In very short order, it appears that women have become second class citizens again. In 1900 women couldn’t vote, were barred formally or informally from many professions, had little control over their bodies because birth control did not exist or was not widely available, and were limited by legal disabilities throughout society and its institutions, all of which were features of the dominant patriarchy. Women were subject to men’s control.
One of the changes we should all celebrate is the removal of the many barriers to the success of women in all endeavors and the fostering of women’s agency. We had fewer than ten women in my incoming class of 250 students at Gonzaga Law School in 1975, no female members of the Supreme Court until 1981, and other than Dixie Lee Ray, few if any women leaders in any endeavor. All of that has changed, for the better as women gain control of their lives.
Federal legislation known as Title IX in an Education Act in 1972 compelled schools to allow women to participate in collegiate sports. In some cases, men’s college sports were abandoned to make room for women. Given the opportunity to compete, women flocked to sports, and now we have women sports’ stars, professional women’s leagues in basketball, soccer, hockey, softball, football and lacrosse, and well-paid women compete in track and field, golf, and tennis. These are sports by women and for women. But men are breaking in and shoving aside women who have in most cases trained since they were young girls to compete against other girls, not men.
A transwoman is a person who as a matter of undisputable science was born with XY chromosomes and male reproductive organs and claims to be female. As indisputably, women are persons born with XX chromosomes and female reproductive organs. Transwomen are demanding they be allowed to compete against women on the women’s playing field.
And it’s happening all over the world. Collegiate swimming saw a man who was a mediocre swimmer on the men’s team declare he was a woman and beat all women swimmers by huge margins. Professional cycling recently saw a man call himself a woman and win a woman’s race in New Mexico.
After that event, Inga Thompson, a three-time US Olympian and five-time national road race champion, told The Telegraph, "This really highlights the issues that are happening to women in cycling," Thompson added. "We have more than 50 transgender women in the sport. And what's going on in the background is that women are just quietly walking away. They think, 'Why bother, if it's not fair?'"[1]
There is a reason why we don’t see women demanding to compete against men in any sport. That is because the objective scientific fact is that men are stronger, have larger bone structures, larger lung capacity, and aggressive hormones that enable highly competitive performance.
A 2010 study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine compared men’s and women’s best performances in 82 events in swimming, athletics, track cycling, weight lifting and speed skating from 1930 to 2008.[2] Their conclusion was that there is a significant gender performance gap, the sex one was born with was a major factor, and while the gap stabilized in 1983, the results suggest women will never run, jump, swim or ride as fast as men.
Duke Law School Professors Doriane Lambelet Coleman and Wickliffe Shreve recently published, “Comparing Athletic Performances: The Best Elite Women to Boys and Men” and said:
If you know sport, you know this beyond a reasonable doubt: there is an average 10-12% performance gap between elite males and elite females. The gap is smaller between elite females and non-elite males, but it’s still insurmountable and that’s ultimately what matters. Translating these statistics into real world results, we see, for example, that: Just in the single year 2017, Olympic, World, and U.S. Champion Tori Bowie's 100 meters lifetime best of 10.78 was beaten 15,000 times by men and boys.[3]
They concluded: “This differential isn’t the result of boys and men having a male identity, more resources, better training, or superior discipline.” Instead, “there is no other physical, cultural, or socioeconomic trait as important as testes for sports purposes.”
While one’s statement of identity may be socially constructed, the winner of a 100-meter footrace, and the chromosomes and reproductive organs we are born with are not socially constructed. They are objective fact.
So why is this effort by men to compete against women happening? Why are women being controlled by men again? Whatever the motivation is, one fact remains: women are once again relegated by men to second class citizens.
And where are the feminist women’s organizations? One would think they would oppose the erasure of women in sports. From all appearances the national collegiate sports authorities, most other governing bodies, and the Biden Administration have gone all in to enable persons born as men to self-identify as female and crush women athletes. As Stephen Stills sang two generations ago, there’s something happening here and what it is ain’t exactly clear .
The progress made in the 1960s and 1970s seems to be reversing, with this new trans phenomenon.
I love this article/ perspective, Michael. I think many are afraid to appear to be against transgender individuals , who I wholeheartedly support; but athletically this goes against the hard earned gains women have made in sports re title nine & undermine their gains & accomplishments. I am not sure what the answer is, transgender athletes absolutely need a forum in which to compete- maybe it will be men, women & transgender??