Yes.
In recent years through the continuous efforts of advocates and allies, society has made strides towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) acceptance and inclusivity, but it seems the world of sports is still behind. As representation of transgender people grows, so does the debate about allowing transgender athletes to compete in sports categories according to their gender identity and not their assigned sex at birth. Specifically, many vehemently reject allowing transgender women in women’s sports. Opponents of the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports enforce the absurdly false notion that transgender women are no more biologically different than cisgender men. However, this conclusion is a step in the wrong direction toward understanding and accepting people who are transgender. Consequently, regulations that discriminate against transgender athletes stunt the growth of a diverse society.
The discourse surrounding transgender athletes is leaving an impact on new regulations implemented in sports leagues, one example being World Aquatics. World Aquatics’ new regulation states that transgender athletes may only compete in women’s events if, “They can establish to World Aquatics’s comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage two or before age 12, whichever is later.”
According to the National Library of Medicine (NLM), Tanner stage two is a stage of puberty that typically occurs between ages nine and 12, with Tanner stage three beginning at 12. This essentially means transgender women who did not undergo gender-affirmation procedures to suppress puberty before age 12 will be ineligible from competing in World Aquatics since the minimum age to compete in World Aquatics is 14. This leaves at least 95 percent of transgender people eligible since the average transgender person does not undergo gender-affirming procedures until at least age 16, according to the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest biomedical library and a national resource for health professionals. Considering this, World Aquatics’ regulation disregards the physical transformation that many transgender people experience as a part of their identity.
As stated by the Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit American academic medical center, gender-affirming hormone therapy produces physical changes in the body that are caused by female hormones during puberty. This hormone therapy helps better align the body with a person’s gender identity. According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey Report, this therapy is the principal form of gender-affirming procedures with at least 80% of transgender people having either taken gender-affirming hormone therapy or want to take National Transgender Discrimination Survey Report on Health and Healthcaregender-affirming hormone therapy at some point. The impact of such therapy on the body is substantial, reducing the alleged physical disparity between cisgender and transgender athletes.
Some of the effects gender-affirming hormone therapy has on transgender women include reversing significant changes that occur during male puberty. Hormone therapy increases estrogen levels, decreases muscle mass and increases body fat, according to the Mayo Clinic. Procedures like hormone therapy allow transgender women to obtain the same general physical capabilities as cisgender female athletes.
Moreover, gender-affirming hormone therapy’s impact on physical performance has been proven to level the playing field between transgender and cisgender athletes. A study conducted by Oxford University shows that, “Trans women on gender-affirming hormone therapy for over 4 years show that relative percentages of muscle mass and fat mass, as well as fitness as measured by [the maximum rate of oxygen consumption attainable during physical exertion], are no different to cisgender women and lower than that of cisgender men.” This means that when considering the basic physical capabilities of transgender and cisgender athletes, transgender women do not have a significant advantage that warrants the outright exclusion of them.
Additionally, many sports organizations have shown that it is possible to progress with society rather than suppress the existence of transgender athletes from sports. Many have implemented policies to address competitive advantages, such as hormone level requirements. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), for example, has a policy that transgender women must demonstrate testosterone levels below a certain threshold for 12 months prior to competition. Regulations like this can better respect transgender athletes’ identities while maintaining the level playing field many are concerned about.
Policies that allow transgender athletes to compete in categories respecting their gender identities are important to further the progression of LGBTQ+ acceptance. However, restrictions like World Aquatics simply shut out transgender people and lack any effort to understand transgender experiences. As a result, excluding transgender women from women’s sports deepens the divide and oppression of transgender people by presenting the existence of transgender people as something that should be suppressed–a result that has serious implications.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, transphobia, prejudice against transgender people, is exacerbated by a policy that attempts to exclude transgender people–policies like World Aquatics. The impact of this is devastating as BMC Public Health,a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal that cover public health, explains that transgender women are four times more likely to experience violence than their cisgender counterparts as a result of transphobia. Sports regulations should not contribute to harmful rhetoric that endorses the exclusion, rejection, and oppression of transgender people.
Ultimately, regulations like World Aquatics’ represent a complete disregard for the complexity of being transgender. The complete exclusion of transgender women from women’s sports fails to acknowledge the medical advancements that have made it possible for transgender people to feel more comfortable in their identity. Transgender women will always exist which means institutions, including sports leagues, must adapt to the progression of society. For society to reach a future that is tolerant of all women, society must learn to accept transgender women.
No.
