Transgender athletes

by Rod (M)

To what extent is the participation of transgender athletes in sports unfair to female competitors?

It has been shown in many studies that testosterone greatly improves physical performance. In a recent study, published in the guardian showed that trans women performed much better athletically on average than their biological counterparts, doing 31% more pushups in one minute, 15% more sit-ups in one minute and running 1.5 miles 21% faster. This phenomenon was already widely observed and known. However, what was surprising was that even after 2 years of suppressing testosterone levels (a year longer than IOC guidelines), the trans women were still 12% faster on average than biological females. This proves the already existing hypothesis that many of the physical performance benefits due to testosterone arise early in adolescence. When biological males reach the age of 13-14, their physical attributes start to change. These changes affect many cells, tissues, organs and even systems in the body. These changes include increased muscle mass, increased bone density, greater bone and skeleton length, increased lung capacity and increased hemoglobin levels. Each of these gives males a slight physical advantage over females, but together these factors make for a rather large competitive advantage, to the point where professional sports competitions between men and women becomes unfair.

In sports, categories are often made and restrictions put in place to ensure meaningful competition. There are biological advantages seen in players of some sports. Nevertheless, they compete in the same category as people without such an advantage. The most prominent example is fencing. In fencing, being left-handed is seen as highly advantageous with 40% of elite fencers being lefthanded, as opposed to only 10% of the population being left-handed. Despite this advantage, left and right-handed fencers still engage in meaningful competition, with the most recent 2022 World Fencing Championship individual epee category being won by Romain Cannone, a right-handed fencer.

Nevertheless, there are also examples of physical advantages in sports which do not allow for meaningful competition. For example, in boxing and mixed martial arts, there are different weight classes in place to prevent lighter athletes from fighting heavier athletes. These categories are in place because no matter how hard a fighter trains, if they are significantly lighter/smaller than their opponent their chances of winning are slim. This is not meaningful competition as the bigger fighter will likely win and there is little to no point for the match to take place.

Transgender Athletes So, is meaningful competition possible, or is there a need for a separate category for transgender athletes?

Some have argued that there should be a separate category for transgender athletes to ensure fairer competition. The main problem with such a solution is that 99% of all athletes are either biologically male or biologically female, wit h transgender athletes comprising only 1% of all athletes. Such a small proportion of transgender athletes would make it difficult to create and maintain a separate category as it would be hard to assemble enough teams and host enough competitions for the endeavor to be profitable. One may say that inclusivity matter more than profit, however, we must remember that money makes the world go round and these are professional athletes in discussion. Neither the athletes nor the organizers will be willing to create a new branch of sports if there isn’t sufficient money in the field. Some experts argue that the point of a separate category for women in sports is to exclude male advantages due to testosterone. If one were to agree with that being the case, then transgender female athletes should not be allowed to compete in the women’s category. Scientific evidence suggests there are advantages due to testosterone retained in trans women, and there is a significant difference in performance due to these advantages. The field of transgender athletes is still in its infancy and the science behind it is not set in stone. It is very possible that in a few years’ time, more scientific evidence will be discovered disproving this hypothesis or new procedures will be created to mitigate the retained advantage in transgender female athletes. At that point policies will have to be reviewed, and actions will have to be taken to ensure maximum inclusivity and fairness in sports. At the moment, the International Olympics Committee has refused to restrict transgender athletes before it is concretely proven that they retain a significant advantage. Many experts have said that it should have been done the other way around, excluding transgender female athletes from competing in the women’s category at a professional level, before it is proven that the retained advantages are insignificant.

In conclusion, the participation of transgender women in women’s sport categories is unfair to their biological opponents due to their retained testosterone advantages. However, the field and discussion of transgender athletes is still very new, with too little evidence existing for concrete conclusions. It is likely that in the future more evidence will arise, and more solid conclusions will be made, allowing for fairer and more inclusive competition in sports. Until then, it is fair to say that it is unfair for transgender women to compete in women’s sport.