This is a guest editorial by Fallon Fox.
In this, the second instalment of the Joe Rogan VS Fallon Fox series, I go over some of the claims of unfair advantage that Joe Rogan and friends (and Ronda Rousey) have put into the MMA consciousness. Many of you have been waiting for this one, and I’m excited to be able to finally touch on these claims with this video and editorial. In the video you will see Joe Rogan and friends stating claims about transgender athletes and, in my opinion, backtracking and correcting where they went wrong. If you go to YouTube and click the description of the video, the source video will be listed. So, you can check all of this out and come to your own opinion.
What I find is a focal point of the video and Joe Rogan’s argument are claims of what is happening with my bones. My bones have been an issue with him since I came out. Just the other day Joe Rogan said in a tweet, “It’s biased because it’s not supported by medical facts or science. Adding estrogen actually preserves bone density” This he tweeted in response to a Vice Sports article about the history of transgender athletes in sports. The article also pointed out what the author believed as an argument from Joe which was not based in actual science.
Fallon Fox Must Reads
Fallon Fox Must Reads
Yes, Joe is correct (in a way) about estrogen and bone density. If transgender women do not take estrogen they will likely get osteoporosis, which is the weakening of the bones. Estrogen does help fight bone loss in this way. However, (and this is a gigantic however) It is important to realize that:
A – Testosterone helps make bones more dense and healthy.
B – Estrogen helps make bones more dense and healthy.
They both do this…
Massive amounts of testosterone will make ones bones a little more dense than massive amounts of estrogen. If testosterone is drastically starved, and massive amounts of estrogen are introduced, the bones will lose the density that testosterone allows. Then, the bones will weaken to the level that massive amounts of estrogen will allow. When people say that “estrogen” causes bone density changes, this is what they mean. It’s a fairly simple concept. I don’t know why Joe Rogan fails to understand it, if that’s what is happening. Doctors get it (at least the informed ones that are not crack pots), commissions get it, other sports get it. But, Joe Rogan? It appears that he does not.
And why bring bone density up in the first place? In my opinion what I see is him alluding to bone density being a factor as seen in the attached video. Then, later, he said that bone density decreases. But, all of this bone density stuff is irrelevant. Because, as Joe Rogan may not have known before he stated, “the operation doesn’t shave down your bone density” – and before Ronda Rousey went on her inside MMA rant on the dangers of bone density – there were black women who were fighting in MMA.
Yes, you read that right, I said black women. The reason why I bring this up is because black women on the average have the same bone density as white men. At the bottom of the list in bone density are Asians. They happen to fall way down there. This can easily be Googled. I dare either Joe Rogan or Ronda Rousey to express the opinion publicly that black women should be segregated in a fighting class of their own because of their bone density. Perhaps they would if it were socially acceptable to do so for entertainment value, or to keep a black opponent away because of fear of a potential loss, I don’t know.
But, I feel that it’s possible that it’s just too late in the game to unnecessarily and unjustly sensationalize bogus advantage claims in this way. But, not too late in the game to feel naively safe in doing this to transgender women. After all, who would listen to our complaints? We’re transgender women.
I’m not sure if Joe Rogan, Ronda Rousey, and others thought to actually research before they opened their mouths on this subject, or if they knew in advance and decided to say it anyway to muddy the water. Doctors on commissions have known all of this for years. And bone density has been no issue in fighting. Have you ever heard of anyone talking about bone density in any sport as a competitive advantage? I highly doubt it. But, when I came around, this mysterious bone density argument appeared out of thin air. Many were so blinded by assumptions that they just believed it.
So, bone density is now thrown out the window. Let’s talk bone structure. Joe Rogan claims that the mechanics of my “male frame” gives me a huge advantage. Yet, to my knowledge he has not explained how this is supposed to work. I’d like a very detailed and medically verified explanation of this. I’d like to know how the “male frame” can produce the massive “punching power” he speaks of without male muscle mass behind it. Joe could say that my long hair, or anything else that he could make up gives me a huge advantage. But, him simply stating that as a thing that “just is” would not make it so. This all sounds to me like an extremely uneducated hunch. Just look at his track record on this subject.
I have never heard that, ‘the male frame – without the aid of muscles heavily influenced by “testosterone,” gives someone the ability to hit harder than the next.’ I’m asking where he is he getting his information from. Is this another claim that he must back down from in the end? ‘Transgender bone structure mechanics’ is all that he’s left with now. In my opinion, from what I’ve seen and heard, and what I highlight in the video, is that he started off with bone density, muscle strength, hand size, and bone mechanics. Now it appears he is back pedalling to the reality that bone density actually does decrease, and that muscle mass decreases. I haven’t heard much from him about my particular hand size after I released a video on my social media comparing my hand size to another female fighter. It seems that Rogan is clinging to that bone mechanics argument tooth and nail.
Of course, bone mechanics advantages are never brought up except for in my case. I feel Joe Rogan is presenting a positive claim. He is saying that I have an advantage that, to my knowledge, medical authorities, commissions and others in the know have never seen. Do commissions and medical authorities have evidence of the “male frame” being able to generate far higher amounts of force VS the “female frame?” I don’t think so.
It sounds like Joe is making that up, or that he heard or (yet again) read it somewhere from someone who is not a medical authority on this particular subject. It sounds like Joe is making a positive claim…A positive claim that he needs to back up since he is asserting what I believe to be utter nonsense.
Are we starting to understand more why I was licensed? Are we starting to see behind the curtain and notice how those older arguments Joe Rogan, Ronda Rousey, and others evolved from multiple claims of advantages down to one – bone mechanics? Is this starting to look like people with knee jerk reactions who could have taken the time to dig and get correct information, but did not? That now may be face saving time for them all because they likely just can’t admit they were wrong. That because I am a transgender woman they may feel that they can get away with it because of the transphobia that exists in the world.
Being considered popular or a celebrity doesn’t make one correct, or an honest human being that values truth. Being a Jiu Jitsu black belt does not make one correct, or an honest human being that values truth. And truth is not measured by opinions of those who guess things. Truth is measured by evidence.
It is my opinion that Joe Rogan and friends have been severely lacking in evidence for their positive claims. And, on this last one, I’d like to see whatever evidence he may have in detail. And I’d like to know to what degree he considers this “MASSIVE” bone mechanics advantage if any. Please, no more unnecessary assumptions.
Has anybody ever watched the movie 42? Remember when commentators said Jackie Robinson had an unfair advantage because black people had “larger heel bones” than the white men the was competing with? Are we repeating history yet again with bogus bone claims? Can we couple these bogus claims with Rogan’s horrible language that was aimed at me from the video I put out last week? I’m a transgender woman. I deserve equal treatment and respect to other types of women. I feel that all of this is so ridiculously unnecessary and horribly mean spirited.
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