Despite being only a month into 2022, the debate around transgender female athletes remains fiery.
Most recently, South Dakota became the 10th state to enforce legislation prioritizing the importance of biological sex. Gov. Kristi Noem signed Senate Bill 46 to “protect fairness in women’s sports.” The law will come into effect on July 1 and requires school sports to be classified as either female, male, or mixed. Only female athletes, based on their biological sex, not gender identity, may participate in sports designated for women and girls.
For years, this completely reasonable requirement has been blasted as transphobic and discriminatory. In response to Noem’s signing, a predictable backlash argued the legislation is harmful to “transgender youth.”
But activists can only grasp at straws. Anyone who is skeptical as to why these mandates are necessary needs only glance at collegiate swimming to see how categorization based on gender self-identification has invited a catastrophe. After months of outrage, the dismissal of female swimmers’ concerns, and allegations that collusion offered the illusion of a level playing field, one organization, USA Swimming, has taken a stand.
In its transgender-eligibility guidelines, USA Swimming states that participation in women’s sports requires evidence that an individual does not have a competitive advantage over female athletes, which will be evaluated by a panel of three medical experts. The individual must also demonstrate testosterone levels of less than 5 nanomoles per liter for at least 36 months, which is more favorable to female competitors than previous requirements set by other athletic organizations.
Such considerations are necessary because in addition to being, on average, larger and faster than women, transgender women possess anatomical differences, such as larger hearts and lungs, that allow them to dominate their female competitors even after undergoing hormonal transition.
The issue of transgender athletes has been tucked under the guise of promoting human rights when many transgender people are in fact furious at this activism. For example, activists will claim that transgender women are biologically female, or that transition bestows upon them a cervix.
Not only do many transgender people disagree with transgender women competing in elite women’s sports, but rhetoric denying biology and biological sex harms their ability to access appropriate healthcare.
The more damage these activists do, the sooner change will be forthcoming. As organizations and individuals increasingly find the courage to challenge this ideology, many more will be emboldened to do the same.
Dr. Debra Soh is a sex neuroscientist, the host of The Dr. Debra Soh Podcast, and the author of The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society.
