Do transgender athletes have an unfair advantage in competitive sports?

A major controversy in the scope of women’s sports is the question to whether transgender athletes have an advantage in competitive sports, and it all starts with their DNA. To list a few discrepancies, transgender women have all the testosterone, dense middle tone, and stamina their fellow gender doesn’t have. 

In sports nowadays, if a female is caught with a little testosterone, they get banned for doping and are kicked out, while there are transgender women that have natural testosterone, giving them an advantage over other females who aren’t able to have other sources testosterone in their system. Even if they take blockers, it doesn’t change their build. Even if they have surgery, it doesn’t change their bones and muscles. The bottom line: there is a reason why men and women sports are separate. Men have a big advantage in the physical department. Transgender men should compete in their biological sex so they don’t dominate women’s sports. 

An example of this situation is Fallon Fox. If you haven’t heard of her before, it’s probably because now she identifies as a woman. She is a professional MMA fighter, but instead of fighting other men, she is in the woman’s division winning 5 out 6 of his official matches.

This controversy is starting is come up in amateur division of sports as well. “This trend will ultimately hurt the high school and college sports, but the most harmful aspect is the fact that some are willing to suspend belief about basic biology and fairness to help advocate for a cause that defies reality. At the very least, transgender athletes … should be intellectually honest about the advantages that transitioning offers to transgender women. The over-the-top willingness to ignore biology when it matters, yet push for biological recognition in something like sports, shows an entire LGBTQ lobby willing to gaslight the rest of us to further their ideology,” Nicole Russell from Washington Examinercomments.

Competitive fairness in women’s sports needs to begin with combatting the ambiguity for testosterone levels in the bodies of transgender athletes. Hormone therapies are surely a valid method for solving this issue, butmost transgender teens don’t begin hormone therapy until after puberty. Younger teens can be on puberty-blocking drugs, but puberty is very individualized and testosterone levels can vary greatly from one transgender girl to another. Joanna Harper, a medical physicist and transgender runner of Washington Post, says, “The gender identity doesn’t matter, it’s the testosterone levels. [Transgender] girls should have the right to compete in sports. But cisgender girls should have the right to compete and succeed, too. How do you balance that? That’s the question.” 

However, there are different ways to combat a “genetic advantage”. High school sprinter Andraya Yearwood in Connecticut voices her opinion on Associated Press: “One high jumper could be taller and have longer legs than another, but the other could have perfect form, and then do better. One sprinter could have parents who spend so much money on personal training for their child, which in turn, would cause that child to run faster.” 

This debate is bigger than transgender athletes on the field; it’s also about inclusion in sports and is part of a broader social and political movement. “I see my win in this broader political movement where trans rights have made great strides and people are waking up. We are not going to go backward,” Rachel McKinnon, a transgender track star, says. This article is not promoting exclusion of openly transgender athletes. We want to include transgender athletes in the sport, but a competitive fairness must be prioritized so there is no advantage over other females.

Featured Image – Fallon Fox was the first openly transgender athlete in MMA history. Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

by Patrick Du