Recently, the Journal of Medical Ethics published a study that directly counters an anti-science narrative that liberal elites have been pushing for years: that transgender men (sometimes called “transwomen”) and biological women are exactly the same.
This study concluded that transgender athletes born male have an “intolerable,” or overwhelming, advantage over biological women in athletic competition. The paper stated healthy male test subjects “did not lose significant muscle mass (or power)” when their testosterone levels were suppressed below the International Olympic Committee guidelines for transgender athletes of 10nmol/L.
Further, it found these biological males could retain their muscle mass through training and that because of muscle memory, their mass and strength could be “rebuilt” through training. It also found that giving opposite-sex hormones to transgender people post-puberty did not alter the athletic-enhancing effects of testosterone on the male body.
Essentially, this study concludes that men who “transition” by taking testosterone suppressants can rejuvenate whatever muscle mass, strength, and power they may lose initially through proper training. This would render transgender hormones useless in regard to “leveling the playing field” in athletics between biological males and females. Thus, forcing biological women to compete against transgender men gives the men an unjust competitive advantage.
That’s Not What We Were Told
We’ve been told the opposite by those who support allowing men to compete in women’s sports. They have said that transgender males who are on testosterone suppressants experience such a sharp decline in performance that they would have no unfair advantage over biological women in athletic competition.
For example, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wrote in a letter to USA Powerlifting that “the myth that trans women have a ‘direct competitive advantage’ is not supported by medical science.” Sunu Chandy of the National Women’s Law Center stated, “There’s no research to support the claim that allowing trans athletes to play on teams that fit their gender identity will create a competitive imbalance.”
According to the NCAA’s handbook: “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” (emphasis added).
Think about it in reverse. If transgender males have no competitive advantage, then why don’t we see anywhere near as many transgender females dominating in male sports, or even attempting to compete there? It is shocking that some people believe medical evidence is needed to support the fact that a biological man would have an unfair athletic advantage over biological women in sports, even if he is on testosterone suppressants. But that day has come. And so has the science.
None of this medical evidence should be surprising. Here are some quick facts about the inherent physiological differences between men and women, on average:
- Men produce 570 percent more testosterone than women do,leading to major differences between the sexes in muscle complexion, bone thickness, skeletal muscle mass, and red blood cell count.
- Women produce more estrogen than men do, which leads to higher body fat and less lean muscle. Women produce more progesterone. Progesterone is catabolic, meaning it burns fat and muscle tissue.
- Men produce more Type Two muscle fibers (fast-twitch muscles) than they do Type One muscle fibers (slow-twitch), which gives men more power than women and helps make men stronger and faster. Women produce an equal amount of Type One and Type Two, which helps women have more endurance and quicker recovery times.
Transgender Men Competing Against Biological Women
Globally in the past few years, biological men whose athletic talents are unremarkable compared to other male athletes have suddenly started to compete against women in athletic competitions, and win. Of course, these men dominate in women’s sports because of the inherent biological differences between the sexes.
This is not to say all men are faster and stronger than all women. However, these men aren’t just average Joes coming off the street. They are male athletes training in their respective sports before transitioning into faux women and competing against biological females. Just last week, Laurel Hubbard, a New Zealand powerlifter who used to compete poorly in the men’s division, took first place at the Pacific Games, beating the female Commonwealth Games champion in both categories.
Two other recent cases have made national headlines. In the first, two biological males finished first and second in the 55-meter dash at the Connecticut high school girls’ indoor track championships. In the second, a biological man, Craig (Cece) Telfer, completely dominated the NCAA Division II Women’s Track National Championship in the 400-meter hurdles.
Telfer beat the second-place runner by 2 seconds. The second-place runner bested third place by 0.28 seconds. The year before, Craig had been competing for Franklin Pierce University’s male track team. His ranking that year was 200th out of 390 among the men’s 400-meter hurdles.
We’ve Heard You Cry Wolf Too Many Times
For years, leftists have labeled conservatives “anti-science” for not instantly believing their dogma. Conservative skepticism couldn’t possibly have anything to do with being told in 1975 that the Earth would be “11 degrees colder” and we would face an ice age by 2000, could it? Of course, Republican skepticism has nothing to do with the U.N. in 1989 stating that many nations would be under water by 2000 if warming trends were not reversed and that by 2000, the Earth would be 1 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer (neither happened).
Naturally, when people are told, time and time again, that “X” will happen, and “X” never comes to fruition, they start to doubt. So it cannot be shocking that Republicans have become skeptical about liberal “science.”
Whether conservatives are arguing that life begins at conception or hesitant, to say the least, to believe Al Gore when he claimed in 2006 that the world would end in 2016 (spoiler alert: It didn’t), leftists label Republicans the “anti-science” party. Even today, liberals are quick to demonize conservatives when we do not want to cede entire control of the U.S. economy and our lives through the Green New Deal to the federal government in an effort to save the world from ending in 12 years (Or is it eight more years? 18 months? I forget.).
Stop Discriminating Against Women
With science now providing evidence to what conservatives have been saying all along, the Democratic Party must face scientific facts and stop discriminating against biological women. The Equality Act, which passed the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in May, would essentially destroy the biological distinctions between males and females by making gender identity a protected class under Title IX of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
This act would provide federal protection to male athletes who identify as females, not requiring any supporting evidence or physical changes to compete in female sports. With now even more evidence dismantling the Democratic narrative, that party either can come to terms with the inherent biological differences between males and females — recognizing that even transgender hormones cannot take away those differences — or they can continue with their narrative and rightfully take their throne as the anti-science party.
The rest of us must fight to end this injustice. The discrimination against biological women is repulsive and has no place in a country like the United States. Men and women are inherently different, and this is something we must embrace, not pretend it doesn’t exist. For a day and age of “equality,” allowing transgender women to compete against biological women is the complete opposite.
