A solution to Transgender Women in Sports

Transgender is a term used to describe one whose gender orientation or expression does not correspond to conventional standards. Sports have been demonstrated repeatedly to be beneficial to both health and wellbeing. Regular physical exercise can help prevent heart disease and diabetes, enhance bone health, general health, and brain ability, and battle anxiety and depression. Several legislations for transgender women participating in sporting activities are not just transphobic and violate civil liberties but are also directly harmful to public health (Buzuvis 439). One such legislation frequently demands athletes to confirm their gender by a doctor’s examination, genetic test, or hormonal test to validate testosterone levels if an athlete’s gender is called into doubt.

The current NCAA regulation on permitting transgender players to compete does not need gender-affirming surgery or legal acknowledgment of a player’s changed sex for transgender athletes to compete on a team that fits their identity (Buzuvis 439). It does, however, need one year of hormone rehabilitation testosterone suppression before playing on a female team. At the same time, no such restriction for male transgender players to play on a male team. Athletes born female can engage in women’s games unless and until they complete a physical transformation utilising testosterone. A fit solution to equality and inclusivity to compete in sports is categorising the athletes into different groups.

Transgender adolescents are already experiencing a severe mental health crisis, with problems such as depression, suicidal tendencies, and PTSD. Compared to non-transgender counterparts, transgender people have a higher likelihood of suicidal behaviour attempts. The mental health advantages of athletics and societal assistance are crucial for such a vulnerable demographic (Hilton and Lundberg 199). Furthermore, according to a 2016 research, transgender students who were denied entry to gender-appropriate restrooms on their campuses had a 45 per cent more likelihood of soliciting suicide. This has immediate ramifications for sports participation, revealing how exclusionary policies may aggravate the mental health crisis among transgender adolescents. The national guideline that permits transgender kids to engage in the field of sports aligned without regard to their gender identification limits to promote the health of all pupils fully is required (Ingram and Thomas 239). A national policy would explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, laws requiring that students be enrolled in sports according to how they acknowledge, irrespective of the gender shown on their public record.

Additionally, the widely held idea regarding transgender girls and women would dictate athletics is false since there is no research showing that transgender persons possess an athletic edge. For years, transgender players have been allowed for Professional, Olympic, and NCAA competitions, with no evidence of trans superiority in sports (Hilton and Lundberg 210). Although the gender binary is still a problem, some restrictions are especially destructive since they are based on anti-trans prejudice and fear, neglecting facts and individual health.

Different divisions can be used to ensure equality for all athletes competing in sports. One possibility is categorisation based on hormone level, resulting in three or four distinct classes. Labelling these groups based on this level rather than the related gender might be the way to go. This answer is a much more humanitarian version of the IAAFs, which has previously maintained that there must be a maximum testosterone level for women and the lowest for males (Ingram and Thomas 240). They’re getting there, but reclassifying their categories would assist guarantee that all issues are addressed while honouring transgender interests and the ability to self-identify.

The alternative approach that would apply to numerous sports is to use weight and height to categorise players, eliminating the problem, which is highly common in sports, of vertical difficulty becoming a competitive obstacle (Buzuvis 445). Furthermore, these two options are merging, which would be the most difficult to combine various biological factors into one single metric to classify athletes. This may be especially effective in physical sports such as football and rugby because injuries have historically been an emotional worry. Of course, various sports would have varied answers; for example, in football (the European sort), it may make sense to merely include hormone levels since weight and height do not often affect the skill. Another method of organising sports is to develop a program that utilises a formula for profile physiological elements, including testosterone, size, stamina, and social aspects such as gender identification and socioeconomic factors (Anderson 52). Yes, it is a Herculean task; nevertheless, worldwide sports organisations have sufficient resources to at the very least start looking within the notion supposing that it implies a better comprehensive world.

