Attacks on transgender participation in sports was never about sports, and always about getting people comfortable with discriminating against transgender people.
Anyone who thought this was about sports is naive. It’s always been about ignorance and fear! I’m a 76-year-old grandmother, and my heart is with you, Erin, and all the trans individuals I know, and don’t know!
I've had to have so many conversations recently and am repeatedly disappointed by how uninformed people are - even people of good conscience, informed about the election, and consider themselves liberal allies. After their shock about the raging anti-trans movement starts to sink in, they ask what they can do. And the first thing I tell them is to immediately sign up for your newsletter and inform themselves.
We as a community are nothing if not creative and resilient and, frankly, really effing smart. Some of us won't survive this. But more of us will if we go out of our way to remind one another of our worth. So let me just leave this here:
All of you are beautiful. All of you are worthy of love. All of you are worthy of dignity and equality. Remember to breathe. Remember to thank your beautiful body for holding you. And please know - as I am finding out - that there are people who really want us in this world, and are starting to organize to protect us.
There is also a heavy dose of misogyny in these arguments. That's unsurprising coming from the right-wingers - misogyny is part of their brand - but I'll never understand how "feminists" like Helen Joyce can embrace the same absolutist gender positions.
These "feminists" concede that women are a separate, immutable category from men and insist that women need special protections not just in sports and changing rooms but in all areas of life. Once you take that position, it's kind of hard not to concede that women are inferior to men.
The attacks on trans people aren't really about trans people at all. They're about maintaining the social hierarchy where men are in charge, women are subservient, and anyone who doesn't conform to traditional gender roles is a deviant who must be purged.
There are quite a few examples of women who were winning athletic contests against men (or beating them in times) before men, who had the political power, were able to prohibit them from those competitions.
To a substantial extent, the "gender gap" between cis men and women is body size related rather than sex/gender, and therefore the system discriminates also against smaller men (and women). Psychology also plays a role - right from the earliest age, girls are socialized to believe they are weaker. A study found the same gender gap of ~10% in nine-year-olds in Australia ca 1990, far before either a hormonal or body size cause can be considered.
Lindsey Vonn wanted to race against men, because she thought that even though she wouldn't beat them the first time, she would get closer each time.
M. J. Catley and G. R. Tomkinson, “Normative health-related fitness values for children: analysis of 85347 test results on 9–17-year-old Australians since 1985,” Br. J. Sports Med. 47, 98–108 (2013).
I assume you are familiar withe the new report in the same journal indicating that by some metrics, transgender women athletes may be at a DISadvantage compared to cis women.
Hamilton B, Brown A, Montagner-Moraes S, et al.., Br J Sports Med 2024;58:586–597.
Yes, that was called to my attention several days ago.
Here is the problem as I see it, after assembling a mere 1250 files under the topic... (a little more than 3/4 being science papers and the rest press), plus Joanna Harper's book and two others: there is a gap in between the actual athletes' stories and performance stats and the science that has not yet been filled by a well-focused book. Which I am attempting to do. 🙂
Joanna's book is excellent, but it's written as a general "introduction for the public" (a worthy goal, of course), and hence is less likely to be considered by the people at the ground level (school officials, state legislative aids, etc.), and certainly not by any court considering the various lawsuits. The plaintiffs in the Idaho case, for example, have some language that is straight out of Hilton and Lundberg (“Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage,” Sports Medicine 51,199–214 (2021)). That paper is as full of logical holes as swiss cheese, but unless it's refuted in a comparable manner, they can get away with it.
As I dug in deeper to muscle physiology (which was not, admittedly, my original scientific training! - I'm a chemist), what I discovered is that *specific* muscle mass (lean body mass as a percent of total) is *almost* (not quite) irrelevant; cis women and men differ very little in that respect. Other factors are actually more important; mobilization of calcium ions (essential for every single actin-myosin molecular motion) is a major example, and testosterone governs it more directly than it governs muscle mass.
I've still got a lot to digest (and figure out how to present accurately and succinctly to laypeople), but the differences between transgender women and cis men are far more than that muscle mass that gets all the attention. Statistics and widths of distributions play an important role also. I don't know what value my work will have beyond the others already published, but I have to try. And I do have a scientific pedigree (fellow of the AAAS, for one), so I can get a *little* attention, anyway!
