The “Women Are Better at Long-Distance Swimming” Talking Point Is Basically Bullshit
More credibility gets chucked into the ideology furnace
Gender denialism is currently the fuzzy testicle drooping out of the intellectual left’s gym shorts: it’s obvious, embarrassing, and people are wondering “are you gonna do something about that?” The debate over trans women in sports has made it clear that some on the left not only deny that male physiology confers advantages that perhaps can’t be reversed with hormones: They deny that male physiology confers any advantage in sports whatsoever. They seem to think it’s mean to admit that the average man is bigger, stronger, and faster than the average woman, even though everyone knows that, and it feels like we’ve suddenly decided to debate whether five is bigger than three.
The latest clown to step into the biology denialist dunk tank is — oh, God, this one hurts — Neil deGrasse Tyson. That really sucks — I like Neil deGrasse Tyson! He produces the Carl Sagan-type wonderment that I often enjoy after a long day in the comedy mines. And that’s why watching this viral clip from last week felt like rectally inserting a pine cone:
First of all: The editor of Scientific American didn’t step down because she “expressed some opinions” — she stepped down because she turned one of the world’s foremost scientific publications into an anti-science laughingstock. Her social media rant was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. But the part of the clip I want to address is Tyson’s point that women may have the advantage in long-distance swimming. This is the throw-sand-in-people’s-eyes talking point du jour — it’s like an e-mail went out in late 2023 that said “when this comes up, talk about long-distance swimming.” And in fact, that talking point was amplified by the very article Maher quoted, which — of course — made the point about endurance swimming, because that’s the line we’re going with, everybody get on message!
Tyson instructs us to “look into that”. Well, bad news, Neil: I did look into it. And here’s what I found.