CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – My heart goes out to Adeline Johnson. She finished in 4th place last Saturday at a high school track meet in California. Only the top 3 finishers get to advance to the state finals. And one of the runners with a better time than her is a male, Athena Ryan Jr, who identifies as female.
Johnson realized exactly what had happened during the awards ceremony. She gave a big ‘thumbs down’ gesture from the podium when she was presented with her 4th place medal.
The Washington Stand reports that there are at least 28 girls and womens sports championships that have been won by biological males, everything from cycling to weightlifting, swimming and track and field. Not only are men biologically different than women, in many cases female athletes have been told to share locker-room space with male competitors.
Never has society been asked to adjust so quickly to such a change. Transgenderism was unheard of a decade ago. The idea of people undergoing procedures or taking medication to change their sex was unheard of, and considered dangerous. Gender was never considered fluid; there were tomboys and those who appeared effeminate.
Now everything that is separated by sex is under attack. A prom queen can be male; the prom king needs to set his embarrassment aside. At a wedding, a bridesmaid could be a dude. A groomsman needs to suck it up if he’s hesitant to dance with another man. For this beach season, Target is selling special “tuck” bikinis, with a wider bottom to hide the appendage of men who want to wear women’s swimwear to the beach or the pool.
There is some pushback. Last month a man entered a women’s poker tournament. He claimed he identified as a woman, although he played wearing a cowboy hat and had a mustache. He won, although I don’t think there’s a gender component to playing cards.
The issue is this: society is in overwhelming agreement that you are either male or female. It’s biology. Chromosomes and hormones are characteristic of one sex or the other. It’s an incredibly small minority that thinks gender is a moving target and a smaller still subset that thinks they’re the wrong gender.
So ask yourself, how has such a small group of people been so successful in pushing their agenda? That’s a question for sociologists to wrestle with in the future.
Chris Conley
Comments