Bans on transgender competition in sports tend to be controversial, with some even otherwise supportive people siding with such bans. I present the moderate case against doing so.
I just hate that these arguments need to be had. The sports bans are facially evil. I've met cisgender women far larger and stronger than me. If I'm too powerful to play, they should also be banned. But we all know it's not actually about fairness or safety, just hatred. And I can't help but to lack the energy to drag the people dumb enough to fall for the bigots' lies into the light.
I don't know why we're so hung up on men and women competing separately at all in most sports! IMO, that "binary gender" thing is pretty ridiculous, except in certain sports where there really is a physical (dis)advantage to being (fe)male that affects the safety and competitiveness of the teams.
I also suspect we'd see a lot less toxicity from men if they were better socialized with women from a young age (but that's a whole other cultural battle).
As a transgender woman athlete, this is a subject of particular interest to me. It's a shame we have to have these conversations, but the onslaught of misinformation and sensationalized stories requires it. This moderate argument is one I've begun to use as well, and it will get through to well meaning folks who have little or no understanding of how these bans actually work. I used to start with the science, but that's a non starter. The appeal to reason and compassion is far more effective.
The other aspect of the subject that is vastly underappreciated is the non-existence of a "level playing field" that anti-trans proponents believe so firmly in. That has been recognized completely separately from transgender issues.
I am writing a book on the topic, which takes a complementary but different approach to Joanna Harper's; unfortunately this kind of book isn't turned out in an hour... I would *very* much appreciate inputs from people like you as I move forward (I'm actually about halfway through). Please take at look at this and the others I've written, and thanks!
I'm shocked to read of ANYONE accepting the assertion that anti-trans proponents believe in a 'level playing field'. They give lip service to that notion in order to bully opponents and further their agenda, but they have no interest in actually equality of opportunity. Where are these anti-trans proponents when women's athletic programs are begging for crumbs of the money spent on men's sports? Where are they in those instances Erin mentioned, of sports that are not in any way, shape or form affected by biological factors? No, they are solely interested in erasing trans women from public life, and they are using the bodies of cis women as weapons and shields in their attacks.
Whether they truly believe it or not, they certainly audibly claim it; this is at the heart of the text of many (if not all) of the lawsuits that have been filed. Academic literature on the topic (note that "fairness" is the more formal label) goes back a long way; covered extensively by Veronica Ivy in her thesis (on which the paper in Philosophical Topics Vol. 46, No. 2, Fall 2018 is based). More on this will come.
Omg this is such a good point and one I like to point out as well. And just one aspect of this line of reasoning is that competition by it's very nature is a process of determining superiority. A "level playing field" really is just that. Its about the rules that govern the competition. Are all swimmers competing in a 50m pool, are the basketball hoops the same height and circumference, are the playing fields all the same dimensions given a particular sport, etc? And, ahem, are women's sports being resourced equally to men's sports?
I'd love to contribute. I'll try to respond later today.
Jayna, I just read your chapter and am SO grateful you're taking this on. I just left a comment above with an anecdote about my experience with the "level playing field," in case it's useful. And your calculation of the number of trans girl athletes per high school is one I keep meaning to research, and here it is! Thank you for what you're doing.
Erin, I'm an ardent fan of yours and the mother of a trans adult. I've gotten the same caveat from liberal friends and acquaintances many times: 'I support trans rights except for trans men in women's sports.' Your post helps address it, and I've also pointed out to people that HT changes muscle mass. (I've also said that it's a smokescreen for demonization and exclusion.)I would love a response that specifically addresses running (and sports that require running, like basketball) and swimming. These appear to be the flash points, from what I can tell. Thank you for all you do.
I played in a boys ice hockey league as a teen. I’m a trans woman, and was desperately trying to avoid that fact in my teen years. Did I have an advantage for my size, strength, and reach as a goalie versus the boys? Yes, I did as I was larger than most professional goalies at the time (athleticism, balance, speed, and agility were not traits I had then or now). All the teen boys had male puberties.
Do you know who didn’t? The teen girls on almost all the teams because at the time there weren’t enough to support girls leagues. So let me repeat that - in a highly complex, high tempo sport filled with physical contact, in the past it was entirely acceptable for teen girls to play against teams of mostly boys. Not against teen trans girls who would have seen reductions in strength and speed due to HRT, but 6’4”, 220 pound teen boy hockey players as I was at the time.
