Transgender women competing for women’s collegiate sports teams has been a huge topic in the news lately. There have been several student-athletes, most recently in swimming, who are receiving a lot of negative attention. Many people hold vastly different views on the subject, and oftentimes, both sides think that they are morally correct and fair.  

So, what is the big debate anyways? When looking into transgender athletes in sports, the main concern for many is if trans women should be allowed to compete for women’s teams. Many people are unclear on when in the physical transition process trans women lose any physical advantages they may have had pre-transition.  

This issue is not clear cut and brings many concerns to the table, most forefront is the concern that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s athletic competitions may give these athletes an unfair advantage, damaging the integrity of women’s sports. If this is true, it would take away from all the female athletes who have trained and worked their entire lives to become the best at what they do. So, the issue poses the questions: Do transgender women have an unfair physical advantage over cisgender women? Does this supposed advantage take away from women who have worked their whole lives at a sport and is this fair? And finally, is prohibiting any woman from competing from a sports team morally right regardless of transition status? 

The NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes Handbook outlines many of these issues and states the requirements for any trans athlete competing at the collegiate level.  

The requirements: 

1. A trans male (FTM) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for treatment with testosterone for diagnosed Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for purposes of NCAA competition may compete on a men’s team, but is no longer eligible to compete on a women’s team without changing that team status to a mixed team. 
2. A trans female (MTF) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for Gender Identity Disorder or gender dysphoria and/or Transsexualism, for the purposes of NCAA competition may continue to compete on a men’s team but may not compete on a women’s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment. 

The NCAA requires any transgender woman who wishes to compete on a women’s team to have undergone at least one year of testosterone suppression prior to competition. Even with this guideline in place, many wonder if the natural size and body composition differences between men and women still leave an uneven playing field. This may seem like it would be the case, due to the apparent physical differences between men and women, not only regarding muscle composition. However, the NCAA Handbook states that  

“According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender woman competing on a women’s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence” (NCAA).  

The main idea stated here is that there is no evidence of a physical advantage for fully transitioned trans women over cis women. Dr. Nick Gorton (American Board of Emergency Medicine- Medical Legal Consultant, Trans Healthcare) states that “Transgender student-athletes fall within the spectrum of physical traits found in athletes of their transitioned gender, allowing them to compete fairly and equitably” (NCAA). His focus is on the fact that ability and body type vary greatly from one person to another, regardless of sex.  

For example, a woman who is 6 feet tall and big boned will have a large advantage over a petite 5 foot tall woman in sports such as swimming or basketball. On the other hand, the smaller woman would likely have an advantage in a sport such as gymnastics. The main idea is that body shape and composition varies fairly extremely within a gender, meaning that when you take away the muscular benefits that testosterone provides transgender women pre-transition, there is no real advantage other than height and body shape, which is an advantage that cis women could hold over other cis women. 

“Research suggests that androgen deprivation and cross sex hormone treatment in male-to-female transsexuals reduces muscle mass; accordingly, one year of hormone therapy is an appropriate transitional time before a male-to-female student-athlete competes on a women’s team” (NCAA).                                                                                                            -Eric Vilain M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Director of the Center for Gender-Based Biology and Chief Medical Genetics Department of Pediatrics, UCLA 

All of the guidelines that the NCAA follows are backed by research and science. Nothing is just arbitrarily put into place and they strive to keep the integrity of women’s sports high and give every student athlete a chance to compete and become successful.  

Regardless of these points, many continue to worry about the advantages that exist outside of muscle mass and endurance. It is true that size and shape vary between every athlete, but overall, men are taller and larger than women (Roser). This could potentially pose a safety issue for high contact sports such as soccer or rugby. Although the strength has been evened out, in a collision, a bigger person is more likely to hurt a smaller person. When you look at this, you still have to consider the existing size differences and gauge whether trans women overall are generally larger than cis women and if so, by how much. This could vary greatly from person to person, and will be affected by whether the transition took place before or after going through male puberty. 

The issue of transgender women competing in sports has many aspects that require investigation. It is necessary to look at the current requirements closely, and use science to decide what the best solution is. Regardless of the scientific evidence of little to no advantage for trans female athletes over cis female athletes, it is still a hot topic in the media. There will always be the question of whether a size advantage is simply a reflection in variation between any athlete, regardless of gender, or a specific advantage that most trans women have over cis women. Today I focused on facts and issues of physicality, but one of the main focuses of this issue is the moral aspect. You have to be able to weigh the need to uphold the integrity of women’s sports with the moral issues that come along with excluding any woman, trans or cis, from participating and succeeding in the sport of their choice that they have spent years mastering. 

Citations:

“NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes.” NCAA Office of Inclusion, Aug. 2011. http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/11INCL.pdf

“NCAA Transgender Policy Background, Resources.” NCAA.org, NCAA, 26 Apr. 2021, https://www.ncaa.org/news/2021/4/26/ncaa-transgender-policy-background-resources.aspx.

Roser, Max, et al. “Human Height.” Our World in Data, 8 Oct. 2013, https://ourworldindata.org/human-height.

Ward, Tricia. “Do Trans Women Athletes Have Advantages?” WebMD, WebMD, 15 July 2021, https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20210715/do-trans-women-athletes-have-advantages.