy to come her way, atleast some sort of peace.
Thank you 🙏🏻❤
This was a fantastic video, hats off to you and Sara. As a cisgendered guy, this video was great to better my understanding transgender existence. Your content is great man, keep it up!
I'm just feeling so lucky to have people like Sara in the world who have already gone through everything for us. I wouldn't be able to ever achieve self-love if I hadn't seen how people like me have been able to achieve it. I thank you so much for bringing this story to the forefront, I am forever grateful. And yes you have convinced me that women belong in women's sports.
as a former athlete who is is currently undergoing HRT, there's not a single chance i can perform close to what i used to. i cant run a sub 5 minute mile, i cant run a 10 second 100 meter dash. going on estrogen makes you lose so much of your muscle and endurance, and normies dont really understand that. also, the fastest mile when i was in high school wasw ran by a girl. your gender doesnt give you an advantage unless its literally dick having contest.
You are just denying science if you say it doesn't give you an advantage, sure it does make you weaker than you were but that doesn't change the fact that you are just effectively a weaker man afterwards.
Then why are almost all sports world records held by men? Why are 15 year old boys sprint times faster than or as fast as grown womens Olympics records. Also why is it that a lot of trans women in sports are champions and world record holders even tho they make up such a small percentage of competitors and that no trans men are dominating mens sport?
@@brumtownmiller6130 name all the trans women who are champions in women’s sports.
@@th0tp0lice666 lia Thomas, swimmer, Austin killps, Austin bridges, Tara seplavy and Rachel mackintosh in cycling, anne andres, mart Gregory and laurel hubbad in weight lifting, hannah mouncey in handball. Thats just some and just at the semi and elite level, lower levels there's more
@@brumtownmiller6130 bet you anything there won’t be a response to that
i'm now binging your content lol, things are getting scary for trans people, and sarah's story was so touching, these videos are so important
Glad you made this. A basically identical thing recently happened in Disc Golf. It’s nice to see true support for the community outside of the typical “lanes”. Thanks man ❤
Any links to the disc golf thing?
I’ll be honest I’ve just been following it in shorts/TikTok. th-cam.com/video/41jd5I5gf9A/w-d-xo.html here’s a random link that seems not to just be a straight up hate channel. But yea basically they (the PGDA) banned her from competing in the women’s divisions because she’s Trans gender.
Obviously this was done with rules, policy and lawyers but just because it’s sophisticated banning doesn’t mean it’s not just a straight up ban.
@@Viral9 trans women are women. Full stop. Natalie can and should be able to play in the women's league. I don't care what kind of waves you think it makes. Trans people exist and have always existed. Separate but equal was done before the civil rights movement and look how good of an idea that was.
@@Viral9 You have not studied biology since you went to highschool. Her performance is in line with other female athletes. She does not have an advantage or we'd see that on the course. You are not protecting women. You are alienating people who ARE women from women's sports. Maybe like idk read a book on the topic. She does not have any advantage that you can prove.
Trans women fought for women suffrage. Trans men and women fought for Gay Marriage a decade ago. Trans men and women worked to save lives during the aids crisis. Yes I do think our society should work in a way that they also can compete in the sports leagues that match their desires and ability. Natalie is a woman, performs like a woman, and obviously isn't out there trying to cheat. Her denial from that league is purely because some people out here like you just don't understand what the fuck you are talking about. And you can take your 1% bullshit and fuck right on off with that. Are you saying that millions of people don't have a right to exist unhampered by society just like you probably have? If not you should maybe look at yourself in the mirror my guy and ask "why am I on the same side of this argument as literal nazis?" 🦑 until then I don't give a fuck any more. I will bash your dumb opinion openly and in public. Trans women ARE WOMEN. And you should be ashamed of yourself.
It's crazy to me how you've gone from dudebro motorcycle content to stuff like this.
You're awesome. c:
I am transgender and lately I been playing table tennis. A fun fact is that in the Olympics there was mixed double tournament of table tennis.
Cue transphobes arguing that men have a biological advantage in table tennis lmao.
@@TheVibes101 you joke but they are arguing that trans people have an advantage in E sports right now
no I am not joking ...
