Transmen in ANY sports

[MidCenturyLangClegs]

I've a niece who is identifying as a transman. She's not sporty my question doesn't apply to her herself.

But I was wondering about the fact that nobody really seems to be talking about what her options would be for sports if she was.

At the moment a trans-identifying male can compete with and against females in non-elite sports. For elite sports, many sporting bodies are telling him that it doesn't matter however low his testosterone levels are after using x-sex hormones, if he's gone through male puberty than he has to compete in the MALE/OPEN game.

All good, I think most of the sane world know he's a man and want to protect women's sports.

But what happens with transmen?
Testosterone, no matter what it is used for, is classed as a doping drug. So trans-identifying females who wish to participate at a semi-pro or pro level will not be able to take "gender affirming medicines" if they want a sports career. There is an absolute, hardline NO in their participation in sports within both the MALE, FEMALE and OPEN categories because of this.

So if sane rules apply, Lia Thomas will be refused to race against women but can compete in the Male and Open categories whilst taking oestrogen. That's inclusive to both males and females and respects Thomas' wish to have 'gender affirming medicine'.

But Iszac Henig, trans-identifying female aka transman who raced in the same championships as Thomas, couldn't take gender affirming medicine until after the event. She had her breasts removed but knew that if she took testosterone she would be thrown out of her sport for ever.

What's the answer here. No newspaper ever talks about this?

As long as she's not doping she can compete with other women. If she is doping she can maybe compete in an open category. But she wouldn't be successful because she'd be competing against men.

Nobody cares because everyone knows transmen are women, and nobody gives a flying fuck about women.

That's sort of my point. She's not allowed to dope, but Thomas is.

I've seen people suggest that a trans-identifying female wishing to compete in the Open category might be able to get a TUE for testosterone. I've no idea whether that's actually realistic.

It's the point I'm trying to make. I'm forever grateful to newspapers I never used to read like the Daily Mail for covering all of this. But would they ever talk about transmen... probably not.

I've now read the WADA guidelines. They explicitly say that females competing against males (i.e. in the open or male category) are entitled to a TUE for testosterone to bring them within the normal male range.

There's an example of this policy in action here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/10/06/trans-nonbinary-runner-testosterone-exemption/

WADA guidelines here: https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/tuec_transgender_version1.0.pdf

I'd never heard of this, thanks for sharing.
The policy was written in 2017.
So... women are allowed to take as much testosterone as they want yet they're clearly not winning anything even at the grass-roots level of sports.
I think we'd have heard from men if they had!

Cal Calamina is a non Binary Trans masculine runner who has an exemption to use testosterone and still compete. Chris Mosier was a long distance runner who is a trans man and competed but I don't think was on testosterone when competing

Most of the female athletes I can find who fall under the trans umbrella are identified as non binary and still compete in women's sport. As is their right if they are not on testosterone.

As noted above there's not many out there who are known. I found this list
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/25-transgender-athletes-you-should-know/

@HobnobsChoice How does Cal have an exemption to compete athletically whilst using testosterone?

Nobody cares because a trans man would have no chance of winning against biological males.

See the WaPo article above.

I can't actually read it beyond the burb as it's behind a paywall. Could you please paste the text to provide a share token.

The thing is that for a transman to be at the top of men's sport (any men's sport) they would have to be beyond exceptional.
The Williams sisters who are exceptional players and redefined the women's game were beaten by a man ranked 200.

Men might be affected in sports with size or weight categories as there aren't as many men in the ultra tiny featherweight groups and trans men might stand a chance.

However, I think men's sport thinks the bigger categories are more important and might not side with the small men affected. I suspect they think these categories are already a sort of special treatment.

https://archive.ph/3cpt6

Ultra endurance sports are also much more closely matched. Women sometimes win outright in those kinds of events: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-49284389.

https://archive.ph/3cpt6
archive of the post article.

Lang, I notice that you used the phrase ‘gender affirming medicine’. I think that’s as worrying as using made up pronouns. I’m not sure what the best term would be - ‘sex denial drugs’ has a certain appeal, or maybe ‘life endangering fantasy medicine’.

Agree @RandySavage. Gender affirming medicine sounds so nice and positive. Very different to the massive damage that wrong sex hormones can cause. Yet another euphemism we need to challenge

@Igmum @RandySavage you are both right, sorry, I was using the phrase "Gender affirming medicine" ironically without being able to articulate an associated eye-roll

Thank you for sharing that, I had no idea that this had happened.

As much as I hate the act of females doping themselves with testosterone I am pleased that Cal had an opportunity to compete within a category within which she could win (non-binary) fairly.

Useful webinars here:

https://www5.open.ac.uk/health-wellbeing/research-themes/gender-critical-research-network/webinar-series

in a nutshell. Its all about the lovely experiences of men using women. It always is.

In professional sport, if you are taking a drug that is not allowed, you might be able to get a Therapeutic Use Exception. If you cannot, that's just the way it goes. Some people, through no fault of their own, are taking drugs that exclude them from drug-tested elite sports competitions.

It's sad for them, but important to protect the integrity of sport, not least to avoid the pressure on young athletes to take drugs (which will often harm their health) to compete.

In terms of rugby, this is World Rugby's current stance .
"Transgender men may play men's rugby having provided confirmation of physical ability. Transgender men may not play women's rugby after the process of sex reassignment has begun, if this reassignment includes supplementation with testosterone"

As for each country's organisation,
"It is strongly recommended that each Union adopts its own regulations to determine the eligibility of transgender players to compete in events taking place under its own jurisdiction. Unions should take account of the information provided in this Guideline but may also take into account any relevant aspects of local law which apply within the Union's jurisdiction and with which the Union is legally obliged to comply. See here for further details."

More details here
https://www.world.rugby/the-game/player-welfare/guidelines/transgender?lang=en#:~:text=Transgender%20men%20may%20play%20men's,reassignment%20includes%20supplementation%20with%20testosterone