Following Harris’ loss, Democrats are scrambling to find scapegoats, with trans people being one of the most enticing. The Atlantic recently published an article arguing that, because Democrats are unable to actually defend trans athletes, they may as well abandon this politically unpopular “issue.” Instead, they recommend going for a “compromise position” to “defend transgender Americans who want to live their lives in peace.” Why do mainstream Democrats see a trans woman playing a sport as somehow being in opposition to living our lives in peace?
The transphobes of this country have done an incredible job of turning the public against trans athletes. They’ve done this in two ways. Their first complaint usually occurs when a transgender athlete wins something, and critics label her as an example of an unfair advantage. Take Lia Thomas, for example, who, in addition to being transgender, is also a strong swimmer. Because of this, she won a 500-yard freestyle race in 2022, after three years of transitioning with hormone replacement therapy (HRT). At that same meet, she finished behind many cis women in plenty of other events. Other articles go into more detail about the reality of her performance — nonetheless, it’s safe to say that Thomas is not exceptional. This “debate” isn’t really about how broad Thomas’ shoulders are; it’s about the use of selection bias to shit on trans athletes when they win, and ignore them when they lose.
The other argument surrounds “biological differences” between men and women. Another lovely article in The Atlantic rattles off comparisons between male and female sports leagues. This would be a very smart and astute analysis — if it made any sense at all. They use statistics of men in place of actual statistics of trans women, usually referring to trans women as “men” in their rhetoric. And when we call them out for this, we’re “shouting down” opinions. Trans women are not men. This is, as the saying goes, basic biology.
Transphobes are predictably unconcerned with the actual science at play. In 2021, the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport commissioned a “review of scientific and grey literature on transgender athlete participation in competitive sport.” This study found that “available evidence indicates trans women who have undergone testosterone suppression have no clear biological advantage over cis women in elite sport.” Despite this, both the NCAA and Olympics have banned trans athletes. So, if there really are no actual statistical differences, why do people flip their shit every time a trans athlete … *gasp* wins an athletic event?
The answer is that transphobes are a bunch of scumbags, and the consequences affect both cis and trans people. We’re at the point where the Florida House of Representatives is giving schools the power to subject students to “physical examination” — aka genital inspections. As they enact these policies, they use the trans sports “debate” to try and find “nuance” in the transgender “issue.” It’s a starting point to exclude trans women from other spaces too. How in the world can you justify banning trans people from women’s chess leagues? And, if this debate is truly about biological “advantage,” why does the debate make its way to the locker rooms as well?
Well-meaning cis “allies” promote the view that, while gender is changeable, sex is the immutable characteristics controlled by chromosomes. This is why you’ll hear people yapping about “biological” men and “biological” women. To that, I say, any doctor that is treating me like a “biological man” is a bad fucking doctor.
What cis people don’t understand is that even the most basic trans healthcare is basically magic. Since starting HRT, my hormone levels are a lot closer to an average cis woman than an average man.
Feminizing HRT does a lot. It changes fat distribution, decreases muscle mass, and changes your emotions. It thins body hair and decreases sweat. It can change shoe size and height. I shit you not, HRT is giving me cute freckles on my nose. Many trans women report monthly menstrual cramps. With the right hormone cocktail, trans women can breastfeed their children, and some doctors now believe that the first uterus transplant for a trans woman is “anticipated to take place within the next few years, if not sooner.” I call dibs.
The fact that you actually can change your sex is a terrifying threat to anyone who is currently trying to control women’s bodies. If there’s not actually much of a biological difference between men and women, it’s harder to enforce structures that maintain men in power.
Honestly, I don’t really care about sports all that much. But when liberals blame trans people for Harris’ loss, it really pisses me off. Instead of letting trans rights even more rapidly slip away — why not just actually take the time to learn about our issues, learn that we’re not a threat to sports or locker rooms, and just be fucking normal?