@@reform-revolution Oh no.
@@reform-revolution i think they are saying men/boys have faster reflexes and more fast twitch muscle fibres that give them an advantage?!
I tried really hard to be straight/not-LGBT, too. It just wasn't something I could shake. It's wild how it feels to really find yourself, and yet be absolutely terrified to look yourself in the eye and just be you. Hearing all of this and having a special trans individual whom I love so much makes me also want to give you hugs too AJ. I remember having my first non-straight romantic relationship and it was super sh***y, but it felt so bone-rattlingly right. My heart felt like how happy a dog is when after being cooped up in a cage for so long immediately gets the zoomies and stretches it's legs and just loves the moment and themselves.
YOU’RE SO REAL FOR THIS
You are the goat for using your platform to spread love ❤️
aj you are so real for this one
a lot of times it feels like cis people only wanna listen to other cis people about trans issues (at least where i live) which sucks, but this video and others like it is actually giving me like, a Cis Voice Source™️ for me to hand out on flyers lmao. i love your take on this and i appreciate your allyship so much. the fact that it isnt just passive virtue signally bs laden with a bunch of casual transphobia is just... so refreshing. seriously. i hear so much of that from "allies" lmao. i totally love your channel and your active and forward advocacy and allyship to people like me makes me feel just a bit less angry at the world... much love from a random trans dude on the internet, bro
I have heard so many similar stories, and seen them go in both directions, good and bad. Great video! And she is awesome!
❤
It's so sad that right now, people still prefer listening to straight white men even about issues that least concern them, but we appreciate you advocating for us to the people who would rather listen to you. Here's to hoping for a future where this won't be necessary anymore.
The best solution I have heard for this is instituting the weight classes used in boxing into any other appropriate forms in other sports. Thanks to Suris on TH-cam for that one. Strictly sex-separated sports are a deeply flawed shorthand. Cis women in track and field who have been found with too high testosterone naturally were not therefore moved to the men's team. They just couldn't play.
Also, key point, I must sarcastically remark that it is VERY empowering to say that all it means to be a woman is how she is born. Lol. Edited for typo.
Sara’s story is so amazing. I feel so bad for her, her struggles were so avoidable if she had a lot of the resources we have now.
Truly a courageous woman, I’m so proud of her and her story.
I used to be a little mouthpiece for my homophobic transphobic racist parents and I am now a pansexual demisexual leftist. I just want to put more love in the world than the hate that I previously put it
wtf, im sorry but there are only 2 genders and 4 sexualitys. you are just labeling yourself at this point
This is the kind of video I was looking for. Thanks. =)
thank u for posting this, I'm not a transphobe myself but I always saw the sport space with trans people as a different picture and after this video I can say, that trans people belong everywhere they want, also one more thing that I'm interested about,
I have 4 trans friends in my art class, they don't let them take pills or do anything to become trans , we went on a trip, i was in a room with my friend that was trans and I fully comfortable with him, and we where only 2 in the room, my other guy friend not coming so it was just me and him, Everyone was kinda mad and kinda happy at the same time, cause we didn't know if they would let him be in the boys room which lucky turned out good but the other trans people they didn't let cause they looked more feminine, they all did the same thing, dressed like boys talked like boys all the stuff, but just because one had less of the feminine side they let into my room, It was kind of weird cause i was the only one mad about it, the other already predicted it
all this story comes to this
I had a talk with this girl once
She came out really transphobic and I tried my best to change her mind and she told me a story Im this kinda confused about
it was about a trans girl in her highschool that tried to get into there lockers and, the trans girl looked very manly, they didn't let her in, I believe that most trans people in highschool are regular to not being respected by the school it self, only other school mates showing more respect,
idk where I was going with all of this
maybe how the law and schools treat trans people
now personal stuff
I believe that all transphobic people haven't talked to a trans person in there life and if they got to know one they would probably stop being transphobic, idk I find at least all the trans people that I have meet to be way more knowledgeable about life
just wish stuff could be different
this comment section gives me hope and I love all the love here! Love yourselves! It feels good to see so much love and support and empathy and everyone getting what you're going through
It means a lot that you are sharing somebody's story like this. As a trans athlete it warms my heart to see her passion, dedication, and love for pickle ball. Luckily I've never had to face any backlash for competing in sports, I'm in a very privileged position as a trans man who doesnt get clocked, but I believe it's so incredibly important to make sports as accessible as possible to anybody. I'm glad to hear about Sara's joy and resilience.
