Female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to transgender rivals competing against them in women’s sporting categories, an eye-opening United Nations report has revealed.
The study — titled “Violence against women and girls in sports” — stated that more than 600 female athletes have been bested at various events by competitors who were born male.
“According to information received, by 30 March 2024, over 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports,” the report said.
“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males.”
The wide-ranging report, compiled by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, was presented to the UN General Assembly earlier this month.
The paper didn’t elaborate on at what sporting events the medals were won, or over what time frame.
I think it is just an unavoidable fact that growing up with testosterone in your body fundamentally changes your skeletal structure and musculature, and that is why such an extreme minority in society is able to quickly begin dominating women’s sports and why you also have not heard any stories of transmen dominating men’s sports. It appears to also be the case that since biological men & women process testosterone differently, the baseline levels of testosterone that transwomen on HRT may still produce or receive (I am not sure how this works) will also be received differently.
Some problems cannot be fixed, right: a transwoman now does not have the same level of testosterone as men, and that means the transwoman’s training is greatly impacted. The ability to generate new muscle in the training season will be less… Yet, they also have unfair advantages when competing against women.
It is basically unfixable other than having transwoman specific categories or simply creating open leagues or leagues in which all participants accept these realities… This is not that problematic for non-contact sports, but can be deeply problematic if we are talking about women’s rugby or something.
And… when it comes to competition at high levels, it is far more complicated simply because there is more emphasis on who is the fastest woman/man? Who is the strongest woman/man? Which nation has the best women’s basketball team…?, etc., and people prefer a more narrow definition of this.
So, what can we do?
Let me end it by saying…
This is not to say “Transwomen are villains!”
This is to point out that a very vulnerable community is also negatively impacted by this…
I can’t help but think of a few girls in my high school who were tall, athletic, and masculine. I can’t help but think of my aunt who was a jock… They have faced a lot of name calling and criticism, and have often felt inadequate for many men as women, as losers… Athletics was the one area they brought great credit on themselves, their schools, their families, their nations, even…
Women athletes have often been rebels and nonconformists facing an uphill battle… There’s something special about that, which makes it more painful for people to see them displaced…
This is not meant to say, “Oh, fuck you guys,” but rather to outline what I think is a real issue.
I apologize for not responding earlier in the week - I have been busy
E: Hah! You’re fine. It’s night where I am so you actually caught me when I was online. Don’t ever apologize for just not responding to a comment. Life is way more important than some random (i.e: me) on a forum.
I totally understand what you’re saying, but I think it’s far more complicated. None of this rhetoric is about protecting women. The root of it is homophobia, pure and simple. The only reason people are talking about it is because it’s now a new “political platform” you can rile people up with.
Trans women haven’t taken over women’s sports. There are no trans women who are playing in the WNBA or NWSL. There are NB folks playing, but as far as I know only one identifies as Non-Binary. Even the Olympics doesn’t really have trans women competing and “dominating.”
Edit: You’re probably not a bad person, you don’t seem to be some extremist. It’s just instead of acknowledging that the “trans women in sports” thing isn’t actually a widespread problem-- it’s made into this moral dilemma, as if trans women are only okay if they keep to themselves, don’t try and better themselves, don’t pursue hobbies and interest (keep in mind, a SMALLLLLLLL fraction of women are even good enough to go pro), then they deserve to exist.
How many trans women have you seen play at the WNBA games you watch/go to?
To be fair, your antidotal evidence about your friends and family don’t actually reflect reality. This isn’t about “lesbians” feeling safe. Queer women still actually get a lot of pushback just for being gay. The lesbians that get LESS are the white and typically femme ones. The ones who aren’t white or have more muscle get called men. Even the straight ones do. Serena Williams. Illona Maher.
People don’t give a fuck about the WNBA. It’s majority black women who are in the league. They all get called men anyway, and then people will also turn around and bash it because it’s women’s sports.
We also don’t seem to make a big deal about trans men in sports. For some reason, it’s only women we care about. If women were weaker, how would the trans boxer Patricio Manuel defeat so many cis men? He’s a trans man, so shouldn’t be constantly be losing?
Why not have categories based off merit? Have specific metrics for a specific sports that actually don’t have to do with gender, but ability.
This whole “women are suffering” is just a tool to create trans panic. Women produce testosterone. Some more than some cis men out there.