Humanistic and empathetic trans perspectives in sports have been notoriously underemphasized in recent policies enforcing gender-based restrictions, which are often based on scientific misconceptions and cold oversimplifications. While concerns over this aspect of fairness in sport are sometimes coming from a well-intentioned place, this is a discussion that can have very real and very negative repercussions if carried out without much careful thought and evidence. An article from NBC Sports titled “The real threat to women’s sports? It’s not trans women” states that “Since January [2021], over 30 U.S. states have either discussed or formally introduced legislation that would prohibit or limit transgender children from playing sports. Many of these bills are promoted under a false narrative of wanting to ‘protect’ or ‘save’ women’s sports. These bills often cite ‘fairness’ as the reason to exclude trans women from women’s teams. Some even include the word in the title, like Idaho’s ‘Fairness in Women’s Sports Act’.”1
Excessive arguments for the exclusion of marginalized individuals in America are nothing new, and they are often rooted in a fear of people who are different and perhaps a feeling of pressure to share an opinion even when one does not feel sufficiently informed. I have had the opportunity to discuss the inclusion of transgender athletes in sport with people who’ve had firsthand experience as trans individuals in athletic systems designed exclusively for a cisgender male-female binary (cisgender, or ‘cis’, refers to someone whose gender identity matches sex assigned at birth), including the first transgender world track cycling champion Veronica Ivy (formerly Rachel McKinnon), as well as my trans friend and high school cross-country teammate (and an outstanding person and student), Darren Schoenike. As a cis male, I do not wish to speak for trans people, but I do want to bring important considerations to mind about how we may work towards a more inclusive society and, more specifically, incorporate more empathy into our discussions surrounding competitive sport. My intent is to explore physiological variation in humans, and then to discuss conceptions of gender and the role of sports in society to demonstrate how we may assess the topic of fairness in sport and what it means for transgender athletes to be fairly included in today’s sports. Ultimately, I personally believe gender is fundamentally a fluid, extremely societally dictated, and substantially vague concept that requires much deconstruction and education in our society, but also that sports competition everywhere requires a more thorough appraisal of the nuances of this topic to keep up with human rights and the progress of society. It’s a lot to think about, but it’s worth thinking about thoroughly, hence the length of this post!
One area of contention surrounding transgender athletes’ participation in sports is whether trans women, who identify as women, despite their gender identifications at birth or genital status, should be allowed to compete with cis women, whose gender identities correlate to the sex they were assigned at birth. Arguments often make reference to lasting physiological advantages of going through ‘male puberty’ (hormonal and muscular advantages) that could provide disproportionate physiological benefits including strength, endurance, and performance, that could give trans women an unfair advantage when competing with cis women. However, the science backing these claims is lacking, and the history of gender separation in sports adds a surprising context that we often take for granted today. Veronica Ivy discusses this separation in gender that many people today assume is the ‘best system’. “Don’t we sex-segregate sport because men are stronger and faster? No, I don’t think so. I don’t think the history of sex segregation and banning women from sport (back to ancient Greek Olympic Games) is because men are stronger: women were banned outright. Prior to the 1984 Olympic Games, there was no women’s marathon event. Prior to the 1972 Olympic Games, there was no women’s event in the 1500m or any event longer than 800m. Women weren’t allowed into the Boston Marathon when, in 1967, Kathrine Switzer broke the rules to participate.”2
It may be helpful to first explore disputed physiological differences from a biological perspective, since they often seem to be the crux of arguments for exclusion. Reasons people cite for thinking that trans women have lasting unfair ‘biological advantages of male physiology’ include having XY chromosomes, producing more testosterone, and retaining more muscle mass (from ‘male puberty’). The reality is that human variation is rarely neat or fair (hardly so much so that we can cleanly divide everyone into two groups, although it seems to suffice for many). There already exist many ‘unfair’ physiological differences within a given group of only cis males or a group of only cis females. There are cisgender female athletes who produce more testosterone than the average cis male, including the landmark case of Caster Semenya (who was mandated by the IAAF to medically lower her testosterone levels and was declared unfit to compete on multiple occasions by professional sports organizations), although “top female athletes [are] more likely to have common and mild conditions that increase testosterone levels, like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) but also rare conditions with very high naturally occurring levels of testosterone in the [cis] male range.”3
Some people are born with atypical chromosomal arrangements that are different from the common XY or XX arrangements, which include XXY, XYY, XXX, XXYY, and more, and it is within the doctor’s discretion at the time of birth to decide what to put on the birth certificate.4 Within a given group of cis males or cis females, aerobic capacity, muscle mass, height, and a given individual’s capacity for physiological adaptations in response to a stimulus are all highly variable. Due to the gender separation in sports, women’s bodies are being policed by organizations while cis men’s bodies are often celebrated with no criticism of medical conditions or genetic predispositions that lead to athletic success. The double standard puts both trans women and trans men in an unfair and inescapable position that results in unjust targeting and a lack of identity affirmation for these groups. There’s no question that trans men face discrimination and harassment in sports contexts as well, even though they should be able to embody their gender with affirmation and without derogation. My friend Darren, a recreationally physically active trans man, stated, “Cis men who know I’m trans think I’m cheating and on steroids when I gain muscle from going to the gym, when in reality, we have a healthy range of testosterone in our bodies. Mine is just injected.”5
Rules policing testosterone levels in women’s sports have also disproportionately affected Black women, further pressuring sports organizations’ authority to constrain and enforce conceptions of sex, gender, and race, as evidenced by NPR article, Olympic Runner Caster Semenya Wants To Compete, Not Defend Her Womanhood. The article states, “In the Tokyo Games, along with Semenya, the other runners who have said they’re affected by the [testosterone policing] rules are all African: from Kenya, Burundi, Niger and Namibia.”6 The social implications of these physiological restrictions cannot be overlooked. 2021 Scientific American article, Trans Girls Belong on Girls’ Sports Teams, points out that “There is a long history of similarly painting Black athletes as ‘genetically superior’ in an attempt to downplay the effects of their hard work and training. Recently, some have even harkened back to eras of ‘separate but equal,’ suggesting that transgender athletes should be forced into their own leagues.”7 Human physiologies vary so greatly that it is not plausible – or ideal, since sport should celebrate and include a diversity of bodies – for all competitors in sport to fit perfectly within one of two categories defined by hegemonic gender stereotypes. But, that doesn’t mean that if a line must be drawn to make practical progress, we can’t work to prioritize the most important values and human rights while drawing that line.
Since concerns over fairness are cited when considering trans athletes’ participation in sports, a quick look at existing disparities between men’s and women’s sports will help to color our understanding of the limits of fairness and the number of other gender-related disparities in sports that are worthy of our attention. The NBC article also posits that, “If women’s sports were fair, all athletes would have equal access to competitive opportunities.” It warns, “In the fight for fairness in women’s sports, don’t become distracted from the real threats: access, pay, investment, representation, sexual abuse, and doping, to name a few. Because to confront those issues, it’s vital to make sure all athletes marginalized by gender – and not just cisgender women (and not just cisgender white women) – are at the table.”1 The article is reminding us that when we choose our battles, we should choose them wisely, and to make the most positive impact. Aside from the unsupported fear that trans women share a scientifically disproportionate physiological advantage over cis women in competition, if the concern is over fairness, then perhaps we have ‘bigger fish to fry’. It continues, “There was no widespread outrage five years ago at the 2016 Rio Games when the Olympic weightlifting program included 156 quota spots for men compared to 104 for women.”1 Soccer, cycling, and boxing in the U.S. also remain skewed with more opportunities for men. “87 percent of NCAA institutions are currently not in compliance with Title IX,” and, “for the top basketball players in the world, there are 450 roster spots in the NBA, compared to only 144 in the WNBA.”1 The list goes on.
An analysis from Adelphi University in New York explains, “Whether professional players receive salaries or individual prize money from competitions, male athletes in basketball, golf, soccer, baseball and tennis make anywhere from 15% to nearly 100% more than female athletes.”8 With such a large economic gap between professional men and women athletes, it is obvious that there is much to be desired from professional sports in terms of gender equality. This has various implications in America’s capitalist economy, where wealth unfortunately seems to be equated with success, a view that doesn’t reflect much depth in one’s own quality of life or values, especially if this value is held at the expense of social equity and concern for people who are different.