I'll look forward to your book, although I have little confidence my command of biochemistry will be sufficient to gain a lot from it.
I wold have some question about the relevance of lack thereof of specific muscle mas, but this is discussion area, not a school, so I'll leave that aside. Thanks for the clear response.
Thank you for your comments and links! Where might I follow your progress on your work?? I am a therapist (mental health, LCPC), so the topic interests me generally in that respect, but am also in conversation, trying to open discussion with my BIL, who is a professor in the kinesiology department at UCLA, and posts horribly transphobic and aggressively anti-trans rhetoric and misinformation on social media. He also happens to be gay, and admits that there is much devisiveness between the communities (but fails to take accountability for his contributions to it). Understandably, my trans son wants nothing to do with his uncle 😞 I would love to follow your work, and continue to educate myself on the topic (to the best degree that my lack of knowledge and understanding in the field allows me!)
This is what (https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/ohio-passes-sweeping-college-trans/comment/77273154) I was alluding to yesterday - just as sports bans are the wedge issue for wider suppression of trans folks, suppression of trans folks is the wedge for increasingly pervasive and intrusive scrutiny/policing of anyone who is (or who can be, if someone thinks they need to be taken down a peg or three) socially classed as Not Man Enough. Trans folks, LGBTQI+ folks, women, people of color, neurodivergent folks, people with disabilities, too young or too old, too poor, non-Christians, the 'wrong' sort of Christian, dissidents, the list will keep growing as long as there's anyone not of their ruling class that the ruling class wants to exert more control over.
You can’t give Republicans anything cause then they just keep coming for more. Hope Dems will start being democrats again. Quit trying to play the middle ground.
Thank you so much for your reporting Erin. I'm trying to find any resources on actions taken against parents who are transgender like myself. The focus is mostly or entirely on parents who support trans kids.
I'm trying to understand what actions might be taken like reporting a trans mom as myself as abusive just for being trans.
Any one with any info I would greatly appreciate this.
Really clear Erin, I’ve been trying to get this over to people in the UK, I’ll link it to a Reddit piece if I may.
Can you also verbalise the fact that bans for us will inevitably lead to bans being put in place for LGB people too? They seem to be sleep walking into this by turning their back on us. Total blindness.
I am totally shocked by white privileged. A white cis woman about my age of 74 years told me how disappointed she was with the election. I have always thought of her as a mentor as far as leaning so far liberal. When I told her I was going to put a larger bumper sticker on my car and a sign at my house she said oh you’re setting yourself up to be a target. I responded that a person who is queer and especially transgender is a target 24/7 what would she suggest they do? It was actually a great opportunity for me to get my point of view in. I am so tired of people remaining silent.
That so many people fell for this is infuriating. The lies the haters told never passed the sniff test in the first place, had enough legislators or media personalities cared to take a whiff (and those who did, it seems more often than not, rather enjoyed the smell of bullshit), and the examples they kept trotting out to support their crusade against us- like the abominable Ms. Gaines- frequently made for better evidence against their claims than for them. Meanwhile, in multiple states, opposing testimony was either not allowed at all, or cut short, or shouted over- which in itself should've been a massive red flag, to anyone who was on the fence.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵.
Here we are, with not just our participation in sportsball but our very right to exist being a hot topic for "reasonable debate." Overton Window shift, successful.
Seriously Trump told an audience that after 2024 ‘You will never have to vote again..never again’ Im done listening to ANYONE who thinks the Dems did or said ANYTHING WRONG
Anyone who thought this was about sports is naive. It’s always been about ignorance and fear! I’m a 76-year-old grandmother, and my heart is with you, Erin, and all the trans individuals I know, and don’t know!
Erin you are a gift.
I've had to have so many conversations recently and am repeatedly disappointed by how uninformed people are - even people of good conscience, informed about the election, and consider themselves liberal allies. After their shock about the raging anti-trans movement starts to sink in, they ask what they can do. And the first thing I tell them is to immediately sign up for your newsletter and inform themselves.
