Fixing the System
Page 9 + Let's Talk About Sports
Let’s Talk About Sports
Content warning: I talk about gender anatomy below.
Republicans of this Congress have published their legislative goals, which include making Title IX protections exclude transgender, intersex, and non-binary athletes. Sports is considered a wedge issue, they see it as the easy way to open the door at taking away rights from transgender folks. While I’m technically athletic, I have a trans friend who is much wiser about sports and you should read her thoughts too. Still, I’ll make an attempt to illustrate what the issue is and why trans athletes shouldn’t be excluded.
The main concern about transgender athletes is focused on transgender and non-binary folks who were Assigned Male at Birth (AMAB). The theory is that we have a physical advantage. So I’ll start by writing about transgender men. Then I’ll talk about transgender girls who have never, and hopefully will never, go through male puberty (if they and their parents so choose). Next I’ll talk about the big fear, transgender women. Finally, I’ll talk about non-binary and intersex athletes.
Transgender men who went through the (horrific for them) experience of female puberty would clearly not have this advantage. In fact, if this theory were true a transgender man would be at a disadvantage in mens’ sports. As the transgender male boxer Patricio Manuel demonstrates, transgender men can succeed in male sports. I personally prefer co-ed sports (I’m a runner but I also enjoy playing on corporate softball and kickball teams). If, however, I had to play in a gendered team I’d want to play on a women’s team. Similarly, transgender men who like playing on a gendered team want to play on a mens teams. A transgender man has no physical advantage to a cisgender man and thus should not be excluded from men’s sports. Removing the Title IX protections will make it so transgender men can be excluded from sports.
Now lets review the situation for transgender girls. Children of all gender identities have the option to pause puberty if their doctor and parents agree. Cisgender children most often use puberty blockers to limit and prevent precocious puberty. The Tennessee Attorney General stated, in his representation of his state, to the Supreme Court that puberty blockers should only be available to cisgender children. For transgender and non-binary children, puberty blockers can delay what they often find to be a traumatic experience and existence. Doctors specifically have seen a decline in suicide and depression for transgender youth who use puberty blockers. Transgender girls have the opportunity to skip male puberty entirely. Skipping male puberty means they have none of the extra growth that cisgender men and transgender women who didn’t use blockers have. These transgender girls have testosterone levels that match their cisgender peers and thus there is no reason to bar them from sports. At this point we’ve covered over half of the people who would be impacted by the Title IX changes.
Trans women who went through male puberty are absolutely going to be the hardest to argue for. Even I, as a trans woman, have had my doubts about the fairness of transgender women in sports. I’m taller than I would have been if I had skipped male puberty. Height is an advantage in some sports including basketball, running, and volleyball. However, despite my being tall, there are many cisgender women far taller than me. If we want to separate people because of height differences it should only be about height differences similar to how boxing and wrestling have weight classes, sports could have height classes.
Testosterone is created by ovaries, testicles, and adrenal glands. During and after puberty, testicles produce a higher amount of testosterone than ovaries. Testosterone is a steroid that enhances muscle and skeletal development. Muscles and bones are critical to many sports. During my second marriage, before I transitioned, my wife and I decided to run a 5K Heart Challenge together. While I had run cross country as a teen, I hadn’t done any serious running since. I found it far easier to get into shape and I believe that was due to testosterone. After that run I didn’t run again until the pandemic.
I no longer have testicles, which means I actually produce less testosterone than women with ovaries. Even if I hadn’t had surgery, testosterone can be suppressed to cisgender ranges via medicines like spironolactone. I now run 5ks a couple of times a year and a couple of weeks ago hit my distance record for the decade by running 14k. As a teen I once ran a few miles short of a marathon. Clearly age plays a role, but getting to 14k was a lot of work. When I run in the Turkey Trot I finish in the middle of the pack for women my age. I have a co-worker whose son runs at over twice the speed I do.
Beyond my anecdotal view, consider Dr. Joshua Safer’s publication in the Journal of the Endocrine Society where he shows that transgender women do not have an advantage in sports.
Now lets talk about non-binary and intersex folks. Caster Semenya is a woman with intersex characteristics who runs at the Olympic level for South Africa. After her 2012 and 2016 golds for the 800m, World Athletics introduced a limit to the testosterone level that is allowed for “distances between 400m and one mile,” which is where she historically has been successful. Semenya was forced to choose between taking medication or not competing in those races.
It’s important to point out there are sports where gender doesn’t matter (eg: shooting, horse racing, and darts). When it comes to stamina, women are proven to come close and have the potential to exceed their male peers. There are also mental aspects in team sports where women can exceed their male peers. Many non-binary athletes feel uncomfortable in anything but gender inclusive sports. However, even in “co-ed” sports they often are counted towards a quota (eg. Paralympic mixed rowing requires one male and one female participant per team). While we could create a third category, it would be small and probably face the pay inequality that exists for women athletes. Circling back to what I said earlier about height, I think intersex and non-binary athletes make a great case for how stupid our gendered system is. My personal view is that we should end gendered sports. We can use weight, height, and skill leagues similar to what the UK has for football.
Beyond the physical reasons to include transgender athletes, there is a legal reason. According to Kevin Barry of Stanford Law, trans and nonbinary exclusion violates disability law due to gender dysphoria.
LGBTQIA+ issues aside, sports has a long history of sex testing. Code Switch, a podcast I financially support, discussed the issue at length in August. Some cisgender women like boxers Lin Yu-Ting and Imane Khelif face similar challenges to Caster Semenya.
Thank you for reading this. I hope you check out some of the links I provided and write to your legislators to keep Title IX protections for transgender, intersex, and non-binary folks. If your still not convinced leave a comment and lets talk about your concerns.