It was entirely acceptable for girls to play against boys in a violent contact sport. And no one clutched their pearls over it. But you throw the words ‘transgender women’ into that and suddenly it is an issue. Note, not transgender men, but transgender women. The point of these bans whether it is bathrooms or sports is not to protect women - it’s to exclude trans women of any age from public life and participation.
I was a (non-skating) hockey goalie in my teen years. I was so good in it that I got my current nickname "Iron Curtain" due to it. I never played competitively, though, and I didn't realize I was trans until I was 41, and I didn't start HRT until May 12, 2024 (the one-year anniversary of which is tommorow, which I consider my "tranniversary"!)!
Trans women are already playing sports. Some of us don't realize it until later in life, though.
My mom was among the first female players in high school water polo in CA the 70s - and she played with the boys, because there was no girls team. She said repeatedly that while the guys might have been larger, it didn't automatically make them better swimmers and in many ways she had more advantages. *water polo*. an incredibly physical sport.
Thank you. I've used similar arguments with my "mushy middle " acquaintances, but you have laid them out much better here. Leaving it up to the sports federations makes sense to me.
Years ago, discussing trans bathrooms with a younger friend who had just had the issue (banning trans people from bathrooms of their current gender) come up up on his college campus, I said "there shouldn't be any laws. Trans people have been choosing the appropriate bathroom for hundreds of years. There shouldn't be a law". He replied "so there should be a law allowing trans people in bathrooms?" I repeated again - "No law. we don't need a law. People will use their common sense and pick the best bathroom for themselves". I feel similarly about sports. Keep any decisions local and appropriate to the sport.
One of the things I hate the most about the right using sports as a wedge issue is that I have to educate myself about [insert sport Fox News is blowing up about this week here].
I fucking hate competitive sports. I will play a game of pool, or darts, or bowling, with my friends, but when people start talking about team lineups and leagues and stats and times and shit, I tune right out. I made a serious effort, the moment I left high school in my rearview mirror, to forget everything I was ever forced to learn about sports. I don't want to learn how they're played, and I find them boring and tedious to watch. I don't even watch the Olympics. I'd rather read a book, watch a movie, play a videogame, take a hike, go for a drive, listen to some music, clip my toenails, shave my legs... hell, maybe even get a bit of writing done for once, if I'm in the mood.
But instead I have to put my own shit on hold and take the time to research the trans sport kerfuffle du jour, filling my head with facts and figures I shouldn't have to care about, just so I can bring receipts the next time some propaganda-addled idiot pops off about "MeN iN wOmEnS sPoRtS!" Because if I don't do that, even if I don't care about sports even a little bit the other 99% of the time, then the propaganda wins. And the other side of this fucking culture war is coming for bathroom access, document changes, and transition care as soon as they've driven the sports wedge in.
I wish I were still living in a world where I could just let the people who actually like sports care about sports, so I could go do my own thing, and I wouldn't have to deal with sports stuff and sports people wouldn't have to deal with my bitter ass being crabby about something they enjoy. I don't actually like shitting on things other people enjoy. It's just that when I'm in the position of being forced by current political realities to invest time and effort researching something I dislike, that makes my dislike for it intensify into loathing, and that tends to boil over sometimes.
If we make it past this moment, and I can someday go back to not paying attention to anything sportier than "loser buys the next round," I will die happy.
WOW, those could have been my own words! Yeah, all of the above, sister!
I'll go one further: I was so roundly traumatized by all the bullying I received in PE/gym that I have PTSD to this day, even in my 60's. If I hear a cheering crowd on the television, my blood pressure rises, and my skin crawls. So when it comes to all these discussions of trans athletic bans, I find myself fighting off traumatic memories just to argue for our dignity as a population. I swear I can smell the stinky sweat socks every time this topic comes up. And I resent it!
Sports are inherently unfair. If a girl who’s 5’10 has her heart set on being a competitive gymnast, I’m sorry she’ll never be able to compete against those who are built like Simone B. It’s just the genetic roll of the dice. So all this fuss about unfairness is a smokescreen for outright discrimination and transphobia. Someone will always have the genetic upper hand, like, say Michael Phelps, and all the practice in the world won’t change the fact that a swimmer who’s 5’4 will NEVER beat someone like him. So why not play sports for the fun of it, including trans competitors?