The way she felt as a kid is so relatable!
It’s pretty much identical to mine.
I’ve known for as long as I can remember that there’s something wrong with me.
I was VERY feminine, gentle and quiet as a kid. I only had girl friends and could never relate to boys.
The only time I was truly happy was when I played with Barbies, wore girl’s clothes, pretended to have long hair, and was accepted as one of the girls, etc…
When puberty hit, I was forced to be someone I wasn’t.
I was shamed whenever my real personality accidentally slipped out.
I’ve now transitioned, and I feel so much more comfortable in my body.
This is also why it is common for Trans people to be quite “childish”; because they’re trying to relive the childhood they wanted but couldn’t have. Have the bedroom they always wanted but couldn’t have.
Thanks AJ , for raising awareness of Sara’s Story, and the Absolutely dark Truths, LGBTQueer Athletes have been and are still dealing with to Date❤
Hope to hear and view more of these in the Future too? ❤
Not american, so ive not got much knowledge on this. What exactly do trans athletes deal with? All ive seen are males participating in female sports, and winning, unsurprisingly.
@@Bayen737 Maybe this time actually watch the video😊
@@kayalool3451 i did, and all i heard was about this transwomans backstory. And i also heard about how he was too short to compete with tall athletes. Um guess what? So? Whats your point? Theres a reason why im asking this question. Its because i watched the video, and i dont understand. So please answer me if you can, or dont. Thats all i want, theres no hate against transpeople here. I couldnt care less if youre a transwoman with a buldge, id say thats pretty kinky. But i dont get what this video is telling me.
@oraoraoora8797 The difference is that short people aren't harassed by thousands of people for playing a sport. Also, the advantages trans women have over cis women do decrease after 1 and half yrs on hrt.
@@kayalool3451 to address the first part of your reply: theres no minimum or maximum bar to participate in sports. there are only rules that prohibit drug intake or gender segregation. it doesnt matter if youre tall or short, if you can win, good for you. why would short people be targeted etted for playing a sport? Lionel Messi plays football, and hes one of the best players in the world. so is your point that being shorter doesnt get any hate because the shorter player isnt ruining the balance of the sport, and that males participating in female sports get hate because they bring an unfair balance to the sport. is that what youre trying to say? let me ask you this, even as a guy, im embarrassed to see some 6 foot giant swimming against females. if you were a girl, wouldnt you feel even more upset knowing some transwoman whos gone through male puberty, has higher bone density, more muscle growth, competes with other girls? Hello?
>Short people dont ruin sports by bringing an unfair balance, because they are below the average bar of players, and use wits and skill to rise above it
>Males bring unfair balance to female sports and ruin them because they are biologically stronger, faster, and have better endurance than females. get a random female and a random male to arm wrestle, or get them to wrestle on the floor and see who wins.
Lastly, just take a look at thomas, she is a mammoth of a swimmer with an chest span thats twice as wide as a females. theres a reason why there are differences and segregation between male sports and female sports. watch videos of males playing football, basketball, running, swimming, wrestling, against females. the girls almost never win unless theyre playing against handicaps or 11 year olds.
This youtuber doesnt address the issue by giving scientific statistics that can mitigate the unfairness caused by transathletes, he just lets sara talk about the hate she faced and the bad childhood she had. its rambling and a waste of time to watch. im not against debate, so hit me with your best rebuttal.
Thanks for making videos about this. Means a lot to me as someone who is trying to educate myself.
I haven't seen many creators approach the subject of trans women in sports so I'm glad you've put out this video. Great work, let's debunk some transphobes on the internet and have some good discussions! 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
🙌🏻
Is everyone who thinks that trans women shouldn’t compete in the women’s divisions of sport a transphobe?
I always argued that separating sports by gender is stupid anyway. Considering biological differences take place in literally every level of sport regardless. So to make it less controversial I always thought we could come up with a different system of separation entirely that's inclusive and fair
So you think full grown men should be able to fight with women?
