Young, female athletes have been fighting quietly for the right to fair play in sports for a few years now. Sometimes, the fight seems more lopsided than ever. Take what’s happening in Seattle, Washington.
Aspen Hoffman, a biological male, is now competing with females after the Sophomore decided to live as a female at Seattle Academy. Playing on the girls’ team after years of playing with boys has increased the runner’s chances of winning by massive margins, leaving Hoffman’s female teammates in the dust. The 5,000-meter runner boasts two victories, including a conference championship, and three top-two finishes in just eight races. Last year, when running as a biological male, Hoffman finished in 72nd place as a freshman in a boys’ cross-country race. Quite a contrast. Stunning, in fact. Almost as if there are incredible differences between males and females.
The disparity between rankings on the girls’ team versus the boys’ team demonstrates the incredible physiological differences between male and female bodies. This situation is unfair and an affront to the purpose of Title IX.
Libs of TikTok curator Chaya Raichik first reported the unusual track star in her Substack publication. Raichik spoke to family members of the female athletes on the team who were disappointed not only to see the biological male runner beating female teammates, but because the issue has become so controversial and political, they can’t voice their frustration without consequences. “[The student] is larger than any of the girls, and shamelessly takes first place on the podium,” another father told Raichik. “Now my daughter is competing against a male for scholarships. And we can’t even say anything. You can’t even approach it in a nice way without being labeled a hateful bigot. You will get threats against you.”
The father’s right. But it shouldn’t be this way. Fair play for females is not a legal or political issue. Yet females all over the country are taking to the courts to advocate their right to play a sport on a level playing field, just as Title IX originally intended.
There has been an uptick in fair play controversies just like this, nationwide, since the Biden administration directed federal agencies to recognize gender identity as a protected class. The trickle-down effect has been that sports associations have lowered the bar for males to play on female teams. In Washington state, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association eliminated previous requirements that biological males can play on female teams following a year of testosterone or a medical evaluation. Now, male athletes can participate in sports on female teams just based on how they identify. Several states have similar qualifications for males who want to play on female sports teams.
The bar shouldn’t be lowered or changed at all. There is no reason, under Title IX, for biological boys, or boys who identify as girls, to play on girls’ teams. Their physiological and biological differences make it wholly unfair from the get-go. These differences have been swept aside in the name of politics, and the people who suffer most are the girls on these teams who are seeing their hard work amount to little, who are getting beat in races they used to win, and who lose out on opportunities for collegiate scholarships due to this unequal playing field.
If statewide sports associations will not change their rules, schools and sports leagues must stand up for girls and only allow biological females to play on female teams. Fair play was the original purpose of Title IX and there is no reason it should be upended now.
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Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She is an opinion columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
