Recently, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill prohibiting transgender women from participating in women’s sports. This was a rightful move. Transgender women should not be allowed to compete in sports with cisgender women. It declares all of the work previous feminists have done null and void, it is simply unfair due to the stark biological differences between the two sexes, and it makes a mockery of the effort cisgender female athletes put in training for their sport.
Men and women are simply different; in over 6,500 biological, physical and genetic ways. Transgender women cannot simply erase these differences. The majority of males are physically stronger than women in most instances. A grown woman, on average, has roughly 40 – 75% of the strength men have. Currently, the only regulation for transgender women to participate in women’s sports is for them to have the same levels of testosterone as the average woman. This barely grazes the surface; women and men are different in so many other areas than that.
For example, Lia Thomas is a transgender woman who swims for the University of Pennsylvania. While participating in the men’s events, she was 32nd overall. The moment she transferred to the women’s events, she rose to first overall. Thomas set four school records and won a 500-yard freestyle, all in the first meet she participated in. Coincidence? Absolutely not. Males naturally have a larger lung capacity, lean muscle mass, a larger heart and more hemoglobin than women. This causes them to be better suited to most sports. In the world, there are roughly about 2,000 male runners faster than the fastest female runners. It’s just unfair to have transgender women compete in women’s events; it takes away everything cisgender women have trained for years in just a few events.
Another transgender athlete taking advantage of the women’s category is Tiffany Newell. While the time difference between sprinting for small distances between men and women is considerably smaller, men are around 12% faster than women for long-distance running competitions. Newell participated in the Canada indoor 5,000-meter race; she won and set a national record. Her sex still determines that naturally, she will be faster than a cisgender woman because of all of the biological differences she has. These are just a few examples but there are many, many more. If this keeps happening, then soon perhaps all of the top women athletes will be transgender. Not to mention, this even presents a danger to cisgender athletes. For example, in sports that involve physical contact, such as boxing, cisgender women could be harmed. During a match in MMA, transgender boxer Fallon Fox fractured Tammika Brent’s skull within the first two minutes of the first round.
Putting aside basic biology, transgender athletes being allowed to participate undermines women’s suffrage and the feminist movement. Sports events such as the Olympics have existed for men for over 3,000 years, ever since it was created in ancient Greece. However, women have only been allowed to compete starting in the 1920s; a mere 100 years. Men have been participating in such events for 30 times as long as women have. If transgender women participate in events meant for cisgender women and win due to their biological advantage, then it takes away from all of the efforts that past feminists have made protesting for their right to also have sports events.
You might argue, what about inclusivity? Is this not discrimination? You’re denying transgender athletes their rights! To which I say, what about the cisgender women competing? What about them, their rights and all they have worked hard for? They also have the right to fair competition and an equal opportunity to win, so having transgender women competing simply takes away those rights from them. In order to include them, there are many other categories, such as a new category just for transgender athletes.
