Sports

Trans-identified males are competing against women in sports.  As biological males, they have distinct advantages over female athletes, which create an uneven playing field.

Physical Advantages of Males Over Females

1) On average, men are physically stronger than women, as they have more muscle mass.  Men have 66% more upper-body muscle than women, and they have 50% more lower-body muscle.

2) Men have more fast-twitch muscle fibres which give men more explosive power.

3) Men have bigger and stronger bones.  Larger bones facilitate leverage.

4) Men have higher hemoglobin levels, allowing their body to oxygenate muscles more quickly and efficiently.

5) Men have larger hearts, which can pump more blood to the body.

6) Men have larger lungs which allow for the body’s tissues to receive more oxygen.

7) Men have broader shoulders, and larger hands and feet, all of which give men an advantage in sports like swimming and volleyball.

8) Men are taller and have longer legs, giving them an advantage in sports like basketball, volleyball and running.

9) Male marathon runners have lower body fat percentages than female marathon runners.

10) Men are faster than women.  In running, swimming, rowing, kayaking, in both short distance and long distance, women’s speed world records are all about 90% of the men’s speed world records.  Each year, hundreds of men easily beat the world’s best time in the women’s marathon.

11) There is a 10% performance gap between male and female athletes in most sports and it hasn’t narrowed as women train harder.

12) The strongest 10% of females can only beat the bottom 10% of men in hand grip tests.  Hand grip is one of the most widely-used markers for strength.

Even when trans-identified males take estrogen and reduce their testosterone levels, they still have far higher levels of testosterone than females and they do not loose the physical advantages they attained by going through male puberty.  During male puberty, their body was flooded with testosterone and created the changes that make men larger and stronger than women – testosterone energized their muscles and grew larger bones, along with a whole host of other physiological changes.

Men Have the Testosterone Advantage

Males have an unfair advantage against female athletes.  As a result, women are losing out on medals, scholarships and sponsorships.  All those years of dedicated training mean nothing once a biological male enters the competition.  Trans-identified male athletes are generally only mediocre athletes when they compete against other males, but rocket to the podium after entering the women’s category.  A good example of this is Laurel Hubbard, who was selected to compete on the New Zealand women’s weightlifting team during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.  Before transitioning in 2013, Hubbard achieved a 300 kg total in the 105+ men’s category and while this is considered a reasonably high level in the junior ranks, it would not have come close to earning a place on the men’s senior national team.  To put it in perspective, that 300 kg total, in the 2019 Junior World Championships, would have been good enough for last place.  Mediocre indeed.

If a fair and level playing field is not important, then why make a fuss about the use of steroids?  If it doesn’t matter that trans-identified males are endowed with the Testosterone Advantage in women’s sports, then why should it matter that athletes who take steroids give themselves advantages in male sports?  There is a double standard where men must have a fair and level playing field (no steroids) but women should just suck it up and endure the absurd unfairness of biological males competing against them.

The IOC’s rules state that those who transition from male to female are eligible to compete in the female category provided they declare their gender identity to be female and their total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L (Nanomoles per Litre) for 12 months prior to competition.  This is still much higher than women’s testosterone levels, which range from .12 to 1.79 nmol/L.  Given the influence and prestige of the IOC, these rules are being replicated throughout the sporting world.  With the IOC’s rules supporting trans-identified males competing in the women’s category, it is not inconceivable that authoritarian regimes (who have no problem cheating) will start gaming the system by coercing their second-tier male athletes to declare their gender identity as “woman”, comply with the 10nmol/L rule and dominate the women’s events.  The leaders of these countries want to glorify their nations, and they’ve shown in the past they are willing to do so at all costs, even to the extent of doping 13 year-olds.  With the requirement for sex reassignment surgery removed, these male athletes could compete as women for a couple of olympic cycles, then stop taking the suppression therapy after winning for a decade.  It is not hard to imagine countries like Russia, China and North Korea pulling this stunt and raking in women’s medals across numerous sports.  This would effectively ruin women’s sports.

In addition to men having an unfair advantage, there are also safety concerns when males and females compete against each other, especially in combat sports like rugby, hockey and martial arts.  Women have been injured when they collide with male-bodied athletes and two females have sustained cranial injuries in Mixed Martial Arts competitions.  Again, it’s not inconceivable that countries like Russia could stack their women’s hockey teams with biological males, making it extremely hazardous for the opposing female players. Does a female athlete have to sustain a spinal cord injury before the IOC and other sports officials get the message?

Finally, the facade of “inclusivity” would not be complete without trans-identifying males entering the locker rooms to shower and change with the female athletes.  Many female athletes are extremely uncomfortable with this and are refusing to shower with the males.  For religiously observant female athletes, this can pose a real problem and it is not inconceivable that some females end up dropping out of sports in order to avoid this dilemma.  As a result of “trans-inclusion”, female athletes are being excluded and their safety and dignity are being compromised.