BenPea

Close-ups that don't include the subject are where it's at.

@soup4myfamily: I don't get it either!

@bikes-arent-real: true, women remember EVERYTHING

@Mtbdialed: according to the NHS website, treatment often involves doing what it takes to enable a person to transition. Sounds like transitioning can be the cure or as much as a cure as there can be. But sometimes the urge wears off with age. So this is far from a black and white issue.

@Mtbdialed: that implies it can always be dismissed as a treatable condition. I've a feeling it's a hell of a lot more complicated than that. Does the term "mental health" basically cover everything? Like if you hate broccoli, that's a mental health issue? If you repeatedly engage in high risk activities like downhill mountain biking, that's a mental health issue?

@emptybe-er: you weren't there man

@ThatOneGuyInTheComments: It's a purist thing. A way for us flat riders to feel superior. Ultimately we are not, but don't tell anyone.

@Mtbdialed: The mental health issues that drive people to be trans? The same issues addressed by Christian conversion therapy for gays? This says a lot. Why do you think a trans person would kill themselves do you think? @spaced: the WADA guy you mention nailed it, although in sport I still see rare cases as being noteworthy, because we're measuring physical performance. I mean he nailed it in relation to wider society, because it is not a plague worthy of pulling the emergency alarm for, it's just people who would once have been scared of being themselves actually being themselves. Just because it makes some people sick, that doesn't mean it has to be front and centre of discussions about society. That's just a result of political parties not knowing how to make their countries better and resorting to stoking base fears. Oldest trick in the populist playbook. "Don't look at usnscrewing up your nation, look at that boy in a dress! Someone made him do it! They're coming for your kids! This is really really important! The libs are making it happen! Etc."

@spaced: There's a lot of muddling up going on. We need to keep emotion out of it. Many people are viscerally disgusted with the idea of transitioning or even identifying as another gender or no gender at all. Just like it was/is with homosexulity, but turbocharged. I suspect many are using legitimate concerns about trans women in sports as a cloak for their nausea about the concept as a whole. In fact, that's a definite. The self-destruction of so many people with gender disphoria over the years doesn't seem to be a concern for a hell of a lot of people. They just want these people to stay underground and STFU. It's more comfortable that way. Not saying the debate doesn't sometimes go overboard on both sides, but that also stems from the different types of fear the groups at each extreme feel (the grounds for these fears are also quite different). Long story short, the arguments as they relate to sports shouldn't be conflated with all the conspiracy rhetoric, which is something that targets every minority group on the planet and is largely BS.

@JapanDave: It's a mess. Humans are a mess. Good luck everyone.