The scientific method behind what women are capable of is questionable at best possible outcome. Analyse what the feminine body is superior at to the man’s bodies: Female bodies do have lower body mass index (BMI) and hence improved stability; they seem to become more adaptable, as well as their bodies transform calories into energy more effectively, enabling them more resilience (Hilton and Lundberg 212). This offers women an advantage in super racing as well as gymnastics, much as men’s bodies gain an advantage in sports requiring speed and physical strength, such as the shotput and also the 100m sprint. However, no trans women gymnasts protest the advantages cis females own or state they wish to engage in the men’s group for endurance racing or gymnastics — since they want to engage in athletics class that corresponds to their gender identification. Aside from that, sports aren’t ‘fair.’ It was never the case. Neither is genetics. Many exceptional athletes are blessed genetically in ways that the normal person is not. For example, basketball players benefit from height. When it involves visibility, opportunity, and funding to start taking part in competitive sports, players of colour are already at a loss in comparison to Caucasian players. As a result, this “even field of play” is not an argument but a fantasy created by those permitted to participate to win to retain power.

The study of male athletes’ physiological superiority over female athletes remains in its early stages (Pérez-Riedel and Scharagrodsky 165). It’s crucial to note that there hasn’t been much research or discussion on the effects of estrogen (a hormone associated with many bodily traits in a normal woman) and even prolactin (a nursing hormone) on operational performance. The fascination is fully with the male sex hormone (T), associated with many idealised physiological attributes in a normal male, as well as whether a woman athlete becomes too excellent to become a woman at what amount of testosterone. For every scientific research and statement proving that increased testosterone connects to increased athletic capacity in males and females, adequately convincing research proves testosterone is simply one of several variables that negatively impact athletic skill. A preliminary comparison of two global championships revealed that females with increased Testosterone levels performed better in just five of the twenty-one events.

Transgender people’s participation rights would be codified by adopting a transparent and inclusive sports policy, giving transgender athletes the full physical and mental health advantages of sports (Buzuvis 450). It is also an opportunity to reinforce young people’s rights to belong, feel at ease in their skin, and be a part of a diverse community. Consequently, a thorough biological assessment should categorise athletes to stop injustice, safeguard the freedom of self-identification, and make sports more of development rather than innate talent. While the NCAA has laws to permit transgender student-athletes to participate in sports, it does not have a structure to completely assist them when outsiders harass them, whether online or in person. Such a law would come in handy to maintain the well-being of transgender athletes.

All of us have a gender identification, which is our internal sense of our gender, and hence transgender women should be given an equal chance to compete. Most of these regulations are “unfairly stereotyping transgender individuals, particularly transgender women” by overanalysing the “unproven presumption ” that testosterone enhances performance in sports upon reviewing the very constrained and implied physiological study investigating athletic dominance in transgender people (Ingram and Thomas 245). Creating a new, mixed division for people who are non-binary, trans, or cisgender to play against one another may be an important and inspiring place to start developing sports to be more diverse. Blended sports groups have been a hotly disputed subject for several years, however, in terms of chances for transgender persons. However, having blended sports groups would make it easier for transgender persons to participate.

Works Cited

Anderson, Shelby N. “Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader.” Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, vol. 28, no. 1, Feb. 2020, pp. 50–52. journals.humankinetics.com, https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.2019-0044.

Buzuvis, Erin. “Law, Policy, and the Participation of Transgender Athletes in the United States.” Sport Management Review, vol. 24, no. 3, May 2021, pp. 439–51. Taylor and Francis+NEJM, https://doi.org/10.1080/14413523.2021.1880757.

Hilton, Emma N., and Tommy R. Lundberg. “Transgender Women in the Female Category of Sport: Perspectives on Testosterone Suppression and Performance Advantage.” Sports Medicine, vol. 51, no. 2, Feb. 2021, pp. 199–214. Springer Link, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01389-3.

Ingram, Benjamin James, and Connie Lynn Thomas. “Transgender Policy in Sport, A Review of Current Policy and Commentary of the Challenges of Policy Creation.” Current Sports Medicine Reports, vol. 18, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 239–47. journals.lww.com, https://doi.org/10.1249/JSR.0000000000000605.

Pérez-Riedel, Magalí, and Pablo Ariel Scharagrodsky. “Educational Trajectories and Participation of Transgender Women in Sports in Argentina.” Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Athletes in Latin America, edited by Joaquín Piedra and Eric Anderson, Springer International Publishing, 2021, pp. 165–77. Springer Link, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87375-2_10.