The New York Times took the question of transgender athletes to experts, and with a few exceptions, they came back with the same verdict: Allowing transgender women in women’s sports is unfair.
According to Dr. Eric Vilain, who has worked with the NCAA and the International Olympic Committee, gender identity and biological reality are “two almost irreconcilable positions” in women’s sports. Ross Tucker, who helped World Rugby draft its rules that concluded biological men should not be allowed in women’s rugby, said that we must choose between prioritizing “inclusion” or “fairness and safety.”
The piece focuses on testosterone, which highlights the clear advantage biological men have over women. A 2019 study in Sweden found minimal decreases in strength and muscle mass among transgender women after a year of testosterone suppression. Using data from World Athletics, the governing body for international track and field events, the New York Times relays that the lowest level of testosterone generally found in men is still four times higher than the highest in women.
The piece is not without its flaws. It makes a point to tie the Trump administration’s policies on transgender people in the military and other areas to a supposed rise in hate crimes, and Vilain is quoted absurdly stating that it’s no less unfair for women competing against biological men than it is for men to compete against Usain Bolt. But the crux of the piece is clear: In women’s sports, we can have safety and fairness or “inclusivity.”
It’s worth adding that the “inclusivity” problem here is not as severe as it’s implied. Biological women who identify as men hold no biological advantages over men, and there’s little controversy over them competing against men. And no one is saying transgender women should be banned from sports entirely, just that they, as biological men, should be competing against men, not women.
World Rugby recognized both the fairness and safety concerns here in its decision to bar biological men from women’s competitions. As World Rugby concluded, biological men “are stronger by 25%-50%, are 30% more powerful, 40% heavier, and about 15% faster,” and a woman tackled by someone who had undergone male puberty had a 20-30% increased risk of injury.
Women deserve the same opportunity to succeed in sports as men. As the New York Times report shows, that is not something that can be achieved by allowing biological men to move in and take over their respective events. No one is arguing that transgender women should be left out of sports altogether, simply that biological reality dictates that their natural advantages born through male puberty should not be permitted in women’s sports.
