Payton McNabb had a genuinely tragic injury from a volleyball spike to the face. There is no denying that. When you watch the video of it, it's clear this was a brutal shot to the face.
But this tragedy was quickly capitalized on by the anti-trans propaganda machine. The context was significantly altered and an insidious narrative was constructed. Payton and her parents then jumped at the chance to monetize the incident.
You can hire Payton to dramatize her incident and repeat all of the common anti-trans talking points.
If you can't afford to hire her as a speaker, you can request to feature her documentary, "Kill Shot: How Payton McNabb Turned Tragedy into Triumph."
Possibly one of the most emotionally manipulative things I've seen in a while. After they discuss the injury you can just sense the coaching involved as they parrot every talking point.
Let's deconstruct exactly how Payton's injury was turned into propaganda.
First, all of the conservative news outlets reported on the incident. And they were sure to include details to give the impression this injury was severe, uncommon, and something only a trans girl could inflict.
The ball was going a blistering 70mph.
The trans girl was a towering 5'11".
Payton suffered a concussion.
The evil trans girl cackled in delight.
Of course, none of these details can be verified. The trans girl cannot tell her side of the story because if she identifies herself, it will put her in grave danger.
Let's investigate the claims a little deeper, shall we?
First, the ball going 70mph.
Not even remotely possible.
Elite level high school girl volleyball players can spike a ball between 40 and 50mph. Boys can manage between 50 and 60mph. So that is already debunked with a simple google search.
But I went a step further and analyzed the footage using a technique I learned from Adam Savage on Mythbusters. You take a known measurement (the width of the volleyball) and count how long it takes to travel a certain distance using the framerate. The ball went roughly 426 cm in 200 milliseconds.
I did a high and low estimate and the ball was going between 43 and 47mph, as best as I can tell.
Which is in the range of what a typical elite high school girl can achieve.
In fact, the world record for any woman volleyball player is around 70 mph. This was accomplished by professional player, Paola Egonu. She is 26 years old and 6'4".
The men's record is around 80 mph.
So they are saying this trans girl hit a volleyball as fast as the world record set by an adult professional athlete. And it was only 10mph slower than the fastest spike ever hit by anyone.
Okay, what about the trans girl being 5'11". That's pretty tall for a girl, right?
Not for volleyball players. In fact, it is not uncommon for high school volleyball teams to have players 6 feet and above. Many college and professional teams regularly have cis women that are 6'5".
Well, there is still the fact that the girl got a concussion.
You might be thinking... "That never happens. I mean, they are just high school kids playing a game. And a kid's game isn't dangerous. The *only* reason Payton was injured (as her parents imply) was because a trans girl was playing."
Did you know that women's volleyball has become so notorious for injuries that the NIH did an entire study documenting them?
Here are some highlights...
"In total, an estimated 214,302 female athletes aged 14 to 23 years were evaluated in EDs across the United States with volleyball-related injuries between 2012 and 2021. The ankle, head, and knee were most frequently injured, often involving strains/sprains, contusions, fractures, and concussions.
While sprains and strains were the most frequent injuries, head injuries accounted for the second most common diagnosis in both groups, suggesting that clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for concussion when evaluating players."
It would seem that head injuries are extremely common and there are literally thousands of cases of concussions.
Volleyball is fucking dangerous, yo.
This has to be a known danger that parents and players are aware of. They choose to take this risk despite the danger. They don't advocate for any kind of head protection or protective gear.
The reason Payton was so seriously injured was not because of a trans girl. It's because she was hit point blank in the face with a volleyball—just like thousands of others.
An event so common that when I was researching spike speeds and looking at highlight reels of Paola Egonu's world record spiking, one of the clips was of her bonking another player in the head.
The only reason this woman wasn't injured was because the ball had a chance to decelerate. In the first 400 cm of this spike, the ball is going so fast that the camera could not even see it. It just evaporated into a blur until it slowed down from air resistance. Just imagine if that woman was as close as Payton was.
Cis women are fully capable of causing these types of injuries.
They villainized a high school trans girl for hitting a ball only as fast as her cis counterparts.
They said she was a giant even though she is kinda short compared to other players.
They inferred only a trans girl could cause this type of injury even though it happens all the time.
They said she cackled like the Wicked Witch with no way to dispute the claim.
And then they gave her a bunch of money to repeat the narrative that they manufactured.
She even got to meet the president for selling her soul.
This is where anti-trans talking points come from. It is bad faith all the way down. Every claim is a lie or so twisted and out of context it might as well be a lie.
Is this really the side you want to be on?
Are these the bedfellows you want to align with?
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