At some point, honest people must finally put a stop to the ennobling of either narcissism or mental illness.
In the case of men pretending to be women, we do not deny that many of those men actually have the feelings they claim. Nor do we deny that many sincerely believe themselves to be women. And we do not want them persecuted for that. But we most adamantly deny that they are women or that they should have access to spaces traditionally and rightfully reserved for women, including women’s athletic competitions.
Alas, liars and cowards seem to run the world at present, as evidenced by Paralympics officials’ decision to allow a 50-year-old “transgender woman” and former male sprinting champion named Valentina Petrillo to compete against actual women at the Paralympics in Paris, which begin on Wednesday.
According to the Associated Press, Petrillo will compete as a sprinter in the 200- and 400-meter events.
Petrillo suffers from visual impairment and thus will race under the T12 classification. According to the Boston Athletic Association, T12 represents the middle range among three different visual acuity classifications that measure degrees of impairment.
Of course, people of goodwill applaud Petrillo for running in the Paralympics despite visual impairment. And there is no reason to think that T12 is the classification to which anyone should object.
But Petrillo belongs with the men. In fact, between 2015 and 2018, Petrillo won 11 national competitions in the male T12 category, per the AP.
Furthermore, Petrillo did not begin the purported transition from male at female at a young age.
Instead, the sprinter began hormone therapy in 2019 when he was in his mid 40s. By then, of course, he had already dominated the male category.
Should female sprinters refuse to compete against Valentina Petrillo?
Understandably, that did not sit well with some of his female competitors.
For instance, Spanish sprinter Melani Berges missed out on a shot at the Paralympics when she finished behind Petrillo.
Berges denounced the “injustice” of competing against Petrillo and added that sport “requires strength, a physique.”
Katrin Mueller-Rottgardt of Germany expressed a similar concern.
“Basically, everyone should live how they like in everyday life. But I find it difficult in professional sports. She lived and trained for a long time as a man, so there’s a possibility that physical conditions are different than for someone who comes into the world as a woman. So she could have advantages from it,” Mueller-Rottgardt said.
Petrillo tried to empathize. As with many people who either exhibit narcissism or suffer from mental illness, however, his condition did not allow him to think outside of himself and his own desires in any meaningful way.
“I have asked myself, ‘But Valentina, if you were a biological woman and you saw a Valentina racing with you, what would you think?’ And I responded to myself that I would also have some doubts,” Petrillo said. “But then through my experiences and what I learned I can state clearly … that it doesn’t mean that because I was born a man that I will be stronger than a woman.”
As with most controversies these days, Petrillo’s story generated attention on the social media platform X.
Libs of TikTok, an account with more than 3.4 million followers as of Monday, called Petrillo a “cheater.”
This is Valentina Petrillo, a man pretending to be a woman, who is set to compete against females in the upcoming Paralympics next week.
He won 11 National titles as a man but is now competing against women.
Valentina is stealing away females’ awards and accomplishments. He is… pic.twitter.com/UdYE5yxtQm
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 23, 2024
Only if Petrillo qualifies as a narcissist should we call him a cheater. If he suffers from mental illness, then we should pity him and pray that he finds the help he needs.
Those are the only two possibilities, for no matter how he feels or what he thinks, he is not a woman and thus does not belong in the women’s category at the Paralympics.
