Play Fair: Trans Folx in Sports
By Ashley Altadonna
When I was around five years old, my parents enrolled me in Pee -Wee soccer. What I recall from my brief foray into organized athletics was that I wasn’t particularly good at it, or all that interested. At the end of the season, our coach handed out trophies to each team member. I got “Most Improved,”, which I assume was the 1980s equivalent of receiving a “participation” trophy. All of this is to say, that I am by no means an athlete, but as an out trans person I have been frequently asked about the topic of transgender individuals in sports, and whether or not we (particularly trans women) might possess biological advantages. It’s a subject that I have struggled to find a decent and definitive answer for. Like so many things involving human beings and our wide spectrum of biological differences, the best I can say is… it’s complicated.
Men’s and women’s sports have long been divorced. Women were first allowed to participate in the Olympic Games in 1900. Even then, women’s participation was routinely questioned, limited, and controversial. Women’s categories have historically had shorter distances and fewer events compared to men’s. The assumed cultural thinking goes that men and those assigned males at birth have sex-linked advantages over women, and for women’s safety and competitive fairness, women’s athletics should be separate. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, which mandated that schools and organizations that receive federal funding must prohibit discrimination based on sex. Title IX and ushered in a host of women’s and girls’ athletic departments and programming. While Title IX has increased opportunities and the rates at which women and girls participate in sports, full equity has yet to be reached in terms of promotion, funding, pay, and our cultural expectations surrounding women’s athleticism. Though some researchers and a new generation of athletes are questioning the need to separate athletics by sex, by and large, sex-segregated sports are here to stay.
This partitioning of competitive play only gets further complicated when trans, non-binary, and intersex individuals are involved. The issues of trans folks in sports often reflect more about the gender stereotyping and the effects of sexism that we hold towards athletes and athleticism than simple cissexism. The debate over trans inclusion is typically based on several assumptions. One, that trans women and girls are not “‘real”’ women/girls and therefore do not deserve a chance to participate in women’s sports; two, that trans women will possess a competitive advantage based on assumed or perceived biological attributes; , and finally three, that men and boys will pretend to be transgender in order compete against women and girls. (Note in all these assumptions, that transgender boys and men are not typically mentioned, as trans men are assumed to not pose a significant challenge to their cisgender male counterparts).
Concerns over the presumed biological gains due to hormones display a lack of understanding regarding the complexity of biological sex and gender identity and ignore s intersex individuals and those with differences in sex development. This preoccupation over gender also requires a policing of athletes to determine who is eligible to participate in sports. Often this policing has involved invasive and imperfect methods. In 1966, female competitors in the Olympics were forced to parade naked in front of a panel of doctors to prove their gender. This was soon replaced by chromosomal testing, but the presence of male sex chromosomes (XY) is not necessarily a reliable indication of one’s sex or gender. Even when competitors are cisgender, if they do not fit within cultural expectations of femininity or appearance, they will be assumed to be transgender. Take Olympic boxer Imane Khelif as a recent example. Like Khelif, Far too often these gender-disputed athletes are far too often persons of color, or from ethnic backgrounds who fail to meet Western ideals of womanhood.
Biologically speaking, higher levels of testosterone can result in greater height via bone length, increased muscle mass, and strength. However, increased height and muscle mass or strength do not necessarily equal athletic excellence. A myriad of other factors also affect athletic performance, including - practice, training, discipline, focus, coordination, stamina, agility, flexibility, and teamwork, just to name a few. Increased height may be advantageous in certain sports such as basketball, but may not be particularly beneficial in others, like say gymnastics. If the transgender athlete in question has undergone hormonal replacement therapy, as many athletic organizations and some state laws now require, then many of these perceived “advantages” are negated, particularly if treatments were started before the onset of puberty. But with nearly half of all US states currently enacting bans on access to gender-affirming care for trans youth, it is practically impossible for many younger trans athletes to meet the necessary such requirements to compete. Even for those who can access care, hormone therapies can take years to lower testosterone levels within the range required to participate on athletic teams, meaning a high school freshman might have to wait until their junior year before being eligible to join a team that matches their gender identity.
Earlier this year, Lia Thomas, the first openly trans person to claim a national title in swimming, lost a legal battle with the Court of Arbitration in Sport when they rejected her request to reverse a ruling by World Aquatics. The ruling, that bans trans competitors who have gone through puberty from competing in major events like the Olympics. World Aquatics stated they would initiate an “open category” for which trans athletes would be eligible. Others have proposed the creation of similar trans-only leagues, but separate is not equal. Given the disparities between men’s sports and women’s sports, it is safe to assume the creation of an isolated trans league would lack the funding, prestige, support, and sponsorship given to sports with cisgender players.
Another argument I have heard is the concern that trans women’s participation in sports will unfairly deprive cisgender girls and women of athletic opportunities, including the chance at collegiate scholarships. This claim is debatable. Again, given access to proper trans-affirming care, the biological benefits would be negligible. We must also remember that not every trans or gender non-conforming person wishes to or can undergo hormone replacement therapy. I would argue that bias against trans folks, and particularly transmisogyny against trans women, is often at the root of this argument. If one accepts that trans women are women, then the claim of a biological advantage is moot.
All competitors have biological differences, regardless of their gender identities. What are sports if not a competition to see whose skills and abilities are the best? As mentioned before, testosterone is not the only indicator of athletic performance. If trans women are seen as the women they are, then this becomes a matter of one woman’s abilities versus another’s.
Personally, I don’t get the appeal of sports, but I can relate to wanting to belong and working hard to excel at what you’re passionate about. I can also attest to the cost of transitioning in terms of relationships and opportunities lost, and also in actual dollars. It costs more to transition than one could ever hope to gain through athletic competition. So why do trans women want to compete in women’s sports? For the same reasons that I want to be in a band and make films: to share my gifts, be part of something greater than myself, and focus on something other than being trans.
The few trans women I know who are competitive athletes complain about how much harder it is to excel in their respective sports after transitioning. They talk about how much harder they have to work only to be slower/weaker/etc. than they were before hormone replacement therapy. These competitive athletes sacrifice more than one can imagine to be the women they are. The only winner when it comes to banning trans athletes is bigotry. The only winner when it comes to requiring trans care that’s been made inaccessible to trans athletes is discrimination. And inequality is the victor when it comes to forcing trans and non-binary athletes into separate leagues. Schools, colleges, athletic organizations, and institutions will need to educate themselves on trans issues and figure out how best to accommodate all who wish to compete. Schools, colleges, athletic organizations, and institutions need to educate themselves on trans issues to learn how to best accommodate all who wish to compete.
The topic of trans athletes in competitive sports may seem complicated, but the answer is simple: play fair.
Special thanks to Dr. Brice Smith and others for their assistance with this article.