We as a community are nothing if not creative and resilient and, frankly, really effing smart. Some of us won't survive this. But more of us will if we go out of our way to remind one another of our worth. So let me just leave this here:
All of you are beautiful. All of you are worthy of love. All of you are worthy of dignity and equality. Remember to breathe. Remember to thank your beautiful body for holding you. And please know - as I am finding out - that there are people who really want us in this world, and are starting to organize to protect us.
Brilliant article Erin. Let’s ensure this one gets blasted out across the media.
(Also, Terry Schilling is a total POS. )
Wonderful article Erin.
There is also a heavy dose of misogyny in these arguments. That's unsurprising coming from the right-wingers - misogyny is part of their brand - but I'll never understand how "feminists" like Helen Joyce can embrace the same absolutist gender positions.
These "feminists" concede that women are a separate, immutable category from men and insist that women need special protections not just in sports and changing rooms but in all areas of life. Once you take that position, it's kind of hard not to concede that women are inferior to men.
The attacks on trans people aren't really about trans people at all. They're about maintaining the social hierarchy where men are in charge, women are subservient, and anyone who doesn't conform to traditional gender roles is a deviant who must be purged.
There are quite a few examples of women who were winning athletic contests against men (or beating them in times) before men, who had the political power, were able to prohibit them from those competitions.
To a substantial extent, the "gender gap" between cis men and women is body size related rather than sex/gender, and therefore the system discriminates also against smaller men (and women). Psychology also plays a role - right from the earliest age, girls are socialized to believe they are weaker. A study found the same gender gap of ~10% in nine-year-olds in Australia ca 1990, far before either a hormonal or body size cause can be considered.
Lindsey Vonn wanted to race against men, because she thought that even though she wouldn't beat them the first time, she would get closer each time.
I'd like a citation of the Australian study if you have one. Admittedly, 1990 is a while ago, but still valuable data.
Here you go. It's paywall-free on ResearchGate.
M. J. Catley and G. R. Tomkinson, “Normative health-related fitness values for children: analysis of 85347 test results on 9–17-year-old Australians since 1985,” Br. J. Sports Med. 47, 98–108 (2013).
Thank you!
I assume you are familiar withe the new report in the same journal indicating that by some metrics, transgender women athletes may be at a DISadvantage compared to cis women.
Hamilton B, Brown A, Montagner-Moraes S, et al.., Br J Sports Med 2024;58:586–597.
Yes, that was called to my attention several days ago.
Here is the problem as I see it, after assembling a mere 1250 files under the topic... (a little more than 3/4 being science papers and the rest press), plus Joanna Harper's book and two others: there is a gap in between the actual athletes' stories and performance stats and the science that has not yet been filled by a well-focused book. Which I am attempting to do. 🙂
Joanna's book is excellent, but it's written as a general "introduction for the public" (a worthy goal, of course), and hence is less likely to be considered by the people at the ground level (school officials, state legislative aids, etc.), and certainly not by any court considering the various lawsuits. The plaintiffs in the Idaho case, for example, have some language that is straight out of Hilton and Lundberg (“Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage,” Sports Medicine 51,199–214 (2021)). That paper is as full of logical holes as swiss cheese, but unless it's refuted in a comparable manner, they can get away with it.
As I dug in deeper to muscle physiology (which was not, admittedly, my original scientific training! - I'm a chemist), what I discovered is that *specific* muscle mass (lean body mass as a percent of total) is *almost* (not quite) irrelevant; cis women and men differ very little in that respect. Other factors are actually more important; mobilization of calcium ions (essential for every single actin-myosin molecular motion) is a major example, and testosterone governs it more directly than it governs muscle mass.
I've still got a lot to digest (and figure out how to present accurately and succinctly to laypeople), but the differences between transgender women and cis men are far more than that muscle mass that gets all the attention. Statistics and widths of distributions play an important role also. I don't know what value my work will have beyond the others already published, but I have to try. And I do have a scientific pedigree (fellow of the AAAS, for one), so I can get a *little* attention, anyway!
I'll look forward to your book, although I have little confidence my command of biochemistry will be sufficient to gain a lot from it.