@@Auden. Assuming they had similar capabilities. Yes.
@@Cakeses I'm sorry but thats just fucking dumb.
@@Auden. interesting that you didn’t describe the women as “full grown”
@@Cakeses so you think a man and woman of the same height and weight are physically equal? Then why are all strength and speed records are held by men?
I will agree with you if you can name one trans person competing in high level male sport.
Believe me about what? Watch the video before commenting
I can name you one, me
I do understand you so much. Transitioning was my way to start to self heal. @SoSara you got big KuDos from me. Respect and love from Switzerland.
As it's always said:
Idiots tend to act on feelings rather than the truth.
Everybody telling their story, I am a 67 year old white man, chronologically and visually. I was raised to be open minded about humans, and will always thank my parents to have raised me so. People are people; give your fellow humans that!! Allow them to be who they are, not who you think they ought to be. Even if they're your kids. I never had any kids, and that breaks my heart and hurts my soul. I love the promise that is young people, they are our only hope. Treat kids, (and frikkin' everybody!!!) with respect, and objectivity.
You may know a person now, today, but you have no idea what trauma they may have experienced in their past. Leave them be. Only kindness and patience make progress, NOT hate and cruelty and exclusion. I don't even have a GF, and just got some cool frisbee's. Bowling, or Bocce, or juggling, skateboarding, surfing, speed typing.....there are tons of sports that would make no difference the gender of the player!! LOVE is in SHORT SUPPLY, as is compassion and empathy and patience and understanding. And it doesn't cost a thing. Life is very short, as it is. Life shouldn't have to suck.
I feel like you having conversations with people, especially younger men, could make a difference in a lot of people's lives. even if you don't have children, both your empathy and open mindedness combined with the loneliness, confusion, and frustration of a lot of young men these days could help make an impact, you don't need biological kids to help guide youth !!!
You're again missing the point entirely. No one says that males and females can't play sport together casually. The issue is whether there should be women's categories in competitions that are about biological sex. Everyone is already playing sports with everyone else outside of competitions.
Honestly im kinda glad i heard her story it kinda caused me to have a mini awakening and just went through a rabbit hole about trans fem people and i realized i kinda resonated with alot of things they said if not all before they came out and well it made me realize kinda who i am and honestly thinking all this through is kinda terrifying and even though its scary it makes me feel brave too hopefully enough to where i can come out to my parents and start so thank you
Sarah you are so amazing. I am so happy you have peace and joy and its incredible
The best 🥰 Thank you ❤
The design of competitive Sports, unfortunately, may have been outdated to accommodate our society’s needs today.
Competitive sports was designed in a binary system. 50% for men, 50% for women. Never had a place for trans people - this is fact. And society as a whole, needs to fix that.
But how? Trans, men, women. Let’s work together to find a solution.
Love it
ok..i watched this video based purely on the title because i want to expose myself to the best argument in favour of trans competing in women's sports because i consider myself a logical person with an open mind, i don't just echo the mob.
well there is a lot of padding in this fairly long video ... essentially there are three main points relating to the video title, one is that the trans likes sports a lot ..community ect ect, another is that sports is elevates genetic differences even within the same sex and that each trans athlete should be considered on a case by case basis.
i don't disagree with any of this but i hope trans will be prepared for the word "no" to the case by case consideration and not turn a rejection into yet another you tube video.
for example lia thomas ...or in fact just about every trans athlete that ever swept the board or slashed the records would also be told "no".
one thing that we must bear in mind is that sports in its purest form is not about socialising ...it's about being the best and yes that includes your genetics, the woman's category was only brought in because women weren't getting a look in ...so when giving it the social argument just dont ...that's just like everyone in class getting a medal ...suddenly the competition loses all meaning when well to do people try to interfere.
‘Sports in its purest form is not about socializing’ is your opinion, not objective fact.
@@SquidTips well it wasn't originally about socialising .. rather its roots are in combat and military gaming, and then the ancient greeks were pitting themselves physically against each other with rules as a benchmark ...this wasn't a meet and greet exercise although i am sure there were a few flamboyants in the crowd who wish it was.