It is the wrong argument. It isn’t just that all trans women are not stronger than all female women. It’s the wrong argument because not all male men are stronger than all female women!! Take me, because I know me best. I’m just 5’5” tall and weigh 126lbs. My testosterone is a perfect 750 and I know this because having been born without gonads my adult hormones come from a needle and I am tested once every few yrs. To make sure I get enough. Thats been true my entire adult life. I have NEVER been able to play on a teen or adult game level. Because of my size. There is no way I could play on a girls or woman’s team either because although there are more women my size available to play the short, scrawny ones don’t make it onto any team either. We get left out and left behind. Sports teams are not accessible for anyone who is smaller than average - period. Is it possible that we could be included? Yes. The assholes in sports could provide us with handicaps but then the big kids and adults would still put us in the hospital and the coaches wouldn’t be willing to run a team with ppl who can’t play without being mangled. They could design sports where everyone’s best is good enough but that means giving up on the “belief” that competition CAN be healthy, moral thing. It can not so thats right out. Sports suck. There is no way to make something intrinsically unfair - fair.
James, you hit the nail on the head. (Of course you were in a good position to do so. 😏) I have frequently used the examples of Brittney Griner and Robert Reich (the latter not being an athlete at any time in his life, but at 4'11" he makes the point!).
Sport is not fair, and the level playing field not only doesn't exist, but could not: there would be no spectator interest if it did.
Thanks, Erin! I’m so grateful for your voice! Other points I’ve been making: We don’t ban cis people with distinct, observable biological advantage. Like no one told the first man in the NBA who was over 7’ tall back in 1946 that he couldn’t play because the average height of “normal” men was under 6’. How about Lauren Jackson or Anne Donovan in women’s basketball? No one told Michael Phelps he couldn’t swim because of his physical stature. Sports has always celebrated those who win. Secondly, and more to the point, the number of trans women athletes who are dominating in any women’s sports is minute. The real issue around transgender people is the hateful oppression they have endured and how wrong THAT is. The sports issue is meant to focus attention on a virtually nonexistent issue while trans oppression is allowed to grow unchecked.
People old enough to remember Renee Richards (a tennis player who had transitioned) know that this current faux outrage over "men in women's sports" is nothing but manufactured slop. Richards sued to be allowed to play in the US Open in 1977 - and then promptly lost to Virginia Wade in the first round. Billie Jean King - who is unquestionably a major advocate of women's rights - submitted an affidavit supporting Richards stating that she did not have a physical advantage over women competitors. That was 50 YEARS AGO. There is nothing new here.
This is NOT an issue for politicians and phony BS culture warriors. It is a sports governing body issue that should be decided on a case by case basis depending on the sport, the level of competition and the competitor.
A couple of things in particular piss me off about this whole discussion. The level of phoniness is revolting. The loudest complainers could not care less about women's sports and in fact are some of the biggest misogynist scumbags. And then you have the hypocrites like that fencer. As I understand it, she competed the pevious week in a club tournament against a cisgender man.
So obviously she had no problem competing against "men" and the whole thing was a fabrication.
Thank you for this. I have a conservative brother that always turns to this argument when we have discussions on Trans rights. He is usually willing to listen and discuss, so having a good way to present it so he can understand helps. He has embraced having a Trans niece, but still struggles with nuances that come up. I need to drag him away from Fox news from 3 states away. Conversations make a difference. And yes, I hate the fact that we even HAVE to change people's minds, it seems a no- brainer, but at least, for some, it is doable. One mind at a time...
I fence. Fencing requires a brain, a strategy, finesse, good reflexes and sometimes, just sometimes, a little strength. Most of my touches are scored at or just above the minimum force necessary to score because I have some great finesse. This is my goal, while fencing men or women. Most of my fencing is in mixed competition. This is not unusual, as many areas do not have enough fencers to support quality single-gender competitions. I generally fence in the Over 40 categories, referred to as "Veterans". I fenced for many years in the Veteran Men's categories and did great on a local level and decently on the National level. So, do not try the bullshit that I switched genders because I did not make in the men's events.
