4 ms·

In sports where men and women can't compete equally I think separation by sex is appropriate. Is chess such a case? If not then make the tournaments open to all

In sports where men and women can't compete equally I think separation by sex is appropriate. Is chess such a case? If not then make the tournaments open to all.

inemesitaffia 3y ago
It's already open to all
kelthan 3y ago
I completely agree with you. As noted by others, this is not a question of managing gender equality in competition: chess has no inherent gender advantage. Though there are significant structural biases for men in competition which is why the ratio of women to men in competition is so low. This is entirely about political, religious, and social pressure attempting to limit social change that they strongly disagree with.
- inemesitaffia 3y ago
  The women's chess division was created by men though. Probably more conservative men than run the organization today. In a way it's like affirmative action. And like I've said elsewhere, when there's talk of inclusion, someone must be excluded. Chess is open to all. Women's chess drives inclusion by exclusion.
Shawnj2 3y ago
If chess didn’t have a women’s league nearly all top level chess would be men so a woman’s league is a way to encourage more women to play chess. It’s the same premise as an all female gaming server or gaming tournament The categories aren’t male and female, the categories are women and “open”, so anyone who wants to can compete in the open category. I’m disappointed they don’t consider trans women women because they are but chess having a women’s league isn’t that weird
- bring_it_up 3y ago
  > I’m disappointed they don’t consider trans women women because they are Not really though. There are only two requirements to being a "trans woman": 1. Be a man 2. Call yourself a woman That's it. Excluding them from women-only spaces is the only sensible policy if the essential character of such spaces is to be maintained.
  - Shawnj2 3y ago
    I’m not going to even really try to argue about this but that’s not really true, you could say trans people at stage X of a transition can play in the women’s bracket
    - bring_it_up 3y ago
      What would be the significant differences at "stage X of transition"?
      - Shawnj2 3y ago
        If your goal is to filter out people pretending to be trans to play in the women’s bracket that would suffice Also at some point trans people look nearly identical to straight people so no one would even know the difference without scrutinizing records
        bring_it_up 3y ago
        The goal is to have women-only spaces, in this case a competitive space. It's essential to filter out men for this purpose, including those who pretend to be women. Making an exception for the latter if they make some attempt to perform femininity, even if it's a somewhat convincing act, really just undermines the entire point.

In sports where men and women can't compete equally I think separation by sex is appropriate. Is chess such a case? If not then make the tournaments open to all.

inemesitaffia 3y ago

It's already open to all

kelthan 3y ago

I completely agree with you. As noted by others, this is not a question of managing gender equality in competition: chess has no inherent gender advantage. Though there are significant structural biases for men in competition which is why the ratio of women to men in competition is so low. This is entirely about political, religious, and social pressure attempting to limit social change that they strongly disagree with.

inemesitaffia 3y ago
The women's chess division was created by men though. Probably more conservative men than run the organization today. In a way it's like affirmative action. And like I've said elsewhere, when there's talk of inclusion, someone must be excluded. Chess is open to all. Women's chess drives inclusion by exclusion.

Shawnj2 3y ago

If chess didn’t have a women’s league nearly all top level chess would be men so a woman’s league is a way to encourage more women to play chess. It’s the same premise as an all female gaming server or gaming tournament The categories aren’t male and female, the categories are women and “open”, so anyone who wants to can compete in the open category. I’m disappointed they don’t consider trans women women because they are but chess having a women’s league isn’t that weird

bring_it_up 3y ago
> I’m disappointed they don’t consider trans women women because they are Not really though. There are only two requirements to being a "trans woman": 1. Be a man 2. Call yourself a woman That's it. Excluding them from women-only spaces is the only sensible policy if the essential character of such spaces is to be maintained.
- Shawnj2 3y ago
  I’m not going to even really try to argue about this but that’s not really true, you could say trans people at stage X of a transition can play in the women’s bracket
  - bring_it_up 3y ago
    What would be the significant differences at "stage X of transition"?
    - Shawnj2 3y ago
      If your goal is to filter out people pretending to be trans to play in the women’s bracket that would suffice Also at some point trans people look nearly identical to straight people so no one would even know the difference without scrutinizing records
      - bring_it_up 3y ago
        The goal is to have women-only spaces, in this case a competitive space. It's essential to filter out men for this purpose, including those who pretend to be women. Making an exception for the latter if they make some attempt to perform femininity, even if it's a somewhat convincing act, really just undermines the entire point.