At first, it seems like a no-brainer—a young male wants to compete as an athlete so he declares himself to be a girl and joins a girls’ team where his maleness will give him/her an advantage. It’s like cheating. Everyone knows boys and girls are not created equal right? Let’s have a look at some data.
The reason
we have different sports teams for boys and girls is based on evidence that
there is a performance gap, which some report as 10% or higher in favour of boys
(Hilton
& Lundberg, 2020). It depends on the sport.
Is there
any scientific evidence that can help calm the strong anti-trans girl rhetoric?
Well, there is some evidence worth considering by those who believe in the
value of scientific evidence. Unfortunately, beliefs, ideologies, and strong emotions
are barriers to examining the evidence so, I’m not too optimistic that evidence
will win the day. Nevertheless, I will consider what we can learn from science
in this post.
About
words
Some
readers might wonder about the terms used in the arguments. Cisgender
girls are those whose gender identity as a girl matches their birth (or natal)
sex. Their sex is female and their gender is “girl.” Trans girls are those
whose birth sex does not match their gender identity as a girl.
The terms trans
or transgender are general terms for people whose birth sex does not match
their gender identity. Not everyone is born with either male or female sex
characteristics. Male and female refer to sex assigned at birth. Boy and girl
are gender terms, which do not apply to those who don’t fit the binary gender mould.
Not every
trans girl participates in a medical transition, which can include hormones and
surgery. Transitions are not just medical but may include unique psychological
and social changes as well as legal changes. (Read more at hopkinsmedicine.org)
Girls as
Athletes and Testosterone
Most athletes
are cisgender. This is true of girls and boys.
Some
believe the hormone associated with being male, testosterone, provides an
unfair advantage in sports. But science does not support that belief. Here’s a
quote from Yale scientist, Katrina Karkazis (Scientific
American).
“Studies of testosterone levels in athletes do not show any clear,
consistent relationship between testosterone and athletic performance.
Sometimes testosterone is associated with better performance, but other studies
show weak links or no links. And yet others show testosterone is associated
with worse performance.”
Hilton and
Lundberg (2020)
reported that the suppression of testosterone in transwomen only resulted in a
loss of 5% of lean body mass, muscular status, and strength after being treated
for a year. Notice that the researchers refer to women and not girls.
Trans girls
have other disadvantages in today’s society, which may explain why so few engage
in competitive sports. About 1% of children identify as transgender. They have
high rates of mental health issues like anxiety and depression (Turban
& Ehrensaft, 2017).
The US Transgender
Survey (2015) paints a
grim picture of people who are subject to mistreatment and discrimination. Some
are victims of violence from a family member. Some were kicked out of their
homes. And more than half were harassed at school. Family support is a key
factor in wellbeing. If you work with transpersons, I recommend you read the
report.
The Male
Advantage
According
to Hilton and Lundberg mentioned above, the male advantage can vary with the
sport. The advantage is higher in sports that require “explosive strength.”
They reviewed studies of child athletes and found an advantage for prepuberty
boys; however, the real challenge comes in the differences following puberty.
Their charts show a considerable advantage for male athletes over female
athletes in various sports.
There is a
big however to Hilton and Lundberg’s findings. There are limited data
about athletes who identify as trans girls and how they compare to either cisgender
boys or girls who are actively engaged in competitive sports. Here’s what Beth Jones
and her team concluded after a review of the research.
The more we delved into the issue, the clearer it became that many
sporting organisations had overinterpreted the unsubstantiated belief that
testosterone leads to an athletic advantage in transgender people, particularly
individuals who were assigned male at birth but identify as female.
There is no research that has directly and consistently found
transgender people to have an athletic advantage in sport, so it is difficult
to understand why so many current policies continue to discriminate. Inclusive
transgender sporting policies need to be developed and implemented that allow
transgender people to compete in accordance with their gender identity,
regardless of hormone levels.
(For more details, read the article in Sports
Medicine.)
Conclusion
We do not
have enough scientific evidence based on data available by March 2021 to
conclude that trans girls have a reliable winning advantage over cisgender girls in
competitive sports.
A sole
focus on testosterone as a key difference between trans girls and cisgender girls is not reasonable because there are psychosocial
factors and training factors relevant to winning in competitive sports and because the evidence for testosterone levels making a winning difference is lacking.
Alas
Beliefs
about what is true and strong emotions tied to winning and losing will continue
to drive policies before scientists have close to conclusive evidence informing
the debate.
Concern
So many
trans youth struggle with psychological distress that can be quite severe. The general lack of concern for them is appalling. In addition, sports can promote health
and wellbeing. Inflexible laws and policies based on beliefs rather than
evidence can make matters worse for trans youth and fail to level the playing
field for trans girls and cisgender girls.
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