The women Veterans asked me to fence with them, as I have known them and been friends with them for a couple of decades. So I do, sometimes. I have had one good finish but generally I finish in the middle. For now, the US fencing rules allow this, but it is well within the realm of possibilities that the FIE(Fencing Federation) and/or the IOC will put an end to it. Will I be disappointed? Yes. Will I be devastated? No. As I said, there are mixed competitions that I can fence in. The alarmist crap that Marge "Jewish Space Lasers" Greene spun it with in DC this week was just an attempt to "other" the transgender world and spew her hateful rhetoric. They do not understand us and since we are a very small group, they can paint us in their jaundiced way, to scapegoat us and provide raw meat for their ignorant constituents. A.
Anne, I would love to make contact with you for an entirely different reason than the transgender athlete debate, if possible. My second novel (which has a trans main character, but that's not really the focus) does have a swordfight as an absolutely key plot element. I can explain if you're interested in following up. You can contact me on my Substack. Thanks and good luck!
Men are taught to hate women from an early age and the Christo-fascists have a particular fixation and disdain for trans women because of this reason. I also believe it is a typical playbook strategy to divide cis and trans women to further their agenda of imposing a strict gender hierarchical order on society. It was a strategy to get as many cis women as possible to participate in their own oppression as well. It’s maddening, vile, and absurd.
I am surprised that all sides on this issue are avoiding the empirical data that should conclusively settle the question of advantages: Study the percentage of transwomen and transgirls who participate in a given sport, and the percentage of them that win their event.
If perhaps 1% of entries are trans and 1% of winners are trans, there is no justification for any ban.
If the 1% of entries wins 2% of the events...trans entrants winning at double the rate of cis entrants...that would be an example of an advantage. This would be the point where further examination is warranted. The entire discussion should never have arisen without looking at the reality rather than the speculative.
As far as I know, this data is either uncollected or unavailable to the public.
Data is great, yes. But the thing is this: most people don't pay attention to numbers and numbers alone don't answer the anxieties people may have. A person like the man Erin spoke with might very well say "okay yes only 1% but that's unfair to the 99% of cis women."
You have to pair data with stories and addressing and deflating their arguments in a way that leads them out of their current frame of mind
The data is in fact not uncollected (see the link below), but it's not so easy, because said data is both sparse and imperfect. It isn't collected and reported in a standardized way; many relevant athletes gender identity is/was not known, and there are so few that statistics are unreliable (athletic performance distributions are very wide). But I'm working on it, nevertheless!
Jayna, can we connect through my Substack, Sheathed Sword - https://sheathedsword.substack.com/p/fear-not-fairness - I am writing on this, not a book, but opinion pieces and would love to hear more about your book. Abby Ross
Unfortunately, there are no facts or science that will convince the MAGATS, or even many of the middle ground. The argument that trans people make up less than 1% of the US population has been made and ignored repeatedly.
With respect to actual athletic competition where testosterone blood levels are an issue . . .
The medically and factually and effective rules the IOC once had in place for the Olympics for 18 years and which they sadly discarded should be re-adopted there and adopted generally. MtF athletes who never underwent any masculine puberty are eligible for women's categories without exception or quibbling. Those who have should be required to undergo up to 2 years of medically effective HRT before competing in women's categories. Those were once the rules, they should be again.
If MtF athletes have participation rates and abilities so little as on par with cisgender female athletes, there should be about 77 of Olympic medalists who are MtF. Instead there are zero. If their participation rate is so little as that in the NCAA now, there should be about 20. Instead there are zero. If so few as one participated and categorically have any masculine advantage, there must be at least 1. Instead there are zero.
No MtF athlete has ever even made a team slot competitively even at the highest levels of competition where any advantage should be most apparent.
The record of Lia Thomas proves MTF athletes have no advantage whatsoever, as even a MtF athlete rated in the top 10 nationally in their best events prior to HRT, falls in relative ranking in women's categories after HRT. The notable record Thomas set is already bested by a cisgender female athlete! She did not tie with Riley Gaines for 1st place, but for 5th!
Where is the evidence of unfair "masculine" net advantage surviving HRT!
Thank you Erin, this is super helpful! The right is so effective at demonizing that we need every angle we can get to push back on the trans sports red herring. I’m speaking as a cis Mom of a thirty something trans woman. Her experience with the hateful actions by the current the regime has radicalized me… I have always considered myself a moderate in most things but have been forced to move away from that view to counter the extremists running our country.
I just hate that these arguments need to be had. The sports bans are facially evil. I've met cisgender women far larger and stronger than me. If I'm too powerful to play, they should also be banned. But we all know it's not actually about fairness or safety, just hatred. And I can't help but to lack the energy to drag the people dumb enough to fall for the bigots' lies into the light.
