I had an unfortunate discussion with a buddy recently on Facebook regarding trans people participating in sports. It made me so angry, I’ve needed several days to decompress and gather my thoughts. I hope that now I’m able to make some sense on this topic.
In my buddy’s view, trans people should not compete with those of their own gender, especially transwomen.
“…specifically my issue is with contact sports. Trans Females can and have injured Biological Females. To prevent unnecessary harm, Trans folks can start their own league or association where Trans Females compete with each other and Trans Males compete with each other. Keep in mind this is with contact sports or sports with a higher risk of injury.”
First of all, the correct term is cis-women, not biological females since transwomen are biologically female. It’s only our societal pressures on “what a gendered body should look like” that assumes a transwoman’s body is not a female body.
Now, let’s think about sports for a moment.
Contact sports.
Chances of getting injured.
This already occurs regardless of whether you’re cis or trans (just look at the concussion rates in pro-football). There are so many ways that players can get injured, which is why leagues and associations already implement rules to keep their players as safe as possible. Tackle low in football and rugby, no slashing in hockey, etc.
Does this eliminate all injuries? No, but it certainly lowers the rate of injury and the severity. Do injuries that occur only happen when a bigger and smaller player collide? Not at all. There are countless times players of the same strength hurt each other, or land wrong, or have an underlying medical condition they were unaware of that catches up with them. It’s also the players’ responsibility to abide by these rules and control their bodies to the best of their ability to prevent injuring others.
If the worry is regarding a player who happens to be bigger or stronger than her opponents, then why don’t we separate cis-gendered players? “Sorry sir, you’re just too tall for this basketball team, but you can sign up with the plus-sized league.” “Sorry ma’am, you’re just so much shorter than the other lacrosse players.” The only contact sport that splits gendered players based on size (that I know of) is wrestling. It implements competing based on size/strength for safety because, based on how this sport operates, size does matter in lowering the risk of injury.
It’s also unreasonable to assume that all transwomen are larger and stronger than cis-women. Trans bodies have as much variety as cis bodies. Some cis-women are magnificently tall and broad-shouldered. Some transwomen are petite. If people are worried about transwomen having an unfair advantage, why aren’t they scrutinizing strong cis-women as well?
Separating out trans players is telling them that they don’t belong with their appropriate gender, which is not only a transphobic act, but also a great detriment to leagues looking for skilled players.
Anyone’s size and strength can be of great value to any team with rigorous training, regardless of their gender. And strength varies greatly in any gender, trans or cis. Small man? He’ll be a useful scrum half in rugby, a role that favors the short and quick. A woman still building up her muscles and stamina? See how she does as a linebacker or receiver. Keep the options open.
Unfortunately, my buddy did not take to this explanation.
“I will disagree. There are no correct terms. Just terms people choose. I understand where you are coming from and I politely disagree. Live how you choose to live your life. I cannot fall in line with something I find morally wrong and unsafe. By definition it’s not transphobic, it’s logic. Time will tell.”
While I appreciate the notion of living one’s life as they so choose, this logic that transwomen are unsafe in female sports is unfounded, and the act of discriminating against trans people and isolating them from participating in an activity open to cis-gendered people is transphobic.
For more info, I strongly recommend checking out the following:
Gender Terms & Phrases to Avoid as explained by GLAAD.
Transphobia & Discrimination according to the Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence and Planned Parenthood.
Unfounded Misinformation About Transwomen in Sports per ACLU, Athlete Ally, and The Conversation.
How to be a Trans Ally detailed by GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign.
Very well written, Phineas. I appreciated your clear explanations and inclusion of the original comments themselves. I admire your ability to always stand up for yourself and others. This post is also helpful in identifying when an idea is transphobic; it is something that I am continually working on. I also appreciated all of the links at the end. The GLAAD media reference guide is super helpful.
I’m glad this post was helpful, and I completely forgot to include that the National Center for Transgender Equality at https://transequality.org/ is another great source of info.
My first thought is why not just make everything coed? Because what about non-binary ppl, making them pick a side or not play isn’t great. I’m not sure it matters anywhere but the Olympics, because if you’re in school or in an adult intramural league you’re just there to have fun anyway. Bodies are a spectrum and no one’s stretching the boundaries of what the human body can do by fractions of a second or anything. Sally down the block might have an advantage over John just bc she eats more veggies or something.
But if everyone’s at their peak physical fitness you’ll get to the very top of competition and see just men in a lot of sports with all the trophies if you do that. It really depends on the sport though. I don’t know how to solve that fairly, but it also doesn’t feel like it affects hardly anyone. Maybe someone gets to a certain level in their sport and then draw a line somewhere?
If you aren’t prepared for occasional injury you shouldn’t do sports. I was in XC running, which isn’t even a contact sport and ppl get hurt all the time. On more than one occasion I had exercised so much so many days in a row all my muscles in my legs seized up and I couldn’t move. It’s extremely painful. The bones in your hips, shins, feet and knees get stress fractures, you fall and stuff. It’s part of the activity.
Idk, some people feel the best way to uplift themselves is to try to take out the competition instead of focusing on bettering themselves. I’ve definitely been told I’m “cheating” by being 6ft tall, because I was faster than fully half the boys, and I’m a cis girl. It super depends on the sport what attribute is an advantage. Lanky ppl don’t do well in gymnastics or wrestling. You’d maybe have to draw the line at different attributes by sport at the competitive top, like your plus size league example. But that doesn’t seem fair either. I don’t know the answer, but it also seems like something that affects next to nobody. Isn’t sport supposed to be a fun game for most people who participate? If you’re that worried about it you probably have ulterior transphobic reasons why you’re so concerned. I get pretty mad about people who hide their bigotry behind “oh no, save the poor fragile cis women”. From bathrooms or sports or whatever. It’s like the people who are like “think of the children” for X unrelated bigot reason. Only it’s just showing that you think of adult women as helpless babies which is kind of misogynistic.
It would be nice to make things co-ed with certain classifications. A friend of mine who used to compete in jujitsu told me how, just like for wrestling, competitors are separated by both gender and size. However, due to very few women competing, she was forced to compete against women both much smaller and much larger than herself. For people who think splitting the genders is for “fairness,” this doesn’t add up at all, especially since she could’ve had more competitors within her size bracket to spar with among the men if they allowed the sport to be co-ed.
I agree that some people are trying to make an excuse for their bias, especially against cis-women. I’m sorry to hear people thought you were cheating in XC just because they were intimidated by your athleticism. I hope that didn’t stop you from being an unstoppable, strong force.
Another great post, Phineas. A tremendous blog.
Thank you Noam! 🙂