Nikki Hiltz comes out as transgender/non-binary

Shakespeare wrote:

The singular “they” has been a part of English since at least the time of Shakespeare. It wasn’t grammatically incorrect then, and isn’t incorrect now.

Kudos to Nikki for having the courage to come out. It’s going to mean a lot to trans and non-binary youth who are often shunned by society and need more role models in sport.

In Shakespeare's time apostrophes were often ignored, too. I'm glad we've advanced because the clarity they provide is an improvement.

GD wrote:

I read what Nikki wrote, and I know she's a product of her generation and our political moment, but I find myself rolling my eyes. It's not because I don't think she's suffered or felt like she doesn't fit in. It's that most of us have those experiences. They're typical--and yet people (you included, Lenny) somehow assume that those of us who don't identify as nonbinary somehow feel like we fit in all the time.

One could say you are equally a product of your generation and culture. So I, sir, roll my eyes at your lack of perspective. There are many cultures in the world that identify a "third" in-between gender. Even back to ancient times there are references to people like Nikki

Basically what I am seeing from most people here is you can be whatever gender you want up until the time you run a race or have kids.

No way Jose wrote:

Can't we get back to the starting line and admit that everyone is confused about their identify most of the time? But our sex is biological and there is almost no confusion there. People can't really identify as a different gender because they don't know what is going on in someone else's head to know if they are the same as that person. They are in fact looking at the opposite sex and saying they identify with that person's sex. They claim they aren't but then why even discuss gender when gender is male or female and is just another way to describe sex? Maybe all of our brains are the same if they hadn't been connected to a male or female body.

Absolutely!

This obfuscation of the difference between gender and sex is key. Sex is binary(EXTREMELY RARE EXCEPTIONS noted). Gender(psychological and behavioral manifestations) is correlated with sex, but is heavily influenced by social constructs.

To see all the transphobia within the running community is absolutely repulsive. Y’all are disgusting human beings.

I don't get any of the issues raised here. She is XX, and while she may have some internal matters she is dealing with (and I hope she resolves them in an enduring fashion), there is no controversy about her competing in women's events. Again, I wish her well, but her personal issues are not relevant to the matter of having XY athletes compete in women's events.

kind of an older guy wrote:

I'm glad we didn't have all of this nonsense when I was growing up.

You did. And it's not nonsense. But trans/enby people have existed since people existed. But prejudice and discrimination forced many of them into hiding. They are fighting to be visible now and I respect that fight. I am just curious to see how we can evolve sports to be both inclusive AND fair.

rogermortimer wrote:

I don't get any of the issues raised here. She is XX, and while she may have some internal matters she is dealing with (and I hope she resolves them in an enduring fashion), there is no controversy about her competing in women's events. Again, I wish her well, but her personal issues are not relevant to the matter of having XY athletes compete in women's events.

If s/he were to transition to a man and wanted to take hormones it would be controversial to still compete in the women's. But arguably is still disadvantaged when racing men.

Trans women taking testosterone suppressants and estrogen are also disadvantaged when racing men yet many do not want to see them race women either.

Can you see how many people feel sport doesn't isn't an appealing place right now for trans people?

Agreed. Crying about people coming out makes you look insecure.

Tatar wrote:

If s/he were to transition to a man and wanted to take hormones it would be controversial to still compete in the women's. But arguably is still disadvantaged when racing men.

Trans women taking testosterone suppressants and estrogen are also disadvantaged when racing men yet many do not want to see them race women either.

Can you see how many people feel sport doesn't isn't an appealing place right now for trans people?

So? Does every activity have to be appealing to every individual? Someone who's 5'5" probably doesn't find competitive basketball to be appealing. Someone with a BMI of 20 probably doesn't find competitive football to be appealing. Most of us were never athletic enough to compete at any top level of any sport, so why would I feel so bad for a trans person being disadvantaged when racing men? They'd know what it feels like to be the rest of us.

Wuzzle Wuzzle wrote:

Lenny Leonard wrote:

. I feel very much male every day. I'm proud to be the home of a Y-chromosome. .

what a weird thing to be proud of....

It’s a line from a song in Daria. You don’t know that because you’re probably 15 years old.

Okay when I said 'not appealing' I was being polite - sometimes it's downright hostile to their inclusion.

I'm not sure what the implication is here...you are stating that the hostility is directed at trans people competing in sports. I'm sure there are situations where that is the case, but for the most part the push back has nothing to do with someone being trans. The pushback has to do with disadvantaging the vast majority of female competitors because a biological male believes they should be able to compete against them.

A simple analogy would be allowing an athlete to knowingly dope for years until just before the Olympics, and then allowing them to compete. Virtually everyone believes that person has an unfair advantage and should be excluded. Well a born male has essentially been testosterone doping for years, and then allowed to compete against women.

This has nothing to do with transphobia or discrimination. If that biological male is good enough to compete against other males then go ahead. If not, too bad. That's not discrimination, that's the reality for 99% of us wannabes!! But it doesn't give any man the green light to compete against women.

Gender fluidity? Just going off her description, this sounds more like bipolar disorder - extreme fluctuations of affect - with a more hip label. Not sure what "feeling outside the gender binary entirely" means exactly. This sounds more like an emotional disorder, rather than gender dysphoria which people describe as "feeling like you are in the wrong body." Good luck to her...or him.

https://themighty.com/2017/09/how-bipolar-disorder-affects-gender-identity/

Here is an article about someone with bipolar AND "gender fluidity" (hmmmm maybe there is something to this). She describes feeling more feminine when she is manic and genderless or masculine when depressed. This could be what this Nikki person is describing too. Interesting stuff.

Old is as old does wrote:

osm wrote:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNGhU5hH4C0/

As some with a (worthless) degree in psychology , the true nature of what she is describing is mental illness. Does her whole day revolve around the identification of her sexuality? The average person does not obsess about this and has no reason report it to the world.

Letsrun gna letsrun I guess.

The average person doesn't obsess about their sexuality because the average person is heterosexual and grew up surrounded by heterosexual relationships and always took for granted that their sexuality was normal. They never had to think about it. Nikki was closeted for years. She, and many LGBT people have had to deal with stress and secrecy. Now that she's grown and gets to celebrate it she uses her platforms to show younger kids a picture of a relationship and now a gender identity she never got to see. It makes a difference to them to see this, even if it doesn't for you. JFC.

So how does it work? Some days she will run in the men category and other days in the women category depending on how she feels that day?

I am not joking here, it’s a serious question.

So...some random person I've never heard of comes out as 'transgender, non-binary." The response should be a collective, "Uh...okay. Good for you." Now, back to scheduled programming.

I mean, who really cares?

hemorrhoid wrote:

Runningart2004 wrote:

Transgender is the new CrossFit.

Alan

This is one of the worst takes of all time. You don't choose to be transgender. It's not a lifestyle or trend or fad. It's who you are.

This is one of the funniest takes of all time.

transphobiaisntagoodlook wrote:

To see all the transphobia within the running community is absolutely repulsive. Y’all are disgusting human beings.

Bro if anything running is woke af do you follow pro runners on Insta. Look at anyone on Bowerman if you don't believe me. If anything runners don't know enough about facts and logic and are just easily manipulated by social media and the woke narrative

_____________

I'll tell you my perspective: I read Gender Trouble about 10 years ago (still long after it was published) and interpreted it as a theoretical book. The ideas in it were obscure to anybody outside of most humanities and gender studies departments. Within the past 5-7 years, I've watched people soak up its ideas in bastardized form as if they are either scientific fact or divine scripture, then castigate anybody who criticizes them. I've seen these ideas perpetuate a level of narcissism & misogyny I thought I'd never see in my lifetime.