Here's a template for anyone who wants to write to a sports organisation about competitive sport. You can edit it as required, as not all the stats will be relevant to the sport you're writing about.
Dear
I’m writing to you about transgender athletes in sport.
According to the IOC the most important principle in sport is that of fair competition [1]. We have recognised for a long time that biological males have advantages over biological females when it comes to almost all sports. Men have a larger percentage of muscle and a smaller percentage of fat than women, they have higher haemoglobin levels, a larger heart and lungs, stronger bones, a differently shaped pelvis and are taller on average than women are. These clear biological differences are why almost all sports are separated into male and female categories as women would have no chance to win or even compete at elite level if they had to compete against men.
The inclusion of transgender people in sports has mostly affected women by including male-born transwomen in female sports. This has been based on the idea that lowering testosterone levels will remove the advantages of being born male, but there is now good evidence this is not the case. Research shows that suppression of testosterone to levels below those required for competition in female sports does not lead to any loss of muscle strength in transwomen after 1 year of treatment [2].
A recently published review of all the research [3] shows that transwomen will start with the male performance advantages conferred by puberty, and that treatment with testosterone suppression and cross-sex hormones are likely to lead to little to no reduction in strength, with a large retained strength advantage over females. The skeleton remains the same with a retained more efficient gait and longer limbs as well as retained larger heart and lungs. For weightlifting, males are 30% stronger than females/For boxing, males have 163% greater punch power than females. Given the retention of muscle strength despite transition, these advantages over women be retained. An analysis by World Rugby concluded that for rugby, male-born players would still be 25-50% stronger, 30% more powerful, 40% heavier and around 15% faster than female players, and that female players would have a 20-30% increased risk of injury when playing against them. These risks are likely to be similar in other contact sports. The research shows that including transwomen in female sports categories is unfair to female competitors and will lead to female athletes being excluded from their own teams, competitions, podiums and medals due to losing places to male-born transwomen.
Having comprehensively reviewed all the evidence, World Rugby have opted to keep the female category of rugby open only to biological females, due to the safety risks and unfairness to women of opening the category to anyone born male [4].
The Equality Act 2010 specifically says that in sport, all male-born people (even those with a Gender Recognition Certificate) can be excluded from women’s categories. The scientific evidence showing it is unfair, and for some sports unsafe, to allow anyone born male to participate in the female category is clear. Sports organisations who ignore this and continue to allow males into female categories are discriminating against women. It is time for all sports organisations to either show they think fairness for women is important, or to state clearly that they are happy to discriminate against female athletes by allowing males into their categories. Are you happy to state clearly that you don’t care about fairness and safety for female athletes? Are you happy to state clearly that females should be discriminated against in sport?
There is no reason why transgender athletes cannot compete fairly in their own categories, in the same way that fair competition for athletes with disabilities has been made possible. Fairness in sport is vital and should be based on evidence and not on feelings. Please take this opportunity to end discrimination against female athletes by keeping female sports categories for females only.
References
- IOC consensus statement 2015
- Muscle Strength, Size, and Composition Following 12 Months of Gender-affirming Treatment in Transgender Individuals. Wiik et al
J Clin Endocrinol Metab (2020); 105: 1–9
- Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage. Emma N. Hilton, Tommy R. Lundberg
Sports Medicine
doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01389-3
- World Rugby Guidelines and FAQ playerwelfare.worldrugby.org/?subsection=5