It is surprising that straightforward cheating by doping continues to be overlooked while marginalized individuals are being targeted inequitably. ‘Doping’, or the use of prohibited substances or drugs with the explicit intent to increase athletic performance, is a surprisingly common and unfortunate means of gaining an edge over the competition. NBC article continues, “If you want to be upset about an athlete being denied their Olympic moment, you would be much better off directing your energy at an actual threat to fair competition: dopers.”1 A 2021 article by NPR discusses how doping was “shoved to the side” because of the coronavirus, even though it has continued to be a great threat to fairness in the Olympics. “In 2016, before the Rio Olympics, there was widespread drug testing failure. Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, says the failure happened in 10 sports considered high risk for doping, including swimming and track and field.” At least six months before competition is when athletes will use human growth hormone, EPO or other steroids. “‘Those drugs will be out of their system by the time the Games take place,’ he says. ‘But you’ll still have the benefit of those drugs that you used prior to the Games.’ Pre-Tokyo, there was another failure because of the pandemic. In 2020, [Tygart] said, ‘you had about a 45% reduction in [global] testing, according to WADA statistics. In the first quarter of 2021, this year, you had a reduction of roughly 20%, according to WADA statistics.’ In other words, there are plenty of reasons for athletes… to be suspicious.”9 While some women are being expected to change their bodies to conform to these organizations’ standards (even though they aren’t doping), and trans athletes are targeted for reasons related to their transition or fundamental gender identity (and not performance enhancement), it is sadly all too common for athletes in many contexts to use performance enhancing drugs with explicit intent to unfairly gain an edge over people who put in the time and training required for fair success. If fairness is the concern, perhaps we could target the common and scientifically proven sources of unfairness that pervade sports of many levels without receiving adequate attention.
Lastly in our consideration of fairness, we shouldn’t ignore the wide range of contextual factors that may also give athletes an ‘unfair edge’, such as wealth, social injustices, privileges that affect one’s opportunities to compete, access to resources, etc. These factors help illustrate the idea that ‘perfect’ fairness is unachievable since all of these inequalities will likely never be eliminated, although we can all fight these inequities with our lifestyles and activism. Is it fair that an athlete with all the cards stacked in her favor competes against the athlete with genetics that predispose her to injury, in addition to the emotional trauma and poverty she’s experiencing at home? In a sense, it is inevitable that all top athletes are going to have some kind of an edge over their competitors – whether it’s due to genetics, training, or life circumstances; that’s why they win, and partially why sports are fun. We don’t really want everyone to tie for the win. We want sports to be interesting for competitors and supporters. Of course, it’s important to maintain standards of fairness in athletics, but it should be well-educated, not based on a ‘pick and choose’ analysis of what it should look like, and it need not disparage anyone’s gender identity in the process.
Inclusion, affirmation, and the opportunity to participate in sports with a supportive group, on the other hand, are easily achievable and within our control. In her article published in fall of 2019 with the American Philosophical Association, Veronica Ivy asserts that “What’s most crucial about sport being a human right is that the default position is inclusion. The default is not ‘Exclude trans women until we have more evidence about there not being a competitive advantage.’ Rather, the default must be ‘Include trans women unless we have sufficient evidence to justify discrimination in an international human rights framework’.”2 It’s largely an issue of genuinely putting forth the effort to understand trans athletes’ perspectives. In an NBC video discussion about trans women in the Tokyo Olympics, Britni de la Cretaz suggests that “We focus… on how cisgender people feel about trans women competing rather than on how trans women feel about being excluded and not being able to have the same opportunities.”1
The current reality and daily living situations of trans people in America must be brought into the public’s field of vision if we are to be an inclusive society that allows all people to thrive in sports if they choose to participate. Transgender people in the U.S. currently face exorbitant and unacceptable incidences of outright discrimination, and their rates of mental health challenges and suicide are outrageously high when compared to the average cisgender American, often as a consequence of alienation by society and their families. An informational article from 2018 by the Human Rights Campaign states that, according to a survey done by the American Academy of Pediatrics, “More than half of transgender male teens who participated in the survey reported attempting suicide in their lifetime, while 29.9 percent of transgender female teens said they attempted suicide. Among non-binary youth [who don’t identify with labels of ‘man’/’male’ or ‘woman’/’female’], 41.8 percent of respondents stated that they had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.”11 In 2017, the HRC Foundation and the University of Connecticut released the largest-of-its-kind survey ever of more than 12,000 LGBTQ teenagers across all 50 states. It found that “77% of LGBTQ teenagers surveyed reported feeling depressed or down over the past week; 95% of LGBTQ youth report trouble sleeping at night; only 11% of youth of color surveyed believe their racial or ethnic group is regarded positively in the U.S., and over 50% of trans and gender expansive youth said they can never use school restrooms that align with their gender identity; more than 70% report feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness in the past week; only 26% say they always feel safe in their school classrooms, just 5% say all of their teachers and school staff are supportive of LGBTQ people; and 67% report that they’ve heard family members make negative comments about LGBTQ people.”12 These statistics are more than unfortunate; they’re downright unfair, and incredibly disproportionate to corresponding statistics for their cisgender peers. Yet school and sports policies still unfortunately neglect genuine consideration of these statistics and the corresponding mental and emotional health burdens that affect LGBTQ+ youth. Scientific American succinctly states, “Women and girls who are trans face discrimination and violence that makes it difficult to even stay in school. According to the U.S. Trans Survey, 22 percent of trans women who were perceived as trans in school were harassed so badly they had to leave school because of it. Another 10 percent were kicked out of school. The idea that women and girls have an advantage because they are trans ignores the actual conditions of their lives… While we haven’t seen an epidemic of transgender girls dominating sports leagues, we have seen high rates of anxiety, depression and suicide attempts. Research highlights that a major driver of these mental health problems is rejection of someone’s gender identity. Forcing trans youth to play on sports teams that don’t match their identity will worsen these disparities. It’s a classic form of transgender conversion therapy, a discredited practice of trying to force transgender people to be cisgender and gender-conforming.”7
Why do we as individuals, as a society, and as a world even care about sports? To understand the importance of inclusion for everyone in sports, we must consider why sports and competition are so important to us, and which things in life are more important than sports themselves. Eli A. Wolff and Mary A. Hums from the Peace and Sport organization suggest that “sport and play contribute to health by generating physical and mental energy that can be transformed into action, creativity, and innovation. Healthy people are able to contribute to improving society by bringing that energy to their families, schools or workplaces,” and that the “five dimensions to the purpose of sport and play [are] relationships, education, social change, health, and joy.”13 Perhaps we have lost a bit of this positive and proactive perspective of the function of sports in the context of our lives in our quest for attaining the unattainable, and by jumping on the bandwagon of what sports have become. Darren suggests, “sports get way too political, especially because of all the power and influence that’s associated with them, which I think tends to be at the root of the problem. Personally, my perspective has always been to just let the kid play on whatever team they feel the most comfortable with. Even after I came out as trans [in high school], I felt more comfortable and safe on the girls’ team even though I probably could’ve run for the boys’ team if I wanted to. And I have a bunch of friends who were trans men and did end up choosing to play for the boys’ team despite not being on hormone replacement therapy or anything related to medical transition… Ultimately, I think a lot of it has to do with society being uncomfortable seeing and accepting trans people, especially when they’re doing better than cis people.”5 Sports do have the power to make the world, our society, schools, communities and groups better, as long as we can keep their value in perspective. It can be powerful and beneficial to celebrate those who succeed and reach the pinnacle of their sports, but that’s not all it’s about.
The Peace and Sport Organization’s five dimensions of sport may seem vague to a professional athlete worried about competing at the Olympics, but the same question remains for them: Why compete? Why commit your whole life to training? Is the ultimate goal really just fame and being the one ‘best’ over all other people? Winning really can mean a lot, and it can result in a lot of good, but for most, it gets a little deeper than that. A quick scroll through the internet for interviews with world-class and high school athletes alike shows that the value that they’ve found in doing their sports is comprised of self-improvement and building valuable relationships with coaches, teammates, fans, and fellow sports-lovers. In an interview just after winning the Olympic bronze medal in the Tokyo 2021 marathon, local inspiration (who I had the pleasure of talking to in the middle of a 5k a few years ago!) Molly Seidel said, “There were so many people who helped me get here. Not only my coach, Jon[athan Green], but all the people I trained with. And the staff and my friends who helped me through it. And my family. It’s really fun to bring home a medal and share that with everybody.”14 Andraya Yearwood, a trans athlete in the 2019 documentary Changing the Game, which emphasized the “importance of athletics for youth other than just winning,” said, “In my experience, and in the experience of a lot of athletes, trans or not, sports is not just about winning or bringing a gold medal home. There’s a lot more that goes into sports — teamwork, team-building skills, friendship. Sports give kids happiness and a way to express themselves. When you get into higher, elite status, maybe it’s more about winning, but for kids, not really… When I first joined the team in freshman year, none of my teammates or any coaches treated me any differently. I felt very accepted. Most times at meets, it would feel the same way. Throughout my experience in high school, my teammates and friends did a really good job keeping my spirits up. There would be times when the media would get to me more than I would have liked, and my teammates were always there to put a smile on my face and make sure we had some fun.”15
When one takes the time to understand how sports can be profoundly life-changing for people because of the entire experience and relationships that a sport can provide, arguments for excluding people from supportive, affirming, community-building groups based on physiological differences that aren’t even the result of any kind of malicious attempt to cheat seem a bit petty. To ruthlessly defend the concept of ‘fairness’ by asserting that gender is perfectly separable into two groups with cleanly distinct physiologies and trying to exclude trans people because of these differences devalues the role of sports in our world, and perhaps reveals a fear of a trans person achieving success when a cis person does not. It will be good for all of us to have a greater diversity of people with more experiences to be able to contribute to the teams and support groups that make up any worthy sports team in the first place. Although policy changes and social change take time, progress in our society and in sports starts with being able to acknowledge problems in order to deconstruct the harmful parts of the systems we engage with every day, and to instead build inclusivity with empathetic understandings of everyone involved.
