Merideth Norris, DO, FACOFP
ACOFP Health & Wellness Committee
Myth: People assigned male at birth are transitioning in order to excel at women’s sports.
Fact: The process of transition takes years, and takes into account the emotional, social, and physiologic status of the individual, typically involving many healthcare professionals. Even for people who do not engage in biological transition, the evolution of their gender identity does not happen within one athletic season.
Myth: People assigned male at birth have an advantage in athletics over people assigned female at birth, even after transition.
Fact: Many, many factors create athletic excellence, including not just build, but talent, practice, coaching, resources, etc. Athletes who were assigned male at birth and then transitioned do not show a persistent elevation in muscle strength or agility. In settings such as the Olympics or NCAA sports, there are already metrics in place to determine how long after transition an assigned male at birth (AMAB) athlete may return to play as a woman. Usually, that is about two years after transition, by which time changes in musculature have stabilized.
There have also been very successful athletes who were assigned female at birth and transitioned, and now compete with cis men. Two such men are Schuyler Bailar and Chris Mosier. Similarly, high-profile transgender female athletes, such as Lia Thomas, have been defeated in competition by cisgender women.
Myth: Transgender women are unfairly dominating the sports world and taking all the scholarships from cisgender women.
Fact: There have been transgender women in college sports for years. The International Olympic Committee issued guidelines for transgender athletes in 2003. No trans woman has ever dominated at the Olympics.
Myth: A chromosome test will determine who is a “real” woman, and that will make competition fair.
Fact: Biological sex is a factor of chromosomes, in utero exposures, and hormone receptors. Most of us do not even know our karyotype for sure, because most of us were never tested, but we assumed XX or XY based on our external appearance. Consequently, not only is a chromosome test not a reliable index of “real womanhood,” it is not a useful predictor of athletic ability.
Myth: If a female athlete has high testosterone naturally, she is “cheating.”
Fact: Individual athletes bring many advantages to the table. Some may have a long wingspan, which is a plus for swimmers. Some may be tall, which is helpful for basketball, or be of more petite build, which can be a good body type for gymnastics. Some clear lactic acid quickly, which allows for more rapid recovery time. It would be difficult to determine which aspect of a body to regulate given that there is so much human diversity.
When athletes have been found to be cheating by illegal methods, they may use EPO (erythropoietin), steroids, and human growth hormone. Testosterone on its own does not seem to provide an advantage.
Myth: Athletes should just compete on teams that match their assigned sex at birth. That will make it easier and more fair!
Fact: This would be inhumane and impractical. If a nine-year-old trans boy has successfully presented as male at his elementary school for years, forcing him to participate on the girls’ softball team is not only traumatizing for him, but it exposes him to stigma and makes his gender identity public to a large group of people who may not be a safe audience. And imagine how it would go if a person who everyone knows as a sixteen-year-old girl showed up on the boys’ basketball roster! Most of these athletes just want to participate in sports with their friends and be part of a team, and are not trying to make a public statement.
Myth: the purpose of athletics is to win and to get scholarships and sign to professional teams.
Fact: There are a great many reasons to play sports: better grades, community engagement, self confidence, physical conditioning, improved coordination, and increased team participation skills. Of all school athletes who participate in competitive sports, about 2% win scholarships and 0.06-2% get professional contracts. The number of people who can benefit from athletics for other reasons very much outnumbers the people who receive financial or scholarly benefit. The question becomes, is it fair to deprive young athletes of all the positive aspects of athletic participation on the basis of whether or not they could have an advantage that is financial? Statistically, the answer is no.
