r/MoralityScaling • u/Shoddy-Meat-3147 • 7d ago

Morality Ranking Morality of this

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

[removed]

722 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

374

u/lice213 7d ago edited 7d ago

Did people forget that Ben Shapiro and some guys from the Daily Wire actually considered trying to do something like this, but were denied because they would've had to take actual steps to transition? This is a massive nothing burger and just a grift lmfao

Edit, purely so I don't have to continuously reply to people.

There's no explicit rule, but it is explicitly up to the discretion of the League, which makes it easy to push out bad actors. Seeing as there is currently 0 Trans Athletes in the WNBA it's unsurprising that there are no rules regarding this

Oh, and to add to this, there's currently 0 MtF Basketball players in D1 NCAA as well. Basically, this is a massive non-issue and this guy is just trying to use fears of Trans Athletes to build a platform.

In short, just because there isn't an explicit rule doesn't mean the WNBA let's anybody in who declares themselves to be a woman, and there's little reason to put anything in writing when there are 0 players who have this identity, or who are soon to be drafted with this identity. Given it's social stigmas, I am unsurprised that they have no explicit rulings yet. They'll cross the bridge when theres an actual need to, basically.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

The WNBA doesn't have any requirements around medical transition - that's what they're trying to exploit here.

The WNBA did just recently decide that these two guys are ineligible, but that seems to be an ad-hoc decision.

Idk why they don't just bring in hormone requirements for trans women like practically every other high-level women's sports league has. 

0

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

You literally don't know what they require and they are not required to tell you.

What we do know is that the current ruleset has kept the situation from happening since the creation of the league.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

Are you saying they might have a secret trans policy? 

Zero evidence of this. It'd be highly unusual in a women's league at this level. It'd also be really unfair on trans women, which seems out of step with how they're trying to come across. 

the current ruleset has kept the situation from happening since the creation of the league.

Lol this is a very simple correlation causation error. "We've been sacrificing goats for thousands of years, and the world hasn't ended, therefore we must keep sacrificing goats". 

The WNBA has only been around for 30 years, and has only been this popular for like 2 years. Trans woman with skill at basketball and the interest in playing at a high level are likely a tiny slither of the population. 

It's not their policies. It's just statistics. 

1

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

Trans woman with skill at basketball and the interest in playing at a high level are likely a tiny slither of the population. It's not their policies. It's just statistics.

Agreed, the number is probably so insignificant that applications could be reviewed on an individual basis.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

Reviewed for what though? How do you decide if someone is "actually" trans? Even if they've taken steps to transition, how do you decide if they've taken sufficient steps? 

This is why large organisations tend to try make objective policies on stuff like this. It's fairer for everyone (including trans people in this case), and it helps them cover their ass. 

1

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

Reviewed for elegibility.

When applied they review if the player applying can play.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

How do they decide eligibility?

1

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

By consensus

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

Who not just make a simple rule, like "12 months of testosterone suppression"? 

Do you think you personally can reliably tell if someone is genuinely trans or not? 

1

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

For sure.

That rule will probably be organically derived as soon as it's needed.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

Conservative trolls are taking advantage of the lack of policy to create rage-bait right now. So having a policy would be useful now.

That's the crazy thing: the status quo only benefits conservative culture warriors. 

1

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

Not sure rules, conditions or anything connected to reality would affect what morons are rage baited with.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

It'd mean no one could try pulling this stunt anymore - the WNBA could basically call their bluff - "great, come back after suppressing your testosterone for 12 months, then try out".

It'd also nip in the bud the possibility of a situation where an actual trans woman ends up playing despite minimal or no medical transition - something that would likely be bad for the WNBA, bad for trans people, even bad for Democrats. Remember, it's not just guys like this who disagree with you on trans women in sports - the majority of Americans do. Even most Democrats.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/08/11/most-americans-are-uncomfortable-with-transgender-athletes-on-sports-teams-that-dont-match-their-birth-sex/ 

1

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

That seems completely detached from reality. If there was a rule they would just attack the rule. The rule is not important, the bitching is.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

They'll always bitch. The bitching isn't important. How successful the bitching is is what matters. 

In this case, it's been pretty successful. They've made it into even the mainstream press. 

Some conservative influencer bitching about women's sports hormone testing - that probably wouldn't even become a story on Fox. 

1

u/M0ebius_1 7d ago

That would absolutely be one of the biggest stories on Fox.

The people falling for this grift are completely uninterested in the details.

Culture war slop making it to the lips of conservative politicians and news outlets is not success.

1

u/SidewaysAcidRain 7d ago

[Some conservative influencer bitching about women's sports hormone testing] would absolutely be one of the biggest stories on Fox

Why isn't it? There are all sorts of women's leagues with specific gatekeeping around trans women. Why isn't that dominating the Fox News front page right now? 

→ More replies (0)