Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas. Photo: Lia Tomas Instagram.
This past Sunday, the International Federation of Swimming announced that transgender women athletes who have not completed transition prior to the age of 12 will be prevented from competing in women’s races; now, the International Rugby Federation has followed suit, and it seems inevitable that other sporting federations will jump on board.
This decision is a clear example of the ongoing transphobia and lack of understanding of transgender identity that continues to pose a barrier for trans people in our communities to have safe, fulfilling lives free from prejudice.
Supporters of the ban follow a simplistic line of thought that argues that trans women have an unfair advantage over cis women as their bodies develop with higher testosterone levels before transitioning. The loophole sports are using to freely discriminate against trans athletes under the guise of fairness is that if someone transitions before puberty, they will not have this ‘unfair’ advantage, and therefore the competition will remain reasonable for participants.
But not only does this system completely ignore the reality of transition for many people – where there are medical and societal reasons that mean transitioning before the age of 12 is highly unlikely for the vast majority of trans people – it also masquerades as fairness while really reinforcing prejudice.
At the same time as preventing trans women from competing as women, the Swimming Federation has created an ‘open’ category where anyone can compete. By doing so, they’ve demonstrated that they do, in fact, have the power to change the nature of sports if they so choose. This means, instead of retaining the current gender-based system of competition, they could have dismantled it in favour of a system that better represents both gender diversity and physical diversity more broadly in society.
Here’s the thing – sport, by nature, is not fair. And at the risk of shocking some, I should also point out that sport is, in fact, the product of human invention. That means we have the power to change how and why sport exists in society at our will.
The idea that trans athletes have an ‘unfair’ advantage makes no sense because every elite athlete is there because of physical advantage. Our bodies are all different, and some are better disposed to different sports, and basically, the people that reach the top all have physical advantages that allow them to achieve success at that level.
All women also have testosterone in their bodies, and some have more than others. If this is considered such a barrier to competition, why not create categories across sport based on a clear universal measure of ability? For example, time trials or another category that can separate competitors to compete against people who most closely match their level of ability.
Professional sports should progress alongside society when it comes to things like gender, class and ability. But banning trans athletes from competition is an archaic approach that is trying to retain an outdated way of understanding gender despite the modern awareness we have that challenges this approach.
At the end of the day, the question it comes down to is what we think is more important – holding to the principle of gender as the defining trait of athletic ability, or having an inclusive, fair and equal system for all people, which includes trans people who continue to suffer significant marginalisation across society?
I know which one I’d pick.
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