@SquidTips its about competition not acceptance
@@SquidTips wouldnt that also apply to this comment?
@@bepitan i don’t think it is really that important to uphold Greek values
trans woman here. I was on the high school cross country team, and was the worst person overall.
Skill issue
Man here. I was on the high school track team and my times would've put me second in the female category in the Olympics with hardly any training. Also my Triple Jump would've broken the Olympic record for females and I would've placed first at the most recent Olympics in Triple and Long jump. How on earth would it be fair to change my gender which has a Larger heart, greater lung capacity, greater muscle mass, more red blood cells and less body fat. Those things can't be changed and give biological men an unfair advantage over actual females which strips them of their records, sponsorships, and scholarships. I'm not opposed to them having a separate category or competing against their biological sex though.
Man here. I'd probably lose against trained women when it comes to speed. However, I'm 1,65m (roughly 5ft6") and particularly slow. A guy virtually "born for" running would probably outrun most women without even training much.
@@bradybeijes3232 Try going on HRT for five or more years and then join an Olympic level competition. The evidence suggests you'd get your ass handed to you.
There are really only around 40-100 transwomen athletes competing on a pro level, I wonder why we've only ever heard about like three of them? Maybe it's because they really aren't dominating and might, at best, be pretty okay or pretty decent.
Lia Thomas is an interesting case because everybody who argues against Transwomen competing haven't looked at her actual stats. I am going to drop a snippet I copied from an article I'll link.
"All statistics in this article are for "short course yards" races, meaning they were done in a 25-yard pool.
Ms Thomas won the women's 500 yard freestyle race in 4m 33.24s. She came fifth in the 200 yard race, with 1m 43.40s, and eighth in the 100 yard race with 48.40s.
These were impressive results, but they weren't record-breaking. Though the overall competition saw 27 all-time NCAA records broken, Ms Thomas's times weren't among them."
It's important to note that Lia broke exactly zero women's records. During that same competition, 27 records were broken, none by a trans woman. She did win, in one singular race. One...single...race. Hardly dominating the sport.
If we want to talk about dominating in swimming, Michael Phelps is basically one step away from being Kevin Costner in Waterworld, but I have never heard anyone actually say it's unfair for him to compete in swimming competitions. Sports are inherently unfair, the people with the greatest biological traits will inherently perform better. The gap will grow or maintain itself if they train hard regularly.
It's also important to note that nobody actually gave a shit about women's sports until the Trans argument came out from, let's face it, bigots. Women's sports are struggling much more from low financial support and low viewership. That's a much more important issue than "Can 100 people compete in a sport?"
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/lia-thomas-trans-swimmer-ron-desantis-b2091218.html
2 minutes in and you've made me feel so welcome. Ty I needed this.
I really appreciate TH-cam recommending this video. I am not into motorcycles, I was never a kid who was into sports, I was a soft kid, haven't really been aware of the LGBTQ struggle until recently and I am not trans, but I am only recently openly genderfluid. Sara's story really hit hearing someone else having similar thoughts to what I have had and frustrations. I am comfortable and happy when being and identifying with my male self, but I have so much frustration that I can't have the appearance my female identity wants or experience all of the things I wish I could. I wish my body could change as easy it is to change my clothes. I don't think I would ever transition because it won't give me what I truly want because I would be giving up a part of me that I love. But I am so happy to so other people be able to be who they truly are and will happily stand with those against the people trying to take that away from them.
Damn I wasn't expect to cry today but Sara's story was so incredible. Everyone needs to hear stories like this.
❤
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We need more people in the world like Squidtips, and more people in the world like Sara.
Love and Hugs from Scotland!
cheats you mean?
as a trans women, this sort of thing is the reason that i feel like i will never be able to do anything because there will always be that person to pull me back down. wether it’s media, bad reporting, or just general misinformation, i will never be permitted to live as myself. thank you for making this video, awareness is always good! all of you have a great day, and keep going!
I think Sara's story touched me like no other. Thank you so much for your candidness.
I don’t have a problem with trans people. In fact, I support them for being themselves. But they shouldn’t compete in their transitioned genders sports, it gives an unfair advantage. This is in no way discrimination against them, its just they still have features from whence they transitioned.