I don't know why we're so hung up on men and women competing separately at all in most sports! IMO, that "binary gender" thing is pretty ridiculous, except in certain sports where there really is a physical (dis)advantage to being (fe)male that affects the safety and competitiveness of the teams.
I also suspect we'd see a lot less toxicity from men if they were better socialized with women from a young age (but that's a whole other cultural battle).
As a transgender woman athlete, this is a subject of particular interest to me. It's a shame we have to have these conversations, but the onslaught of misinformation and sensationalized stories requires it. This moderate argument is one I've begun to use as well, and it will get through to well meaning folks who have little or no understanding of how these bans actually work. I used to start with the science, but that's a non starter. The appeal to reason and compassion is far more effective.
The other aspect of the subject that is vastly underappreciated is the non-existence of a "level playing field" that anti-trans proponents believe so firmly in. That has been recognized completely separately from transgender issues.
I am writing a book on the topic, which takes a complementary but different approach to Joanna Harper's; unfortunately this kind of book isn't turned out in an hour... I would *very* much appreciate inputs from people like you as I move forward (I'm actually about halfway through). Please take at look at this and the others I've written, and thanks!
https://jaynasheats.substack.com/p/chapter-3-the-real-science-of-transgender
I'm shocked to read of ANYONE accepting the assertion that anti-trans proponents believe in a 'level playing field'. They give lip service to that notion in order to bully opponents and further their agenda, but they have no interest in actually equality of opportunity. Where are these anti-trans proponents when women's athletic programs are begging for crumbs of the money spent on men's sports? Where are they in those instances Erin mentioned, of sports that are not in any way, shape or form affected by biological factors? No, they are solely interested in erasing trans women from public life, and they are using the bodies of cis women as weapons and shields in their attacks.
Whether they truly believe it or not, they certainly audibly claim it; this is at the heart of the text of many (if not all) of the lawsuits that have been filed. Academic literature on the topic (note that "fairness" is the more formal label) goes back a long way; covered extensively by Veronica Ivy in her thesis (on which the paper in Philosophical Topics Vol. 46, No. 2, Fall 2018 is based). More on this will come.
Omg this is such a good point and one I like to point out as well. And just one aspect of this line of reasoning is that competition by it's very nature is a process of determining superiority. A "level playing field" really is just that. Its about the rules that govern the competition. Are all swimmers competing in a 50m pool, are the basketball hoops the same height and circumference, are the playing fields all the same dimensions given a particular sport, etc? And, ahem, are women's sports being resourced equally to men's sports?
I'd love to contribute. I'll try to respond later today.
Jayna, I just read your chapter and am SO grateful you're taking this on. I just left a comment above with an anecdote about my experience with the "level playing field," in case it's useful. And your calculation of the number of trans girl athletes per high school is one I keep meaning to research, and here it is! Thank you for what you're doing.
Erin, I'm an ardent fan of yours and the mother of a trans adult. I've gotten the same caveat from liberal friends and acquaintances many times: 'I support trans rights except for trans men in women's sports.' Your post helps address it, and I've also pointed out to people that HT changes muscle mass. (I've also said that it's a smokescreen for demonization and exclusion.)I would love a response that specifically addresses running (and sports that require running, like basketball) and swimming. These appear to be the flash points, from what I can tell. Thank you for all you do.
I played in a boys ice hockey league as a teen. I’m a trans woman, and was desperately trying to avoid that fact in my teen years. Did I have an advantage for my size, strength, and reach as a goalie versus the boys? Yes, I did as I was larger than most professional goalies at the time (athleticism, balance, speed, and agility were not traits I had then or now). All the teen boys had male puberties.
Do you know who didn’t? The teen girls on almost all the teams because at the time there weren’t enough to support girls leagues. So let me repeat that - in a highly complex, high tempo sport filled with physical contact, in the past it was entirely acceptable for teen girls to play against teams of mostly boys. Not against teen trans girls who would have seen reductions in strength and speed due to HRT, but 6’4”, 220 pound teen boy hockey players as I was at the time.
It was entirely acceptable for girls to play against boys in a violent contact sport. And no one clutched their pearls over it. But you throw the words ‘transgender women’ into that and suddenly it is an issue. Note, not transgender men, but transgender women. The point of these bans whether it is bathrooms or sports is not to protect women - it’s to exclude trans women of any age from public life and participation.
