Blog Post #3
Maddi Stewart
PS 101
Blog Post #3
14 April 2022
Blog Post #3
There have been many controversies pertaining to certain athletes during the history of sports, however, transgenders (male-to-female) integrating into women’s sports happens to be one of the most recent controversies. There are many different opinions when it comes to this issue. Questions such as “Is it fair to biological females to allow a transgender female to compete in women’s sports when it is proven that biological males have a more physical advantage?” or “Do we risk not being inclusive of transgender females if we prevent them from competing in women’s sports?” are raised when discussing this topic. Currently, one of the most well-known transgender female athletes is Lia Thomas. Lia Thomas began attending the University of Pennsylvania in 2017 as well as swimming on their men’s team. A couple years later in 2019, Thomas began using hormone replacement therapy and eventually came out, publicly, as a transgender female. She remained swimming on the men’s team while she underwent the medical change, but then in the 2021-2022 season, she was able to compete on the women’s team. Just recently in March, Lia Thomas became a Division I national champion and “the first known transgender athlete to win a Division I national championship in any sport.” (Barnes, 2022).
For the transgender community, this inclusiveness is a huge step in the right direction, however, for the athlete’s community, especially female athletes, this could cause a major setback. It has been proven, scientifically, that biological males are at a greater physical advantage than biological females. They are usually taller, have more muscle mass, more bone mass, and have longer limbs. When a biological man transforms into a woman, those physical characteristics don’t necessarily just go away. Therefore, by allowing transgender females to compete in women’s sports puts biological females at a disadvantage because they are having to compete against biological males who have that physical advantage. I am sure it can be extremely frustrating for these biological female athletes who have worked so hard to compete only to lose to someone who was once a biological male. What could end up happening to women’s sports is that they could go away for good. Allowing transgender male-to-female athletes compete in women’s sports could end up pushing out the best biological female athletes; this could potentially turn other female athletes away from ever competing which is why women’s sports could go away.
When it comes to perspectives on this issue, the opinions are varied. A New York Times article states that one group wants inclusion, while another group wants fairness and safety (Brassil and Longman, 2020). Transgender athletes want the ability to compete in their respective sport, such as Lia Thomas wanting to compete on the women’s swim team because she now identifies as a female. Yet, biological women want to be able to compete in their sport and have a fair competition because they have trained hard to get where they are. People that are fighting against transgender females from entering women’s sports are trying to keep an even playing field. In the past, it has been difficult trying to get women’s sports on the same playing field as men’s sports, but now that we have, those people are trying to prevent a transgender, who was once a biological man, from changing the way women’s sports have become. Going back to the example of Lia Thomas, some of her teammates have no issue with her transformation outside of the swim team, in fact, many support her, however, some of them don’t believe it is fair to let her compete.
Unfortunately, there has not been any resolution that has been found and this issue is still ongoing. If the majority of people want this issue to change, they are going to have to make their voices heard and fight for that change. However, that still does not help the inclusivity of the transgender athletes. The solution for this issue needs to create fairness for all athletes, whether you are a biological female, biological male, or a transgender. I believe one potential solution that creates fairness for every athlete would be to create other areas of competition. For instance, biological men and women can still compete in their respective categories, but there can be another category of competition where anyone else can compete in. This would help prevent transgender male-to-females from putting the other biological women at disadvantage if they were to compete in their category. Having another category also allows for others to be included in sports without having to make a choice between the men and women categories.
Works Cited
Barnes, K., 2022. Thomas first transgender athlete to win D-I title. [online] ESPN.com. Available at: https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/33529775/amid-protests-pennsylvania-swimmer-lia-thomas-becomes-first-known-transgender-athlete-win-division-national-championship [Accessed 14 April 2022].
Brassil, G. and Longman, J., 2020. Who Should Compete in Women’s Sports? There Are ‘Two Almost Irreconcilable Positions’ (Published 2020). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/sports/transgender-athletes-womens-sports-idaho.html [Accessed 14 April 2022].