Meet in Orlando at the big fencing tournament?

by philg

Who would like to meet in Orlando at the big fencing tournament? I expect to be in Orlando on Thursday and Friday (26 and 27). Watching the competition is free. SeaWorld and Disney may also be involved! (Those are neither free nor immune from the inflation that the government assures us does not exist.) A friend’s kids are competing. If you haven’t had your mRNA COVID-19 booster and your flu shot (prevents all flu symptoms except for hospitalization and death), you can get that mistake corrected at the same time:

What if Ron DeSantis comes down from Tallahassee and says something unkind about the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community? Just text “CRISIS” to Dr. Shannon Jolly, the Sr. Manager – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging for USA Fencing.

Potentially confusing:

USA Fencing encourages everyone to be mindful of others’ pronouns and gender identities. When in doubt, ask politely, and use the pronouns people share with you.

In the first sentence, people are merely “encouraged”. In the second sentence, however, people are ordered to use specified pronouns. Also, what do they mean by “when in doubt”? Are they suggesting that gender identity can be inferred from surface appearance?

Please email philg@mit.edu if you want to get together!

5 thoughts on “Meet in Orlando at the big fencing tournament?”

  1. Good luck to the cisgender women competing against transgender women who have been training and developing their male phyisological bodies for >95% of their lives:

    “Transgender female (MTF) athletes:
    Athletes being treated with testosterone suppression medication, for the purposes of USA Fencing-sanctioned competitions may continue to compete in men’s events, but may only compete in women’s events after completing one calendar year (12 months) of testosterone suppression treatment. Proof of compliant hormone therapy must be provided prior to competition.”
    – https://www.usafencing.org/transgender-and-nonbinary-policy

    In related, recent news, Caster Semenya is unhappy that she is not allowed to dominate women’s running events.
    – https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/opinion/running-body-semenya.html

    • Thanks, Mitch. That whole page seems tainted with gender binarism, though they have a weak disclaimer up at the top: “we recognize not all individuals’ gender identities are binary, and a gender binary default for participation could potentially cause harm”.

      Why do they have “men’s” and “women’s” categories if gender isn’t binary? Also, as you point out, why isn’t identifying as a “woman” sufficient to compete in the “women’s” category? They rely on hormones? Isn’t that the same as saying that gender ID has a biological basis (which #Science has proven false)?

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