Which features?? Strength? I can barely do 10 push ups and I'm an athlete lol endurance?? I don't play singles in pickleball because it legit exhausts me. I'm not sure what featurs you believe I have that give me an advantage because that has not been my experience 🤔
@@sarasassboss you have to think about the majority
@@sarasassboss your anecdotal weakness means nothing
If you don't have evidence to support the assertion that trans women have an unfair advantage against cis women. Then preventing them from participating in women's sport because you think there might be an advantage, is discrimination against them.
@@bobthebox2993 Look at Lia thomas. Unless there have been studies showing that trans women/men are on the same playing field of their cis counterparts?
Wow, as a straight white male in my mid 50s who has always been accepting and supportive of the gay and trans community, I must say I still received a great education from this video and Sara's story. I'm still not sure where I stand on how trans folks can participate in pro and non pro sports but I do have an open mind about it. As long as the medical side and officiating side states a certain athlete doesn't have any unfair advantage over another beside the tiny biological perks (I'm think of the hurdles story) then I will go along with it, certainly over the hateful rhetoric you hear from the anti trans movement. I will certainly share this video with anyone needing some educating on the topic and hopefully they will also see how non threatening trans people are. Sara comes across as a wonderful, beautiful and kind woman and anyone would be lucky to have her in their life.
you phrased my opinion better than I ever could!
As a state champ wrestler, in a weight based sport it isn't fair for someone on hrt to compete with their "old" gender but it definitely isn't fair for them to compete with the "new" gender either. In college I did a lot of jujitsu on the off season when I wasn't wrestling and I tumbled with a trans fem and she was undeniably stronger than other women I would tumble with despite her not lifting trying to atrophy and them lifting consistently. I understand we need to recognize trans people as their preferred gender but I also don't think letting them compete as the new gender is the solution either. I think we might just need mens, womens, and trans wrestling idk it's a tough situation but if I were a female wrestler it would seem extremely unfair to me too
Thanks for sharing in good faith. I can only speak for myself here, but the ladies I play against in pickleball all comment that they will gladly continue to compete against me. I'm not very strong at all which I'm experiencing now that I'm back at the gym to try and t least get some kind of strength. My advantage is playing smart and my height and reach. Ps I'm Sara from the video.
So I do believe that case by case should be the way
@@sarasassboss yeah I can agree 100% with case by case
sports are built on advantage, michael phelps has a triple jointed ankle that helped him become an insanely talented swimmer. what you care about isnt unfair advantages, what you care about is the fact that trans women are different. if you want to encourage fairness? advocate to get rid of gendered sports, replace them with weight classes, strength classes, height classes, etc.
@@delilah1377 Yes sports are built on advantages and individual cases of advantages happen all the time besides Phelps. That being said you have a straw man fallacy. I'm in no way arguing that I want sports to be 100% fair, however I am arguing trans women are biologically different yes. Also saying if I truly want fair sports we should get rid of sports entirely and have height classes ect is another leap in logic being a black and white fallacy. My true argument is that despite every sport having advantages and disadvantages based on genetics, women are biologically at a disadvantage in wrestling. I wrestled lots of women because I wrestled before women's wrestling was sanctioned. I watched women fight for women's wrestling not because they didn't want to wrestle men but because they wanted a greater opportunity to have success at things like state championships. Sports will never be 100% fair you're correct but that doesn't change that transitioning to female from male is a pretty big advantage offensively that none of them women can ever get based on genetics unless they are born as men. It won't be 100% fair but that doesn't mean we should abolish things we have it place to make it more even, if that were the case wrestling would have 295 pound people wrestling people who weigh 106 pounds. But like Sarah, she said case by case, I can get behind that, if the advantage isn't extreme then I say it's fine.
your advocacy for queer and trans people is genuinely so comforting. As a trans man, it's so difficult to avoid/ignore the violent hatred towards trans people every day. I can't thank you enough. It's so refreshing to see an ally in an uncommon place.
Thanks for making this compassionate, compelling (and informative) video. Go Sara!
Damn, this video and Sara is so powerful, she's amazing.
Thank you ❤