For my final civic blog, I am going to discuss the mental health impact of preventing transgender athletes from participating in sports. While there are many aspects to consider with this complex topic, the mental health of young athletes is one of the most important things to keep in mind. Gender dysphoria among transgender individuals is often one of the biggest stressors that can worsen anxiety or self-esteem issues. (Medical News Today). Not all transgender people experience gender dysphoria, but for those who do it is often worsened by the environment they are living in. For transgender athletes, this can be true to an extreme extent. The same rules and regulations that would help ensure that women’s sports retain their integrity may also make trans athletes feel excluded and targeted.
If a transgender woman is forced to either compete for the men’s team or not compete at all because she does not meet NCAA regulations, this could worsen social anxiety and gender dysphoria. Being forced to compete for a men’s team when you live your life every day as a woman could be uncomfortable for many student-athletes and could bring them a lot of unwanted attention. Many young transgender people do not come out as trans to their peers immediately. Transgender women are women and transgender men are men, so in everyday life, there are few situations where they could be outed as transgender before they feel comfortable sharing this information. However, in the world of sports, this all becomes more complicated. If a transgender woman is forced to compete on the men’s team, they are automatically publicizing the fact that they are transgender. This is not an issue for some athletes, but for others, this could cause a great amount of stress. It forces transgender student-athletes to come out publicly to everyone involved in the sport. This removes any hope of privacy for the individual.
Not only could this cause them to feel like they are not truly a part of the team, or accepted for who they are but it could be dangerous for the athletes. Although our country is widely accepting of the LGBTQ community, there are still extremists who may target young athletes who choose to continue competing in their sport despite not meeting regulations. Not allowing them to compete with the gender that they identify with could cause them to stand out and gain negative attention from these aggressors. Often times this comes in the form of people acting in support of women’s rights. This is a dangerous statement to allow as an excuse because it is oftentimes simply a great coverup for people who are transphobic and want a more publicly acceptable way to voice their opinions on transgender people. Many extremists use women’s rights as a front to say terrible things about young, sometimes vulnerable student-athletes. It is one thing to voice opinions on a topic, but it is not okay for an athlete to be called out and harassed in order to make a point.
If an organization such as the NCAA publicly supports transgender rights and athletes, yet forces a trans woman to compete for a men’s team, this is practically telling this athlete that they are a woman in every sense, yet not in the world of sports. This is hypocritical and harmful to the student athletes’ mental health.
All of these factors put together would almost require the athletes to choose between the sport that they love and have dedicated much of their lives to and their mental health. If this were the case, either outcome would be damaging to the student and all of this just puts more strain on an already at risk group of young people. “Research suggests that transgender individuals are almost four times as likely as cisgender people to experience a mental health condition” (Medical News Today). Sports are an escape for many young people, and taking this away from transgender athletes would just be hurting this group even more so.
Not only are they often a huge part of the lives of young people, socially and emotionally, but “Sports have repeatedly been shown to have both physical and mental health benefits” (Columbia). It is also true that sports are “shown to combat depression and anxiety” (Columbia). This means that allowing transgender athletes to compete for their chosen teams could actually improve their mental health. If sports are able to help an at risk group, why not take the necessary steps to make this a reality.
Although there are still legitimate concerns about the fairness and the integrity of women’s sports, and this is extremely important to uphold, there should be a way to incorporate transgender athletes while keeping everything on a level playing field. There is no excuse for the blatant mistreatment of transgender athletes, and every athlete should be given a chance to compete in their chosen sport. There needs to be a way to balance the safety of transgender athletes both mentally and physically with the need to provide a fair and safe playing field for all athletes. This has to be done in a way that protects the privacy of trans athletes, and does not force people to come out publicly before they are ready to do so. The answer is not simple and will likely take years to develop. I am very interested to see where this issue stands in future years, both collegiately and on the world and Olympic stage.
Thanks for reading my blog, let me know if you have any opinions or predictions as to what we may see in the future!
Citations:
“Protecting Transgender Youths’ Right to Participate in Sports.” Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia, 25 Feb. 2021, https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/protecting-transgender-youths-right-participate-sports.
“What to Know about Mental Health among Transgender Individuals.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/transgender-mental-health#statistics.
I completely agree with you that it is important to balance the equal opportunity of all people, regardless of their gender identity, while respecting the work of all athletes and avoiding unfair advantages. I had never considered how forcing transgender athletes to play in one gender or another could quantify as forcing them out of the closet in some way and being subjected to judgement they never asked for. It is definitely unfair as they may not want the whole world, or even their teammates to know their gender identity. Even if they may just want to play the sport they enjoy, being a transgender athlete subjects them to soo much uncalled for judgement.
The mental health of transgender athletes should not be taken lightly. These individuals face enough discrimination as it is, and excluding them from competing with a team they feel most comfortable with could be detrimental to their self-esteem. With an issue as difficult as your civic issue, it can be hard to separate statistics versus personal bias. Do people not want transgender athletes competing with certain genders because of sports analytics, or their own opinions on LGBTQ individuals? I think you’ve done a great job reporting all sides of this issue, and I am interested to see how this issue is handled within the next few years.
It has been so interesting to be able to read over your research on such a controversial topic. I completely agree that there needs to be found a way to include transgender athletes. However, it becomes a tricky playing field. As much as the transgender athlete may suffer from unwanted attention and stress, their competitors may also be experiencing such feeling whilst competing against them. The whole of the situation is precarious and entirely dependent upon how society continues with LGBTQ standards to see where it goes.