I was a (non-skating) hockey goalie in my teen years. I was so good in it that I got my current nickname "Iron Curtain" due to it. I never played competitively, though, and I didn't realize I was trans until I was 41, and I didn't start HRT until May 12, 2024 (the one-year anniversary of which is tommorow, which I consider my "tranniversary"!)!
Trans women are already playing sports. Some of us don't realize it until later in life, though.
My mom was among the first female players in high school water polo in CA the 70s - and she played with the boys, because there was no girls team. She said repeatedly that while the guys might have been larger, it didn't automatically make them better swimmers and in many ways she had more advantages. *water polo*. an incredibly physical sport.
Try searching for: "julia serano trans people and sports"
Thank you. I've used similar arguments with my "mushy middle " acquaintances, but you have laid them out much better here. Leaving it up to the sports federations makes sense to me.
Years ago, discussing trans bathrooms with a younger friend who had just had the issue (banning trans people from bathrooms of their current gender) come up up on his college campus, I said "there shouldn't be any laws. Trans people have been choosing the appropriate bathroom for hundreds of years. There shouldn't be a law". He replied "so there should be a law allowing trans people in bathrooms?" I repeated again - "No law. we don't need a law. People will use their common sense and pick the best bathroom for themselves". I feel similarly about sports. Keep any decisions local and appropriate to the sport.
One of the things I hate the most about the right using sports as a wedge issue is that I have to educate myself about [insert sport Fox News is blowing up about this week here].
I fucking hate competitive sports. I will play a game of pool, or darts, or bowling, with my friends, but when people start talking about team lineups and leagues and stats and times and shit, I tune right out. I made a serious effort, the moment I left high school in my rearview mirror, to forget everything I was ever forced to learn about sports. I don't want to learn how they're played, and I find them boring and tedious to watch. I don't even watch the Olympics. I'd rather read a book, watch a movie, play a videogame, take a hike, go for a drive, listen to some music, clip my toenails, shave my legs... hell, maybe even get a bit of writing done for once, if I'm in the mood.
But instead I have to put my own shit on hold and take the time to research the trans sport kerfuffle du jour, filling my head with facts and figures I shouldn't have to care about, just so I can bring receipts the next time some propaganda-addled idiot pops off about "MeN iN wOmEnS sPoRtS!" Because if I don't do that, even if I don't care about sports even a little bit the other 99% of the time, then the propaganda wins. And the other side of this fucking culture war is coming for bathroom access, document changes, and transition care as soon as they've driven the sports wedge in.
I wish I were still living in a world where I could just let the people who actually like sports care about sports, so I could go do my own thing, and I wouldn't have to deal with sports stuff and sports people wouldn't have to deal with my bitter ass being crabby about something they enjoy. I don't actually like shitting on things other people enjoy. It's just that when I'm in the position of being forced by current political realities to invest time and effort researching something I dislike, that makes my dislike for it intensify into loathing, and that tends to boil over sometimes.
If we make it past this moment, and I can someday go back to not paying attention to anything sportier than "loser buys the next round," I will die happy.
WOW, those could have been my own words! Yeah, all of the above, sister!
I'll go one further: I was so roundly traumatized by all the bullying I received in PE/gym that I have PTSD to this day, even in my 60's. If I hear a cheering crowd on the television, my blood pressure rises, and my skin crawls. So when it comes to all these discussions of trans athletic bans, I find myself fighting off traumatic memories just to argue for our dignity as a population. I swear I can smell the stinky sweat socks every time this topic comes up. And I resent it!
Sports are inherently unfair. If a girl who’s 5’10 has her heart set on being a competitive gymnast, I’m sorry she’ll never be able to compete against those who are built like Simone B. It’s just the genetic roll of the dice. So all this fuss about unfairness is a smokescreen for outright discrimination and transphobia. Someone will always have the genetic upper hand, like, say Michael Phelps, and all the practice in the world won’t change the fact that a swimmer who’s 5’4 will NEVER beat someone like him. So why not play sports for the fun of it, including trans competitors?
Hadn’t seen your post before I made mine. Yeah, what you said!
