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Transwomen in women's sports: Difference between revisions
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→Notable transwomen in women's sports
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| keywords = women's sports, transwomen, sports, transwomen in sports | | keywords = women's sports, transwomen, sports, transwomen in sports | ||
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[[File:Fit_but_unequal.jpg|thumb|300px|An infographic explaining several significant differences between the sexes]] | |||
Since the [[Transgender ideology|trans activist]] notion of "trans women are women" is meant literally, it follows that transwomen would be allowed to partake in women's sports. When a sports organization adheres to this notion, it poses a problem to women's sports, since the various physiological differences between the sexes allow peak-performing male athletes to significantly outperform peak-performing female athletes in most disciplines. The extent to which [[hormone replacement therapy]] (HRT) decreases the advantages of being male is yet unstudied, however it is clear that many of the changes the male body undergoes during puberty are not reversed by HRT, such as overall body size, skeletal structure, or the size of the lungs and heart. | Since the [[Transgender ideology|trans activist]] notion of "trans women are women" is meant literally, it follows that transwomen would be allowed to partake in women's sports. When a sports organization adheres to this notion, it poses a problem to women's sports, since the various physiological differences between the sexes allow peak-performing male athletes to significantly outperform peak-performing female athletes in most disciplines. The extent to which [[hormone replacement therapy]] (HRT) decreases the advantages of being male is yet unstudied, however it is clear that many of the changes the male body undergoes during puberty are not reversed by HRT, such as overall body size, skeletal structure, or the size of the lungs and heart. | ||
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The differences in strength can be very significant. For instance, gross measures of body strength suggest that women are approximately only 50% to 60% as strong as men in the upper body, and 60% to 70% as strong in the lower body.<ref name="pmid8477683">Miller AE, MacDougall JD, Tarnopolsky MA, Sale DG (1993) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=8477683 Gender differences in strength and muscle fiber characteristics.] ''Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol'' 66 (3):254-62. PMID: [https://pubmed.gov/8477683 8477683]</ref> A study of hand-grip strength found that even elite female athletes can be surpassed by a man with no athletic training.<ref name="pmid17186303">Leyk D, Gorges W, Ridder D, Wunderlich M, Rüther T, Sievert A et al. (2007) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=17186303 Hand-grip strength of young men, women and highly trained female athletes.] ''Eur J Appl Physiol'' 99 (4):415-21. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00421-006-0351-1 DOI:10.1007/s00421-006-0351-1] PMID: [https://pubmed.gov/17186303 17186303]</ref> Another study of sports performance in various disciplines found that males tend to perform 5.5% to 36.8% better, depending on the discipline.<ref name="pmid24149688">Thibault V, Guillaume M, Berthelot G, Helou NE, Schaal K, Quinquis L et al. (2010) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=24149688 Women and Men in Sport Performance: The Gender Gap has not Evolved since 1983.] ''J Sports Sci Med'' 9 (2):214-23. PMID: [https://pubmed.gov/24149688 24149688]</ref> | The differences in strength can be very significant. For instance, gross measures of body strength suggest that women are approximately only 50% to 60% as strong as men in the upper body, and 60% to 70% as strong in the lower body.<ref name="pmid8477683">Miller AE, MacDougall JD, Tarnopolsky MA, Sale DG (1993) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=8477683 Gender differences in strength and muscle fiber characteristics.] ''Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol'' 66 (3):254-62. PMID: [https://pubmed.gov/8477683 8477683]</ref> A study of hand-grip strength found that even elite female athletes can be surpassed by a man with no athletic training.<ref name="pmid17186303">Leyk D, Gorges W, Ridder D, Wunderlich M, Rüther T, Sievert A et al. (2007) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=17186303 Hand-grip strength of young men, women and highly trained female athletes.] ''Eur J Appl Physiol'' 99 (4):415-21. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00421-006-0351-1 DOI:10.1007/s00421-006-0351-1] PMID: [https://pubmed.gov/17186303 17186303]</ref> Another study of sports performance in various disciplines found that males tend to perform 5.5% to 36.8% better, depending on the discipline.<ref name="pmid24149688">Thibault V, Guillaume M, Berthelot G, Helou NE, Schaal K, Quinquis L et al. (2010) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=24149688 Women and Men in Sport Performance: The Gender Gap has not Evolved since 1983.] ''J Sports Sci Med'' 9 (2):214-23. PMID: [https://pubmed.gov/24149688 24149688]</ref> | ||
