It is hard to imagine what the world of women’s sports would look like today without Mia Hamm, Flo Jo, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Wisconsin’s very own speed skater, Bonnie Blair to name just a few. Collectively, these women have inspired girls of all ages and from all walks of life to build self-confidence/esteem, perseverance, endurance, and leadership skills.
Sadly, the future of girls’/women’s sports in America is in serious jeopardy. The push by the transgender community to play sports as the gender with which they identify is a troubling trend, and it has infected Wisconsin.
Men in Women’s Sports
In fact, the Kenosha Unified School District claims fame to Wisconsin’s transgender precedent setting court case where a student challenged the district’s policies that required students to use the restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms that corresponded to their biological sex.
The school district ultimately caved to allow a biological girl access to boys’ bathrooms and locker rooms and vice versa and even agreed to pay $800,000 of taxpayers’ dollars to the young woman and her lawyers. More importantly, the District changed its policy and now allows students to use whichever restrooms, locker rooms, etc., they “identify” with.
High School Boys vs Female Olympians
It’s basic biology: men have greater strength and speed than women. These advantages are developed in men through puberty and are permanent: larger hearts and lungs, more oxygenated blood, more fast-twitch muscle fiber, greater upper-body muscle mass, greater lower body muscle mass, and greater bone density. These advantages cannot be negated even if a man takes estrogen and reduces the testosterone levels in his body.
One of the best illustrations of this can be found at Boysvswomen.com where they compare the records of male high school athletes (from a 2016 national track and field competition) against those of female Olympians (from the 2016 Olympics) in the 100-meter, the 200-meter, the 400-meter and the 800-meter races. High school male runners dominate the female Olympians’ times, claiming all the top spots. Most notably, the site points out that “none of the women’s finals performances met the qualifying time to enter the boy’s competition.”
Yet here we are finding ourselves bullied into ignoring the obvious truths right in front of us.
Title IX
In the U.S., K-12 and college athletics enjoy broad ranging community and cultural support. The benefits of athletic opportunities to America’s youth are universally touted. Since title IX first became law in 1972, all educational institutions receiving federal funds reaching from elementary to higher learning must provide equal opportunities for men’s and women’s sports. Many touted this major federal legislation as a major victory for women’s athletics and female participation in athletics has indeed grown immensely. In 1972, only 1 in 27 high school girls participated in high school sports; that number has since risen to being more than 1 in 5.
50 years after Title IX, women are again losing athletic opportunities to men, this time inside women’s and girls’ sports themselves.
Men Dominating Women’s Sports
There is a growing number of biological males competing in women’s sports and dominating the sport. Despite the loss of prestige, playing time, scholarships, and the increased risk of injury suffered by America’s girls, those who deny science are doubling down on the demands that women move over to allow men in their sport, and even their locker room. Biden’s secretary of education even made the move to go beyond SCOTUS precedent and required that Title IX be expanded to include “gender identity” despite no current provision existing within the law.
We simply cannot deny the reality of biological sex; the science is indeed in. Depending on the sport, men have an advantage of 10%-50% over women. Men and boys on average are bigger and taller with longer arms and legs, have higher bone density, greater stamina, more strength, and a higher injury resistance.
The net result is that when similarly trained men and women go head-to-head in athletic competitions, men hold a distinct biological advantage. This advantage still persists after testosterone suppression, such as the type required by the NCAA. For instance, even after 2 full years of testosterone suppression, studies have shown that biological men still run an average of 12% faster than women.
When split seconds count, 12% is much greater than the margin of victory.
Saving Women’s Sports
The Wisconsin legislature has introduced two sets of bills aimed at saving women’s sports, Governor Tony Evers has promised to veto them should they ever get to his desk.
The best line of defense rests with you voicing your concerns to your local school board and exercising your right to vote at the ballot box on Tuesday, April 5th.
Image Credit: Photo by Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash
