Transwomen in sports... what is fair to all?
Recently transwomen have been allowed to enter women sports competitions. And wildly beating all the natal women. What is fair (and safe) to both natal women and transwomen?
Lia Thomas is a transwomen swimmer. She beat the other natal women by so much that some people are wondering if this is a fair competition to natal sportswomen. In that do they even have a chance to win?
My question to pro-trans sports readers. Who say but “transwomen are women. So must be allowed to compete in womens’ sports”.
A doctor in the trans medical field wrote (edited for style and privacy):
The whole argument that trans women shouldn’t compete in women’s sports is absurd. Biological males build more lean muscle, under the influence of much higher testosterone levels. But once a M2F transwomen is on hormones, we literally suppress testosterone and boost estrogen until their hormone profile mimics a cis female. During this time period, their physician can track their muscle loss via their labs (via their creatinine & BUN tests).
Eventually, most trans women have physiologic profiles that are indistinguishable from cis women. In fact I need to ensure that their muscle wasting stabilizes. So the whole idea that being trans gives them some edge up is just physiologically false.
And what about the mental health adverse outcomes of a life of discrimination… that doesn’t help most folks attain life goals, like being a professional athlete.
And if trans women don’t participate with other women, where do they get to participate in sports?
How to do you explain the transwoman swimmer getting times so much faster than the natal women? I believe it was a new record that was way faster than any prior women.
I am curious, not trying to argue here. Trying to figure out what is going on. Seems there may be some other factor than muscle mass and hormones in athletic performance...
I wonder if the teen (or even childhood) natal male growth phase is somehow different from a natal female one.
For example I believe that bone density and shape may be different. Including hip structure and skull shape and thickness. (The latter is a safety factor in contact sports.)
Here is an article discussing ideas on this topic
https://theconversation.com/striking-a-balance-between-fairness-in-competition-and-the-rights-of-transgender-athletes-159685
I agree when a natal women beats a record it is not a question. And in this case usually they beat the record by only a small amount, say 0.5 second improvement.
Lia Thomas defeated the 2nd placed swimmer Emma Weyant (a natal woman) by 1.75 seconds with a time of 4:33.24.
I think that is probably a big enough margin for many people to question having a separate category.
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we don’t ask this question when a natal woman beats a record. If women’s competitive sports are consistently being dominated by trans women, then maybe we need another category. But it is also possible that this trans athlete might have been a better swimmer to break the record.
And this is a complex question. Because top athletes are physically so different from regular women (or men in that category). With better bodies, probably different DNA and years of training, that all make them amazingly better at their chosen sport.
Also it was common in the past for some athletes to take steroids or other drugs to improve performance. This of course is now illegal in most professional sports, and monitored by testing.
If you look at photos of East German women athletes from the 1970s who took steroids before such testing, they actually look fairly male!
I mention the steroids because testosterone is one steroid that affects muscle growth. Perhaps this is why letting transmen compete in women's sports is not on the table in most states. Although under the Texas women's sports law that looks at birth gender, transmen would be allowed to do so.
I don't know what future fair arangements and rules for trans athletes will be. And it seems some allowance needs to be made not just for current hormone levels, but also other gender body differences too (body size and density).
Maybe if someone transitions before puberty that would be different. But transitioning in around 19 or 20 as Lia did, seems rather different to me from a sports perspective.
A complex topic. At this point it seems to me that women's sports should change to be for natal women only.
Because transwomen seem to be faster and stronger than natal women. And so can't get a fair competition if they are included in women's competitions.
As to the question of where to transwomen get to participate in sports:
I know transwomen are slower and weaker than natal men in most sports fields. So joining mens sports is out.
Not sure how they compare to transmen, as I have not seen transmen athletes. Which in itself is interesting data point. So a separate trans group does not make sense.
So maybe need separate category for transwomen's sports. And perhaps another for transmen if enough want to participate.
Summary
While I want transwomen to be treated as female, I also don't want natal women to suffer from these actions for equality. That is not fair. So lets put a hold on transwomen in women sports while we figure it out.