=== Effect of hormone therapy === | |||
The differences between females and males listed above refer to average individuals, with no regard to the effect hormone replacement therapy might have. A male who underwent feminizing hormone therapy might however lose some of his biological advantages over women. Studies indicate that this effect is very small, and that transwomen mostly retain their biological advantages over women. | |||
A study by [[Emma Hilton]] and Tommy Lundberg, published in Sports Medicine in 2020, found: | |||
<blockquote>''Longitudinal studies examining the effects of testosterone suppression on muscle mass and strength in transgender women consistently show very modest changes, where the loss of lean body mass, muscle area and strength typically amounts to approximately 5% after 12 months of treatment. Thus, the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed.''</blockquote> | |||
Another study by Harper et al. published 2021 in the [[wikipedia:British Journal of Sports Medicine|British Journal of Sports Medicine]] concludes: | |||
<blockquote>''In transwomen, hormone therapy rapidly reduces [[wikipedia:Hemoglobin|Hgb]] to levels seen in cisgender women. In contrast, hormone therapy decreases strength, LBM and muscle area, yet values remain above that observed in cisgender women, even after 36 months. These findings suggest that strength may be well preserved in transwomen during the first 3 years of hormone therapy.''</blockquote> | |||
== Notable transwomen in women's sports == | == Notable transwomen in women's sports == | ||
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In September 2014, male mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter [[Fallon Fox]] severely injured a female opponent, Tamikka Brents, causing her to suffer a concussion, an orbital bone fracture, and seven staples to the head, in the first round of a fight. Brents took to social media to convey her thoughts on the experience of fighting Fox: "I've fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. I can't answer whether it's because she ''[sic]'' was born a man or not because I'm not a doctor. I can only say, I've never felt so overpowered ever in my life and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right," she stated. "Her grip was different, I could usually move around in the clinch against other females but couldn't move at all in Fox's clinch..."<ref>Cage Potato. (n.d.). After Being TKO'd by Fallon Fox, Tamikka Brents Says Transgender Fighters in MMA ‘Just Isn’t Fair’. [online] Available at: https://archive.is/yZfcs [Accessed 31 Jan. 2019].</ref> According to Wikipedia, Fox has won 5 out of 6 MMA fights in total as of May 2019, three of which were by knockout.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallon_Fox</ref> | In September 2014, male mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter [[Fallon Fox]] severely injured a female opponent, Tamikka Brents, causing her to suffer a concussion, an orbital bone fracture, and seven staples to the head, in the first round of a fight. Brents took to social media to convey her thoughts on the experience of fighting Fox: "I've fought a lot of women and have never felt the strength that I felt in a fight as I did that night. I can't answer whether it's because she ''[sic]'' was born a man or not because I'm not a doctor. I can only say, I've never felt so overpowered ever in my life and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right," she stated. "Her grip was different, I could usually move around in the clinch against other females but couldn't move at all in Fox's clinch..."<ref>Cage Potato. (n.d.). After Being TKO'd by Fallon Fox, Tamikka Brents Says Transgender Fighters in MMA ‘Just Isn’t Fair’. [online] Available at: https://archive.is/yZfcs [Accessed 31 Jan. 2019].</ref> According to Wikipedia, Fox has won 5 out of 6 MMA fights in total as of May 2019, three of which were by knockout.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallon_Fox</ref> | ||
In June 2020, during debates spurred after J.K. Rowling's criticism of the transgender movement, Fallon Fox tweeted about the event: "I knocked two out. One woman’s skull was fractured, the other not. And just so you know, I enjoyed it. See, I love smacking up TEFS in the cage who talk transphobic nonsense. It’s bliss! Don’t be mad. 😉"<ref name=fox-twitter/> | In June 2020, during debates spurred after J.K. Rowling's criticism of the transgender movement, Fallon Fox tweeted about the event: "I knocked two out. One woman’s skull was fractured, the other not. And just so you know, I enjoyed it. See, I love smacking up TEFS ''[sic]'' in the cage who talk transphobic nonsense. It’s bliss! Don’t be mad. 😉"<ref name=fox-twitter/> | ||
=== Rachel McKinnon === | === Rachel McKinnon === | ||