It is the wrong argument. It isn’t just that all trans women are not stronger than all female women. It’s the wrong argument because not all male men are stronger than all female women!! Take me, because I know me best. I’m just 5’5” tall and weigh 126lbs. My testosterone is a perfect 750 and I know this because having been born without gonads my adult hormones come from a needle and I am tested once every few yrs. To make sure I get enough. Thats been true my entire adult life. I have NEVER been able to play on a teen or adult game level. Because of my size. There is no way I could play on a girls or woman’s team either because although there are more women my size available to play the short, scrawny ones don’t make it onto any team either. We get left out and left behind. Sports teams are not accessible for anyone who is smaller than average - period. Is it possible that we could be included? Yes. The assholes in sports could provide us with handicaps but then the big kids and adults would still put us in the hospital and the coaches wouldn’t be willing to run a team with ppl who can’t play without being mangled. They could design sports where everyone’s best is good enough but that means giving up on the “belief” that competition CAN be healthy, moral thing. It can not so thats right out. Sports suck. There is no way to make something intrinsically unfair - fair.
James, you hit the nail on the head. (Of course you were in a good position to do so. 😏) I have frequently used the examples of Brittney Griner and Robert Reich (the latter not being an athlete at any time in his life, but at 4'11" he makes the point!).
Sport is not fair, and the level playing field not only doesn't exist, but could not: there would be no spectator interest if it did.
https://jaynasheats.substack.com/p/transgender-women-in-athletics (and the others; I've written five of these so far).
Fencing. Try it.
Thanks, Erin! I’m so grateful for your voice! Other points I’ve been making: We don’t ban cis people with distinct, observable biological advantage. Like no one told the first man in the NBA who was over 7’ tall back in 1946 that he couldn’t play because the average height of “normal” men was under 6’. How about Lauren Jackson or Anne Donovan in women’s basketball? No one told Michael Phelps he couldn’t swim because of his physical stature. Sports has always celebrated those who win. Secondly, and more to the point, the number of trans women athletes who are dominating in any women’s sports is minute. The real issue around transgender people is the hateful oppression they have endured and how wrong THAT is. The sports issue is meant to focus attention on a virtually nonexistent issue while trans oppression is allowed to grow unchecked.
People old enough to remember Renee Richards (a tennis player who had transitioned) know that this current faux outrage over "men in women's sports" is nothing but manufactured slop. Richards sued to be allowed to play in the US Open in 1977 - and then promptly lost to Virginia Wade in the first round. Billie Jean King - who is unquestionably a major advocate of women's rights - submitted an affidavit supporting Richards stating that she did not have a physical advantage over women competitors. That was 50 YEARS AGO. There is nothing new here.
This is NOT an issue for politicians and phony BS culture warriors. It is a sports governing body issue that should be decided on a case by case basis depending on the sport, the level of competition and the competitor.
A couple of things in particular piss me off about this whole discussion. The level of phoniness is revolting. The loudest complainers could not care less about women's sports and in fact are some of the biggest misogynist scumbags. And then you have the hypocrites like that fencer. As I understand it, she competed the pevious week in a club tournament against a cisgender man.
So obviously she had no problem competing against "men" and the whole thing was a fabrication.
Thank you for this. I have a conservative brother that always turns to this argument when we have discussions on Trans rights. He is usually willing to listen and discuss, so having a good way to present it so he can understand helps. He has embraced having a Trans niece, but still struggles with nuances that come up. I need to drag him away from Fox news from 3 states away. Conversations make a difference. And yes, I hate the fact that we even HAVE to change people's minds, it seems a no- brainer, but at least, for some, it is doable. One mind at a time...
I fence. Fencing requires a brain, a strategy, finesse, good reflexes and sometimes, just sometimes, a little strength. Most of my touches are scored at or just above the minimum force necessary to score because I have some great finesse. This is my goal, while fencing men or women. Most of my fencing is in mixed competition. This is not unusual, as many areas do not have enough fencers to support quality single-gender competitions. I generally fence in the Over 40 categories, referred to as "Veterans". I fenced for many years in the Veteran Men's categories and did great on a local level and decently on the National level. So, do not try the bullshit that I switched genders because I did not make in the men's events.
