Alana McLaughlin is a cheat

What kind of man wants to fight a woman? A coward, to start. Perhaps an abuser. Certainly a man with no shame or ethics. In this case, a man who would prefer to cheat than to lose a fight to another man.

Alana McLaughlin wore a shirt with the words “End trans genocide” written on it after he shamelessly beat a woman during his first MMA fight at Combate Global on September 10 in Miami. The 38-year-old served in the U.S. Army Special Forces for six years, before leaving in 2010, and was diagnosed with PTSD after serving in Afghanistan, undergoing “sex reassignment surgery” in 2016. He only recently began training in MMA, inspired by Fallon Fox, the fighter who fractured a woman’s skull in 2014 — one might say that only a sadist could watch a man knock out a woman and feel inspired, instead of repulsed, but then again, what can we expect from an ideology that demands women give up their boundaries and sanity to placate the desires of entitled men.

“Right now, I’m following in Fallon’s footsteps. I’m just another step along the way and it’s my great hope that there are more to follow behind me,” McLaughlin said. Well, based on the number of MMA fighters speaking out against the practice of allowing males to fight women, who seem to be among the only sane people on the planet, it is my great hope this is McLaughlin’s last fight, and that the MMA will ban the practice of allowing males to fight women, so long as they claim not to be men. At the same time and unfortunately, there are too many playing along, pretending as though “technique” can match the biological, physical advantages males have over women, in terms of strength.

Most female MMA fighters would decline to fight a man — indeed, McLauglin described that struggle, saying, “It was a nightmare to find an opponent.” He had to find a woman who had been convinced that it is important to make a mockery of her own sport and destroy her and other women’s chances to compete on fair grounds on account of “inclusivity,” saying, “We need to show that MMA is an inclusive sport.” In truth, as pointed out by journalist, Helen Joyce, this “inclusivity” is actually “exclusion,” as it excludes women from succeeding in their respective sports.

McLaughlin claims those calling him a cheater are “transphobic,” which only supports the fact that he is a liar and a cheat who has no shame, and prefers victory over ethics. McLaughlin knows full well that what people “fear” (women, in particular), in this case, is male violence against women. I wouldn’t call this a “phobia” so much as I would call it humane.

The irony of sporting a shirt reading “end trans genocide” while defending male violence against women and attempting to bully and shame those who speak the truth about what McLaughlin is doing is sickening. There is no “trans genocide.” Trans-identified males are being offered endless privileges at the expense of women’s safety and rights. So-called “trans rights” are, in fact, an attack on women’s rights. There is no “right” trans-identified men are lacking, unless we, as a society, believe it is a man’s right to enter into women’s change rooms, compete against women in sport (including combat sport), and to share spaces with women escaping male violence in transition houses. Trans-identified men do have the “right” to get cosmetic surgery, take hormones, and wear whatever clothes they like. If they would also like to compete in sport, they can do so with and against other men, and if they aren’t up to the challenge, then they might consider fighting for a separate category, for males who have decided to reduce their testosterone through hormone treatment, rather than destroying women’s chances to compete fairly.

Much of the commentary surrounding this debate misidentifies the question as being one of whether “trans athletes” may compete in sport. But this framing, like so much of trans activism, is dishonest. It doesn’t matter whether an athlete or fighter “identifies” with either masculinity or femininity (or neither). No one cares. It is an invented issue. Women’s feelings about their “gender” have nothing to do with their athletic ability — if they did, no female athlete would wear her hair long or paint her nails. What matters is biological sex, hard work, skill, and whether an athlete or fighter is good enough and has trained hard enough to compete against others of the same sex. And I absolutely resent anyone — particularly those in media — continuing to lie about the real issues and concerns women in particular are raising.

That it is primarily women who are being gaslit over and over again, accused of being “bigoted” and “phobic” for speaking the truth and defending their rights — lied to, right to our faces, as though we don’t know full well what our concerns are, and know full well we couldn’t give a flying fuck what any individual “feels” about their “gender” — makes the concept of “trans rights” all the more insulting. It was not so long ago that women and girls won the right to compete at all, only to have that right yanked away, told they must be “compassionate” towards men who want to beat them and be celebrated for doing so.

On Friday night, McLaughlin used a choke hold to beat 32-year-old Celine Provost, a clearly more skilled fighter, who could simply not compete with the strength of a man. Women and men alike know full well that even very strong, athletic women can be taken down by regular men, never mind an ex-Special Forces soldier, which is why, for example, male and female inmates are housed separately, based on sex, not fitness.

McLaughlin is a pathetic, embarrassing fighter and it is an insult to his competitor to be made to lose to a mediocre man, rather than be allowed the chance to compete against a woman of equal skill.

During the fight, the commentators reminded us many times over what McLaughlin had to “go through” in his life, as though this somehow makes up for his lack of skill, or makes him more impressive as a fighter. Many fighters have had hard lives, yet choose to work hard in order to fight, and do not opt to cheat. Having a hard life does not mean one cannot make ethical choices. It does not mean a man has the right to fight women instead of men.

In this world, individuals have the “right” to pay for surgery, to change their names, and to wear clothing made for either women or men. But if you do choose to take hormones that decrease your strength as a man, that is a sacrifice you choose to make — and that is your sacrifice alone. That choice does not mean that now women must pretend you are equal to them, or that the physical advantages that cannot be undone, on account of having gone through puberty as a male, disappear. Your feelings do not determine material reality, and it is not the job of women to take a beating in order to validate your delusions.

Meghan Murphy

Founder & Editor

Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist from Vancouver, BC. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including The Spectator, UnHerd, Quillette, the CBC, New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and is now exiled in Mexico with her very photogenic dog.