Transgenders in Sports
On February 5, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from competing in female sports. This act barred many transgender women athletes from competing in events they love. This event sparked online controversy about prohibiting or allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports. The inclusion of transgender women’s sports raises issues of fairness, biology, and inclusivity—let’s break it down.
Supporters argue that transgender women should be allowed to conform to their gender identity and that their inclusion and fundamental rights are important. Critics argue that the athlete would have biological advantages, especially if they transitioned after puberty. As legal and scientific debates continue to unfold, especially with evidence under development. However, with the evidence that we have and public opinion, the solution seems to favor not allowing transgender women to compete in the women’s division of sports.
While Transgender women have the identity of a woman, they still have attributes gifted from their biological traits. Biologically, men have more testosterone, especially while they go through puberty. This allows them to grow stronger and bigger, giving them advantages in recreational activities. In an observational study from the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, vol. 34, no. 3, it explained how when a biological male transitions to a female, they don’t lose their bone structure. The British Journal of Sports Medicine explained how transgender women maintain their cardiovascular capacity. This gives them advantages over women in their field.
A consensus made by the American College of Sports Medicine confirms that men are biologically advantaged in comparison to women. Men tend to be physically stronger, faster, and more powerful than women of similar age and training because of fundamental sex differences in anatomy and physiology based on hormones. In the consensus of athletic events, men outdid women by 10-30%. This is heavily due to hormones, particularly testosterone in men, which increases by 30 times in men but remains low in women.
A study made by Matt Brzycki, Coordinator of Health Fitness, Strength and Conditioning Programs at Princeton University, compared the world record differences between women and men in powerlifting. The results showed that the performances from the women were only 65.766 – 76.984% of their male counterparts.
Transgender women maintain physical advantages even after transitioning.
In Lia Thomas’s situation, a transgender woman, had shattered women’s swimming team records. Her teammates even spoke out and expressed how they thought this was unfair and were uncomfortable around her. One teammate stated that they were uncomfortable seeing Thomas as she still had male genitalia, “there’s nothing we can do about it, that we basically have to roll over and accept it, or we cannot use our own locker room.”
Another teammate explained that she supported Lia’s transition but thought it was “unfair” for her to compete in women’s sports.
Even former Olympian Caitlin Jenner spoke out about this on Fox News, “I’ve said from the beginning, biological boys should not be playing in women’s sports. We need to protect women’s sports.”
In 2014, MMA fighter Fallon Fox, a transgender woman, fought Tamikka Brent, a biological woman. In the first 2 and a half minutes of their fight, Fox had fractured Brent’s skull.
Prohibiting transgender women from women’s sports is not just about fairness, but also the safety of women, as shown by Tamikka Brent’s situation.
Although supporters argue that after transitioning, the testosterone in transgender women decreases, and estrogen increases. Their claim can be supported by an Endocrinologist and a University of Washington professor, Dr. Bradley Anawalt, who explained that a study showed that “it took two years for their running times to fall in line with women assigned female at birth. The sit-up scores of trans women stayed higher until four years after they started hormones, but their push-up scores remained higher the entire time.” However, even if the performance of the transgender women dropped, they are still advantaged anatomically, with bone structures that could benefit them in their sport or a larger heart.
“If you go through puberty, you have all the benefits of having a male body. Even if you transition and reduce your testosterone, you’re still going to have those benefits, the bone structure, the slightly bigger hearts, more red blood cells… so therefore, for a female athlete competing with a transgender female is always going to be at a disadvantage,” said Olympic medalist Sharon Davies.
By the words of Sharon Davies, transgender women still retain some physical traits of men that biological women can never achieve. Showing that we have more reason to push for not only that transgender women stay out of women’s sports, but rather they get their own category where they can feel more inclusive.
Ultimately, due to the biological advantages, transgender women are bound to be physically better than biological women. Not only is this unfair to women competitors, but in certain events, we worry for their safety and health. As a community, we must push for better environments for women and trans women athletes.