The women Veterans asked me to fence with them, as I have known them and been friends with them for a couple of decades. So I do, sometimes. I have had one good finish but generally I finish in the middle. For now, the US fencing rules allow this, but it is well within the realm of possibilities that the FIE(Fencing Federation) and/or the IOC will put an end to it. Will I be disappointed? Yes. Will I be devastated? No. As I said, there are mixed competitions that I can fence in. The alarmist crap that Marge "Jewish Space Lasers" Greene spun it with in DC this week was just an attempt to "other" the transgender world and spew her hateful rhetoric. They do not understand us and since we are a very small group, they can paint us in their jaundiced way, to scapegoat us and provide raw meat for their ignorant constituents. A.
Anne, I would love to make contact with you for an entirely different reason than the transgender athlete debate, if possible. My second novel (which has a trans main character, but that's not really the focus) does have a swordfight as an absolutely key plot element. I can explain if you're interested in following up. You can contact me on my Substack. Thanks and good luck!
Men are taught to hate women from an early age and the Christo-fascists have a particular fixation and disdain for trans women because of this reason. I also believe it is a typical playbook strategy to divide cis and trans women to further their agenda of imposing a strict gender hierarchical order on society. It was a strategy to get as many cis women as possible to participate in their own oppression as well. It’s maddening, vile, and absurd.
Fantastic article. Thank you
I am surprised that all sides on this issue are avoiding the empirical data that should conclusively settle the question of advantages: Study the percentage of transwomen and transgirls who participate in a given sport, and the percentage of them that win their event.
If perhaps 1% of entries are trans and 1% of winners are trans, there is no justification for any ban.
If the 1% of entries wins 2% of the events...trans entrants winning at double the rate of cis entrants...that would be an example of an advantage. This would be the point where further examination is warranted. The entire discussion should never have arisen without looking at the reality rather than the speculative.
As far as I know, this data is either uncollected or unavailable to the public.
Data is great, yes. But the thing is this: most people don't pay attention to numbers and numbers alone don't answer the anxieties people may have. A person like the man Erin spoke with might very well say "okay yes only 1% but that's unfair to the 99% of cis women."
You have to pair data with stories and addressing and deflating their arguments in a way that leads them out of their current frame of mind
The data is in fact not uncollected (see the link below), but it's not so easy, because said data is both sparse and imperfect. It isn't collected and reported in a standardized way; many relevant athletes gender identity is/was not known, and there are so few that statistics are unreliable (athletic performance distributions are very wide). But I'm working on it, nevertheless!
https://jaynasheats.substack.com/p/chapter-3-the-real-science-of-transgender
Jayna, can we connect through my Substack, Sheathed Sword - https://sheathedsword.substack.com/p/fear-not-fairness - I am writing on this, not a book, but opinion pieces and would love to hear more about your book. Abby Ross
Unfortunately, there are no facts or science that will convince the MAGATS, or even many of the middle ground. The argument that trans people make up less than 1% of the US population has been made and ignored repeatedly.
With respect to actual athletic competition where testosterone blood levels are an issue . . .
The medically and factually and effective rules the IOC once had in place for the Olympics for 18 years and which they sadly discarded should be re-adopted there and adopted generally. MtF athletes who never underwent any masculine puberty are eligible for women's categories without exception or quibbling. Those who have should be required to undergo up to 2 years of medically effective HRT before competing in women's categories. Those were once the rules, they should be again.
If MtF athletes have participation rates and abilities so little as on par with cisgender female athletes, there should be about 77 of Olympic medalists who are MtF. Instead there are zero. If their participation rate is so little as that in the NCAA now, there should be about 20. Instead there are zero. If so few as one participated and categorically have any masculine advantage, there must be at least 1. Instead there are zero.
No MtF athlete has ever even made a team slot competitively even at the highest levels of competition where any advantage should be most apparent.
The record of Lia Thomas proves MTF athletes have no advantage whatsoever, as even a MtF athlete rated in the top 10 nationally in their best events prior to HRT, falls in relative ranking in women's categories after HRT. The notable record Thomas set is already bested by a cisgender female athlete! She did not tie with Riley Gaines for 1st place, but for 5th!
Where is the evidence of unfair "masculine" net advantage surviving HRT!
It does not exist.
Thank you Erin, this is super helpful! The right is so effective at demonizing that we need every angle we can get to push back on the trans sports red herring. I’m speaking as a cis Mom of a thirty something trans woman. Her experience with the hateful actions by the current the regime has radicalized me… I have always considered myself a moderate in most things but have been forced to move away from that view to counter the extremists running our country.