I wold have some question about the relevance of lack thereof of specific muscle mas, but this is discussion area, not a school, so I'll leave that aside. Thanks for the clear response.
Thank you for your comments and links! Where might I follow your progress on your work?? I am a therapist (mental health, LCPC), so the topic interests me generally in that respect, but am also in conversation, trying to open discussion with my BIL, who is a professor in the kinesiology department at UCLA, and posts horribly transphobic and aggressively anti-trans rhetoric and misinformation on social media. He also happens to be gay, and admits that there is much devisiveness between the communities (but fails to take accountability for his contributions to it). Understandably, my trans son wants nothing to do with his uncle 😞 I would love to follow your work, and continue to educate myself on the topic (to the best degree that my lack of knowledge and understanding in the field allows me!)
I came across this young man explaining his observation of inbuilt misogyny yesterday regarding the sport of archery: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oCi_IawIFQA
Wow, so even in modern times the political ploy is brought into play!!
This is what (https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/ohio-passes-sweeping-college-trans/comment/77273154) I was alluding to yesterday - just as sports bans are the wedge issue for wider suppression of trans folks, suppression of trans folks is the wedge for increasingly pervasive and intrusive scrutiny/policing of anyone who is (or who can be, if someone thinks they need to be taken down a peg or three) socially classed as Not Man Enough. Trans folks, LGBTQI+ folks, women, people of color, neurodivergent folks, people with disabilities, too young or too old, too poor, non-Christians, the 'wrong' sort of Christian, dissidents, the list will keep growing as long as there's anyone not of their ruling class that the ruling class wants to exert more control over.
You can’t give Republicans anything cause then they just keep coming for more. Hope Dems will start being democrats again. Quit trying to play the middle ground.
Thank you so much for your reporting Erin. I'm trying to find any resources on actions taken against parents who are transgender like myself. The focus is mostly or entirely on parents who support trans kids.
I'm trying to understand what actions might be taken like reporting a trans mom as myself as abusive just for being trans.
Any one with any info I would greatly appreciate this.
Best article you've ever written, Erin. Thank you!!
Really clear Erin, I’ve been trying to get this over to people in the UK, I’ll link it to a Reddit piece if I may.
Can you also verbalise the fact that bans for us will inevitably lead to bans being put in place for LGB people too? They seem to be sleep walking into this by turning their back on us. Total blindness.
I am totally shocked by white privileged. A white cis woman about my age of 74 years told me how disappointed she was with the election. I have always thought of her as a mentor as far as leaning so far liberal. When I told her I was going to put a larger bumper sticker on my car and a sign at my house she said oh you’re setting yourself up to be a target. I responded that a person who is queer and especially transgender is a target 24/7 what would she suggest they do? It was actually a great opportunity for me to get my point of view in. I am so tired of people remaining silent.
Thank you - that (public display of allyship) really does keep us safer. If the only people openly supporting us are us, that's a problem.
That so many people fell for this is infuriating. The lies the haters told never passed the sniff test in the first place, had enough legislators or media personalities cared to take a whiff (and those who did, it seems more often than not, rather enjoyed the smell of bullshit), and the examples they kept trotting out to support their crusade against us- like the abominable Ms. Gaines- frequently made for better evidence against their claims than for them. Meanwhile, in multiple states, opposing testimony was either not allowed at all, or cut short, or shouted over- which in itself should've been a massive red flag, to anyone who was on the fence.
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵.
Here we are, with not just our participation in sportsball but our very right to exist being a hot topic for "reasonable debate." Overton Window shift, successful.
Seriously Trump told an audience that after 2024 ‘You will never have to vote again..never again’ Im done listening to ANYONE who thinks the Dems did or said ANYTHING WRONG
Excellent article Erin!! Mahalo for all you (and Zoë) do for the community!
If the Right ever cared for women and girls sports they would have addressed all the Title IX violations that have existed for years.
Instead they did the opposite in many cases and fought equality.
Now they cry "think of the girls" and sadly way too many bought their bullshit.
Very necessary broad look at the bigger picture that trans sports bans represent !
Thanks Erin. Great info!