The “allow trans women” (that is, biological men) movement in women’s sports has reached its apogee as two biological men compete against each other in the finals of a pool tournament
If you believe that all a person has to do to be a woman is to declare oneself a woman, then it follows as day follow night (or is it night follows day?) that you must support the absurdity of post-pubescent biological men in women’s sports. There’s really no way around that, and therefore many people have chosen that ideology over their support for women’s sports.
My experience with pool being mostly limited to the old movie The Hustler, I never really thought about whether pool is a sport or not. But whatever it is – and I guess it is – men have the upper-body advantage in reach and power.
And so we have this:
Harriet Haynes and Lucy Smith, who were both assigned male at birth, fought for the title at the Ultimate Pool Women’s Pro Series Event 2 in Wigan in the UK this weekend.
Haynes went on to defeat Smith 8-6, but vocal critics on both sides of the Atlantic claimed the real loser in the battle was women’s sport. British former Olympics swimmer Sharron Davies and American former college swimmer Riley Gaines were among those speaking out.
However, others celebrated the achievement and claimed being trans had not given the players any unfair benefits during the game.
Yeah, right. It’s just chance that of all the women on the circuit, two biological men were the finalists:
Opponents of trans players in pool suggest they benefit from various advantages, such as being able to smash their break shot with more speed. While one British pool group, the English Blackball Pool Federation (EBPF), has claimed that trans women benefit from a greater hand span, stronger fingers, and longer limbs enabling a greater reach across the table, according to The Independent.
If you look at the photo of the two finalists here, I think it’s interesting that they resemble each other enough to be siblings.
Absolutely unreal. The Overton Window has intersected with itself, like Kramer from Seinfeld said, “We must be at the nexus of the universe.” The shark has been jumped. We now live in a post-sane/post-parody universe.
My experience with pool being mostly limited to the old movie The Hustler.
You should check out the sequel.
1986’s The Color Of Money features Paul Newman reprising the Fast Eddie Felson role (he won the Best Actor Oscar) and Tom Cruise at the beginning of a run that began with Top Gun the same year and includes Rain Man, A Few Good Men, The Firm and concluding with him being pretty much the biggest movie star in the world after Mission: Impossible.
The leading lady is the criminally underrated Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
mikeski:
Yes, I saw that one too.
Too bad there’s not a “Riley Gaines” in the women’s pool competition.
I just saw what I did there…my apologies. 😉
What a d@ck move
More power on the break shot and stronger arms and fingers probably do make a difference which not even a tall woman could overcome. Besides, you know, it’s a women’s competition. This is stupid.
A take-no-prisoners, tell-it-like-it-is voice of reason and common sense… “Laughing At The Lady Men” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0D3FR9J4vk&t=2s
Oh the asterisks should fly
“The Color of Money” soundtrack has a song by Mark Knopfler, “Two Brothers and a Stranger.”
Wouldn’t be too out of place in a Sergio Leone western.
Pool, pocket billiards, is a sport.
There are some great, female players.
I’ve read a bit about whether there is a physical reason a woman couldn’t be the world’s best at 9 ball, 8 ball, snooker, billiards… I don’t think there is a physical reason. Just like chess, darts, shuffleboard… men are more likely to be obsessive about something, even something inane, and devote hundreds of thousands of hours to it, even solitary hours.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in pool halls. Not a fun environment for most women and a woman who does hang out in a pool hall is going to have to learn to get very callous and indifferent to men bothering her.
I don’t think men have a physical advantage over women in pool, but I think a higher percentage of men are attracted to throwing away countless hours shooting pool. Only a very few ever see any financial results from that time spent.
Despite what I wrote above, it’s absurd these men are allowed to compete in a women’s competition and the organizers ought to be ashamed of themselves for disenfranchising the biological women pushed aside by this absurdity.
O what sad times are these when passing ruffians can say “ni” to old ladies, and biological men can pose as women to play in a woman’s only pool tournament. There is a pestilence on this land. Nothing is sacred.
“the shark has been jumped…”
Dude, it’s even more outrageous than that – the shark has been jumped by another shark, there’s two of them, and now they’re playing each other for the Women’s Championship.
Men: Is there anything they can’t do?
IO49,
A true pestilience. Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress in this period in history.
Costume party
Hey guys what’s with the disguise
try as you might you can’t escape the light
the science is not on your side
chromosomes and DNA don’t lie
Saying left is right and right is wrong
just a cliche no matter your wish
the swish of your sashay won’t change your chassis
you’ll never be female, fail
Fairy tale pretending won’t bring happy endings
that’s nothing but puerile propaganda
depravity is vanity mixed with insanity
the tragedy is that the aim of this inanity
is to take others with you
@ Richard Milne – Nice poem! Or song lyrics?
When are we going to see the first men in the WNBA?