-Josh Janusiak
Sources:
-1: Azzi, Alex. The real threat to women’s sports? It’s not trans women. Aug. 2, 2021. https://onherturf.nbcsports.com/2021/08/02/laurel-hubbard-weightlifting-transgender-women-not-threat-womens-sports/
-2: Ivy, Veronica (formerly Rachel McKinnon). Participation in Sport is a Human Right, Even for Trans Women. Fall 2019. https://www.dropbox.com/s/j2mkkz47gi43nsw/McKinnon%202019%20Sport%20Is%20A%20Human%20Right%2C%20Even%20For%20Trans%20Women%20-%20APA%20LGBTQ%20Vol19n1.pdf?dl=0
-3: European Society of Endocrinology. Setting fair regulations for top female athletes that have naturally higher testosterone levels. 2019. https://www.ese-hormones.org/media/1882/femaleathletes_hirschberg_pr_final.pdf
-4: genetic.org/variations
-5: Personal message with Darren Schoenike, a high school friend and teammate
-6: Block, Melissa. Olympic Runner Caster Semenya Wants To Compete, Not Defend Her Womanhood. July 28, 2021. https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/07/28/1021503989/women-runners-testosterone-olympics
-7: Turban, Jack. Trans Girls Belong On Girls’ Sports Teams. March 16, 2021. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trans-girls-belong-on-girls-sports-teams/
-8: Adelphi University, New York. Male vs Female Professional Sports Salary Comparison. May 20, 2021. https://online.adelphi.edu/articles/male-female-sports-salary/#:~:text=The%20Gender%20Pay%20Gap%20in%20Sports&text=Whether%20professional%20players%20receive%20salaries,100%25%20more%20than%20female%20athletes
-9: Goldman, Tom. Once Again, Banned Russians Raise Questions About Doping At The Olympics. August 4, 2021. https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/08/04/1024580668/once-again-banned-russians-raise-questions-about-doping-at-the-olympics
-11: HRC Staff. New Study Reveals Shocking Rates of Attempted Suicide Among Trans Adolescents. September 12, 2018. https://www.hrc.org/news/new-study-reveals-shocking-rates-of-attempted-suicide-among-trans-adolescen
-12: HRC Foundation & the University of Connecticut. 2018 LGBTQ Youth Report. https://www.hrc.org/resources/2018-lgbtq-youth-report
-13: Wolff, Eli. A. and Hums, Mary A. The Purpose of Sport and Play. Oct 30, 2016. https://www.peace-sport.org/opinion/the-purpose-of-sport-and-play/#:~:text=Sport%20and%20play%20contribute%20to,their%20families%2C%20schools%20or%20workplaces
-14: Hicks, Meghan. Molly Seidel, 2020 Olympic Marathon Bronze Medalist, Exclusive Interview. August 8, 2021. https://www.irunfar.com/molly-seidel-olympic-marathon-bronze-medalist
-15: Heaney, Katie. ‘We Only Hear About Trans Athletes When They’re Winning’. June 17, 2021. https://www.thecut.com/2021/06/interview-andraya-yearwood-alex-schmider-changing-the-game-doc.html