Being a successful female athlete has always been and continues to be one of the most difficult and rigorous paths in life a woman could choose. Female athletes face less respect from their audience members and people who constantly discredit their sports. Not only that, but the pool of female athletes continues to increase as support for female athletics grows. This makes the percentage of athletes that reach college and professional levels smaller each year. As the support for the feminist movement grew in recent years so did the support for other civil rights movements such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) movement. With this support on the rise, we have seen more and more inclusivity in the field of athletics with non-cisgender athletes competing in their respective genders’ sports.
While inclusivity to the fullest extent is always optimal, equity and fairness is one of the major focal points when developing standards and rules for sports. The separation of male and female athletics has been present since women entered the field of athletics. This separation is logic-based-logic and is due to the male body’s predisposition for better athletic performance. This equity and fairness-based fairness reasoning is what brought about World Aquatic’s new policy in their bylaws.
According to World Aquatics Competition Regulation Bylaws, “Male-to-female transgender athletes (transgender women) and athletes whose legal gender or gender identity is female are eligible to compete in the women’s category in World Aquatics competitions and to set World Aquatics World Records in the women’s category in competitions and in other events recognised by World Aquatics if they can establish to a comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later,” World Aquatic’s bylaws state.
This legislation was met with waves of both backlash and support coming from people all over the global aquatics community. Despite the backlash that World Aquatics received, they have stood by their legislation thus far. James Pearce, a spokesperson for World Aquatics explained in an interview with NBC news that, “the scientists are saying that if you transition after the start of puberty, you have an advantage, which is unfair.”
A significant point to mention is that testosterone is classified as an anabolic steroid, its function is to build muscle mass. The Cleveland Clinic explains that “Natural testosterone is a steroid — an anabolic-androgenic steroid. “Anabolic” refers to muscle building, and “androgenic” refers to increased male sex characteristics.” The Cleveland Clinic continues to explain that “Some athletes and bodybuilders misuse synthetic testosterone (anabolic steroids) by taking very high doses of them in an attempt to boost performance or change their physical appearance.” Taking this into account, the repercussions of male puberty, where a “30-fold increase in testosterone production takes place” according to the Journal of Adolescent Health. These high amounts of testosterone, for 3-4 years (the approximate length of puberty in males), creates a dramatic shift in male anatomy.
The advantages this shift creates are not limited to the introduction of high levels of testosterone during puberty. Other advantages have to do with the shift in bone structure that males undergo as their bodies change during puberty. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) elaborates on this topic, “The volume of the rib cage is about 10% smaller in females than in males having the same height.” Another article in the NLM explains the implications of that difference in anatomy, “Females” reduced airways diameter and lung volume result in lower peak expiratory flow and vital capacity.” In an active situation, a person that has undergone a testosterone based puberty has a large and undeniable advantage over their counterparts who underwent estrogen based puberty.
Another advantage males gain during testosterone based puberty is gaining a disproportionate gain in muscle to their female peers. The NLM explains that muscle mass changes continue well into males’ teenage years while females reap no muscle mass gain through puberty. This creates a discrepancy in how males and females are grouped during training or competition, “the relationship between the level of pubertal development and chronological age seems to be a useful strategy for grouping boys, while grouping girls by chronological age seems adequate for training and competition.” These statistics and this analysis alone is enough to display why people who have gone through a testosterone based puberty should not compete in women’s sports. Their muscle mass development and rapid increase begins during puberty and does not stop until their early 30s. This creates an unfair advantage that is unavoidable past 12 years of age and should not be allowed in competitive swimming.
One of the most infamous moments that these advantages displayed themselves was during the 2022 NCAA championships in which Lia Thomas and Riley Gaines tied for first. Adversity sparked right after the results of the meet were released to the public and it was revealed that Lia Thomas would take the trophy home despite the millisecond for millisecond tie. Before transitioning Thomas was ranked 462nd in the mens’ swimming category for the 200 freestyle. After her year and a half long transition, she began competing in the women’s category. Thomas moved up in womens’ rankings to first overall for the 200 freestyle. Despite her taking estrogen and doing all the work short of surgery to facilitate her transition, Thomas cannot undo the biological advantage she achieved when she underwent testosterone based puberty. No amount of estrogen can undo years of bodily changes in favor of a typically male physique and athletic capacity.
In an effort to remain as inclusive as possible while making sure each swimmer has equal opportunities, World Aquatics explained that the creation of a new category was in the works. Pearce explained in his NBC interview that, “No one quite knows how this is going to work. And we need to include a lot of different people, including transgender athletes, to work out how it would work. So there are no details of how that would work. The open category is something that will start being discussed tomorrow.” This interview took place on June 19, 2022, meaning these discussions on this open category have been ongoing for over a year now.
The efforts and progress being made towards developing a future in which all athletes can compete on a physically level playing field is important to carry out the necessary change. As the Aquatics world works on a solution to the pressing dilemma, the most important thing to remember is to facilitate love and support for fellow athletes.
