Harms of the Transgender Athlete Moral Panic
It’s hard to ignore the controversy stirred up by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas’s becoming the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title with her win in the 500m freestyle.
Thomas, who finished 1.75 seconds ahead of second place and a little more than 9 seconds behind Katie Ledecky’s NCAA record, has become the catalyst for several Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) to label the event as the destruction of women’s sports.
The debate on transgender inclusion within sports has become co-opted through harmful rhetoric. This “destruction of women’s sports” is nothing more than a moral panic used to stir transphobia in the public sphere under the guise of wanting to protect the integrity of women’s sports.
Whether or not transgender persons should be allowed to compete under their identified gender is relevant to all transgender individuals since sports categories are currently based on the strict male-female gender binary. Before I continue, I want to discuss some facts surrounding transgender inclusion in women’s sports.
I have seen many groups of people under the assumption that transgender inclusion is a recent revelation, which is not the case. Sports governing bodies such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and NCAA, have allowed transgender athletes to compete since 2003 and 2011, respectively.
Another issue I have seen raised is what is known as the fairness argument. On average, males are faster, stronger and more athletic than females. The idea is that trans women should not be allowed to compete in female categories because they possess unfair genetic advantages, such as high testosterone levels.
This fairness argument has been brought forward by figures such as Dave Chapelle during his last Netflix special or British political pundit Piers Morgan who, in a recent New York Post opinion piece, stated:
“What would happen if Floyd Mayweather suddenly announced he was transitioning to be a woman and now wanted to compete in women’s boxing?
Or if Usain Bolt did the same with sprinting?
Or Tiger Woods with golf?”
I will say anyone titling an article with the subtext “stop this woke insanity now!” maybe just a little bit biased.
I don’t think anyone would argue that Lebron James one day waking up and deciding he wants to compete in the WNBA would be fair. However, what Morgan seems to ignore is the restrictions in place for a trans woman to begin competing.
First, estrogen and testosterone are the two primary sex hormones. Although both sexes produce both testosterone and estrogen, testosterone is associated with the characteristics and functions of males, likewise estrogen with females. Trans women who undertake hormone replacement therapy (HRT) both suppress their body’s testosterone and increase its estrogen.
Both affect the body in different ways (I’m no scientist). Testosterone more efficiently builds muscle than estrogen and is typically thought to promote athletic performance. I will note that it is debated how much testosterone does affect athletic performance.
When I talk about testosterone, I am talking about endogenous testosterone, which is testosterone the body produces. Exogenous testosterone (testosterone one might use for doping etc.) definitely gives athletes an advantage and is banned.
The average male produces between 10 and 35 nanomoles of testosterone per litre of blood (nmol/L), and a freak athlete like Bolt produces a far higher level of testosterone than the average man. Even the average athlete competing at a collegiate or professional level would produce more nmol/L of testosterone than the average male.
In order for a transgender athlete to compete, for example, in the NCAA, an athlete must have had hormone suppression for at least 2 years. Governing bodies in NCAA require all athletes to have a maximum nmol/L reading of 10 to compete in the women’s division. A cap that has prevented (as recently as the Tokyo Olympics, see Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi) and will continue to prevent born female athletes from competing simply due to producing a higher amount of endogenous testosterone.
The continued usage of hormone replacement therapy has demonstrated noticeable effects on strength and general athletic ability. However, the effectiveness of hard capping testosterone in athletes is highly contested. Any argument that advocates that women’s sports should be arbitrarily prohibited to provide ‘fairness’, a term that is hard to meaningfully define, should be met with some scepticism.
The rhetoric of transgender athletes destroying women’s sports has so far served as nothing more than a moral panic perpetuated by bad-faith actors to spread transphobic sentiment under the mask of protection.
Men invading women’s sports so they can compete on an easier playing field has never occurred. The entire pipeline of a man transitioning to become a woman solely to compete in women’s sports doesn’t really make sense.
First, someone would have to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria and prescribed hormone therapy to begin their transition. Only after continued therapy for at least 2 years can they even begin to compete. Then once they’ve decided to retire or quit competing, they would have to begin transitioning back where they would find themselves left with changes in their body that come from hormone therapy.
Simply put, these men would now have breasts.
Save Women’s Sports is a major online coalition that “seeks to preserve biology-based eligibility standards for participation in female sports.” Their main argument is that biological men are invading these spaces and ruining women’s sports, and trans athletes must be forced to compete within their biological sex as a measure to preserve competitive integrity.
If we take their argument and run with it for a moment, we will see that it doesn’t hold up. SWS goals are to ensure that women can hold the right to be able to compete in sports, and I think everyone can agree that anyone who wants to compete deserves the right to do so.
However, if trans women were to be forced to compete with men, the effects of hormone therapy would see them at a severe disadvantage. Likewise, trans men (who are often excluded from a lot of transgender discourse) would find themselves with an unfair advantage because of the effects of the added testosterone in their hormone therapy.
This is not a hypothetical situation either in the case of a trans man having an advantage against biological women.
In 2018 Mack Beggs, who at the time competed in high school wrestling, was in the process of transitioning from female to male while taking low dosages of testosterone. The rules of Texas public school athletics require athletes to compete under their assigned birth gender, which forced Beggs into competing with the girls’ team even though he had requested to compete for the boys’ team.
Beggs entered that year’s tournament with a 32–0 record and won the tournament undefeated.
His win wasn’t without controversy either. Beggs faced numerous amounts of backlash and outrage at his participation in a division he agreed he should not compete in.
Beggs was quoted in 2017 saying, “[Texas policymakers] should change the laws and then watch me wrestle the boys. Because I’m a guy. It just makes more sense.”
Beggs is evidence of why segregating transgender athletes into biological sex does not work. Unfortunately, this policy continues to be in place in Texas and has seen an uptick in other U.S states in adopting the policy thanks to advocacy work by SWS and other groups.
Save Women’s Sports, and other anti-trans groups only care for the “ integrity of women’s sports” when a transgender athlete does well (see Lia Thomas), or there is a threat of a transgender athlete doing well (see Laurel Hubbard).
If these groups honestly did care for fairness and integrity in women’s sports, they would be discussing other non-transgender athlete related issues. If we look through SWS’s blog posts, you will not see any mention of unequal pay, dress codes, cis athletes Mboma and Masilingi being barred from competing at the Tokyo Olympics, or just about anything else that can be seen as harmful to women’s sports.
Call it projecting, but the lack of action by a group that names themselves ‘Save Women’s Sports’ speaks volumes about where their priorities truly lie. It was never about saving anything. Rather than addressing genuine systemic issues within the industry SWS and organisations like it co-opt the messaging as a means to promote hatred and transphobia to the already small number of transgender athletes who can compete at this level.
Rather than advocate for any meaningful change, real issues in the women’s sports industry are seemingly swept aside. Only to be replace by a moral panic spurred by a single transgender athlete doing well.
All women, cis and trans, deserve far better than this.
