How Can We Encourage Female Student Athletes To Compete When Men Continue To Take Their Spots?
So much of the attention on biological men in women’s athletics is on the man himself. But what about the women he’s competing against? Female athletes are having their scholarships, safety, athletic careers, and privacy compromised.
The left has been intentionally blurring the line between biological sex and gender expression for a while now. While early advocates for the trans movement claimed that gender identity was just a matter of personal expression, these blurred lines mean that the left is trying to blot out differences in biological sex altogether. Far from just being gender expression, activists are now forcing gender identity to effectively replace sex on things where it really matters, like driver's licenses, immigration documents, and even medical records.
This erasure of what it means to be biologically female has begun seeping into areas that make it hard for women to just sit back and tolerate. No amount of surgery, hormone replacement therapy, or eyeliner can make a biological man’s body into a woman’s, and this is becoming more and more obvious, namely in women’s sports. Women’s sports exist to give female athletes a fair shot at competition among athletes who are built like them, not mediocre men who are failing to be star athletes on their own turf. Women’s records are getting crushed in sports like powerlifting and track and field where men have natural advantages, and it’s understandably demoralizing. It also has real consequences when it comes to things like scholarships and competitive rankings. So how can women keep up morale while fighting in a league that’s no longer their own?
A League No Longer Their Own
Having guys on the team isn’t just an issue in the locker room, it changes a lot about what it means to be an athlete. Women’s sports exist to give a single-sex space away from men to compete at our own level on a fair playing field, but those single-sex spaces also allow us to build bonds with teammates that wouldn’t feel the same with biological men – especially when the reason they joined was to have an easier time beating other athletes. There are safety issues at play too. The differences in strength, speed, and natural aggression between men and women mean that injuries can be more likely, potentially compromising female athletes’ futures.
Women’s sports, especially at the college level, isn’t just about a good time. High level college athletics involve conference and national titles that many women have worked their entire lives for, some of which are the basis of evaluation for things like professional and semi professional leagues. Riley Gaines, 12 time All-American swimmer with 5 SEC titles, has been fighting tooth and nail against a biological male in college swimming. After tying with the man in one race, she was denied her trophy so that the NCAA could allow him to have the photo-op instead.
Single-sex spaces exist for a reason, and men shouldn’t be exploiting them just because they can’t make the cut on their own turf.
While Gaines still knows how she performed due to the straightforward nature of swimming timing, not all sports are so clean cut, and it can have serious implications for athletes looking to progress to the next level. The WNBA, for example, feeds directly from women’s collegiate basketball, and the sport isn’t able to be boiled down to a success metric of minutes and seconds. Individual players have to navigate a tricky playing field in order to stand out and make a name for themselves, something that’s far harder when facing off against someone likely to be larger, stronger, and with extra media attention. Some basketball teams have already tried standing up for their girls, but have been penalized, in one case entirely banned from a conference, for not wanting to subject their players to competition against a biological male.
The courts are also beginning to push for the requirement of biological males in women’s sports. In West Virginia, despite ongoing lawsuits over a state ban, the Supreme Court just decided it would not defend female athletes against male athletes looking to compete as women. This decision contradicts other track and field decisions respecting the inherent advantages of men in track and field, like the U.S. Olympic Trials, which banned biological male runner CeCe Telfer from competing due to World Athletics regulations. Still, Telfer had already dominated women’s sports before that ban. Despite initially being a mediocre Division II runner as a male, he went on to win the NCAA women’s title.
Female track athletes have spoken up about the unfair conditions. "The fact that biological males are still beating females in their own sport is insane," says Madison Kenyon, an athlete suing for women’s rights to single-sex sports. "The only way to get fair competition is to fight for it and to not be silent.”
Stand Up or Stand Down?
So what can female athletes do? While a lot of people want to tell women to just stand up to all the peer pressure, it’s often not that easy. Riley Gaines has been an impressively brave example for being loud and proud about the issues facing women in college athletics, but unfortunately many women would be putting their academic and professional careers on the line for doing the same. The majority of women aren’t going to make their living from professional athletics or from activism for biological women, meaning they have a lot to lose from speaking their minds.
Instead, it’s worth trying to find intermediaries to make your case. If you can, talk to your coach 1-on-1 or with other women on your team if you’re concerned about a biological man competing by your side or in your conference. Athletic directors and other related administrators can help you distance yourself from being doxxed, canceled, or attacked while trying to stand up for yourself.
Closing Thoughts
Having men compete in women’s sports isn’t fair and changes the entire experience of being a female athlete. Single-sex spaces exist for a reason, and men shouldn’t be exploiting them just because they can’t make the cut on their own turf. If you’re feeling discouraged, slighted, or even downright unsafe because of a biological man in your locker room or on your playing field, don’t be afraid to raise the issue with a trusted coach or athletic admin. Women deserve a league of their own.
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